‘Strong Leader Form of Government’

Speaking of strange news articles, this item from last Wednesday on Albany’s reaction to the Massachusetts decision contains this head-scratcher:
In New York, which has a strong leader form of government, it is almost unheard of for legislation to be approved in the Senate without the majority leader�s backing or in the Assembly without the support of the speaker.
(Emphasis added). Now, I suppose the meaning is clear enough — the state legislature is run by the leaders — but this conjured up images of downtrodden New Yorkers walking to work under the shadow of massive graven images of George Pataki.