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Democrats in New York State Senate Appear Set to Reconcile Democrats in New York State Senate Appear Set to Reconcile
(about 9 hours later)
After years of Democratic infighting that has helped keep Republicans in control of the New York State Senate, two long-warring factions of Democratic lawmakers in Albany are on the brink of reunifying, according to five people familiar with the discussions. Two warring factions of Democratic lawmakers have agreed to reunite and end seven years of infighting that has helped give Republicans a foothold of power in Albany in a dramatic upheaval of New York politics, according to people familiar with the deal.
At a closed-door meeting at a Manhattan steakhouse on Tuesday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo asked the two rival Democratic leaders to consider reconciling immediately, according to people in the room and people briefed on the discussion. An alliance in the State Senate between Republicans and a renegade of group of Democrats known as the Independent Democratic Conference was formed during Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s first week in office. It had since amounted to one of the oddest political arrangements in the country — and one that had become increasingly untenable in the current political climate.
Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who leads the main group of Democrats, and Senator Jeff Klein, who leads the breakaway group, the Independent Democratic Conference, appeared to tentatively agree. Ms. Stewart-Cousins asked to discuss the matter with her rank-and-file members and is expected to do so as early as Wednesday morning, before giving official approval. Impassioned activists have called for Democrats to unite against President Trump and to hold up New York as a bastion of liberalism. They have launched primaries against most of the breakaway Democratic lawmakers. And now Mr. Cuomo himself is facing a primary challenge, from the actress Cynthia Nixon, who has made the bipartisan alliance in Albany a focus of her attacks on governor’s progressive credentials.
The reunification would end one of the oddest political arrangements in the country, and in the history of New York State. In it, the breakaway conference, which is made up of eight Democratic state senators, has helped ensure Republican control of the State Senate. The Democratic accord, which would dissolve the I.D.C., came together Tuesday over coffee and cookies at a Manhattan steakhouse.
The conference was formed during Mr. Cuomo’s first week as governor and has become a scourge of liberal activists across the state and a central talking point for the actress Cynthia Nixon in her current primary challenge to Mr. Cuomo. “For the good of the party, this has to stop,” Mr. Cuomo said at the closed-door gathering, according to two people who were in the room.
The group would be dissolved under the agreement. But many details are still unresolved, including staffing and budget considerations. Around the table sat Mr. Cuomo; the leaders of New York’s most powerful labor unions; Joseph Crowley, the top-ranked New York Democrat in the House of Representatives; and the two rival Democratic leaders of the State Senate — Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who leads the main group of Democrats, and Jeffery D. Klein, who leads the breakaway group — among others.
Ms. Stewart-Cousins and Mr. Klein ended the meeting at the Capital Grille with a handshake — which was met by applause from those gathered, among them the leaders or representatives of New York’s most influential labor unions as well as Joseph Crowley, the top-ranked New York Democrat in the House of Representatives. Mr. Cuomo asked Ms. Stewart-Cousins and Mr. Klein to reunite immediately, a faster timeline than had previously been discussed, even though the Democrats would remain in the minority in the Senate.
The immediate reconciliation is faster than a previously discussed time frame for reunification, and it would occur even though the united Democrats would still be in the minority. Under the terms outlined by Mr. Cuomo, Ms. Stewart-Cousins would become the sole Democratic leader, and Mr. Klein would become her deputy.
Ms. Stewart-Cousins would become the sole Democratic leader. Mr. Klein would become her deputy. Mr. Klein and Ms. Stewart-Cousins shook hands, and the room erupted in applause.
The two sides agreed last November to reunite later this month, following special elections that would bring the total number of Democrats in the 63-member chamber to 32 — the bare minimum for a majority. But one of those senators, Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, has continued to caucus with the Republicans separately from Mr. Klein’s alliance with the party. They are expected to make the deal official at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Liberal activists have mounted challenges to multiple members of Mr. Klein’s conference this year and it is not immediately clear what will happen in those contests. The letter signed by party leaders that formed the basis of the earlier pact said, “Both would refrain from participating in primary challenges against incumbent senators.” Skepticism abounds, and many details, including the division of staffing and budget for a unified conference, remain unresolved. The longtime chief deputy under Ms. Stewart-Cousins, Senator Michael N. Gianaris of Queens, who has clashed with Mr. Klein, is expected to remain in the leadership.
In the past, Mr. Klein and Mr. Gianaris have also run rival Democratic political operations, which now must be combined.
Still, the accord represents a watershed for fractious Democratic politics in the state and a political coup for Mr. Cuomo as he faces his most serious primary challenge. For years, Mr. Cuomo had said it was not in his power to arrange a “shotgun marriage” between Mr. Klein and Ms. Stewart-Cousins, but as a deal came together the governor was very much in the middle of it.
Ms. Nixon gave the governor no credit for the reunification deal, and her supporters called it a sham done for political expediency. “If you’ve set your own house on fire and watched it burn for eight years, finally turning on a hose doesn’t make you a hero,” Ms. Nixon said in a statement.
Zephyr Teachout, who ran against Mr. Cuomo four years ago and is now the treasurer on Ms. Nixon’s campaign, said Mr. Cuomo’s role in the reunification amounted to a “confession of his complicity of Republican control” for the last seven years.
The deal comes less than a week after lawmakers passed a $168 billion budget — a spending plan, Ms. Teachout noted, in which Ms. Stewart-Cousins had been excluded from the negotiations, including on the state’s new sexual harassment laws.
Ms. Nixon brought up Ms. Stewart-Cousins’ exclusion from those talks during a previously taped interview on “The Wendy Williams Show” on Wednesday.
The Manhattan steakhouse meeting was about more than just the State Senate. Jefrey Pollock, a pollster for Mr. Cuomo, gave a presentation about messaging in upcoming races, and the governor emphasized the need for Democratic allies to work together in 2018.
Other meeting attendees included Mr. Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa; his campaign chairman, William J. Mulrow; and Christine Quinn, the vice chairwoman of the New York Democratic Party and the former New York City Council speaker.
Later on Tuesday evening, at a fund-raiser for a Democratic Senate candidate in an upcoming special election, Mr. Cuomo said that “we have achieved political clarity” in watching Republican rule from Washington, D.C., for the last year.
“The clarity is this: Everything we are for, they are against. It’s that simple,” he said. “The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are an antithesis one of the other.”
The candidates challenging I.D.C. members in primaries said they would continue on, even if the Democratic Party leadership formally opposed them.
Jessica Ramos, who is running against Senator Jose R. Peralta of Queens, said she didn’t trust the deal. “Not for a second. We’ve seen this movie before,” Ms. Ramos said.
Four years ago, Mr. Klein’s group promised to ally with the mainline Democrats but ended up not doing so.
One state senator in the mainline Democratic group, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the fragile agreement, noted that they would proceed cautiously because “we’ve been sabotaged before.”
“Let’s accept it — but sleep with one eye open,” the senator said.
The arrangement with the G.O.P. had resulted in numerous perks for I.D.C. members, including larger staffs and offices, and lucrative committee chairmanships that came with extra cash.
But on Wednesday, the New York State comptroller’s office said it would reject thousands of dollars in stipends promised to two I.D.C. members — Diane J. Savino of Staten Island and Mr. Peralta — after it was revealed that they were being paid as Senate committee chairpeople, despite not holding those titles. (Both are vice chairs, an unpaid position.)
The rival Democratic factions had agreed last November to reunite this month, following two special elections that would bring the total number of Democrats in the 63-member chamber to 32 — the bare minimum for a majority.
But one of those senators, Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat, has continued to caucus with Republicans.
Without Mr. Felder, who recently held up the state budget for concessions on how yeshivas are overseen by the state, the new Democratic coalition would still be one vote short of a majority.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Felder reiterated — as he has often before — that he has no loyalty to either party, but rather is looking for the best deal for his district, which includes a large population of Orthodox Jews.
“I don’t feel obligated to remain with the Republicans, or obligated to join the Democrats,” Mr. Felder said. “I’m loyal to God, my wife and my constituents, and New Yorkers.”
He added that he still planned on caucusing with the G.O.P. when the Legislature comes back into session this month, and said that he had spoken with the Republican majority leader, John J. Flanagan of Long Island, and other Republicans since news of the reunification broke.
Asked if he might join the Democrats after the special elections on April 24, he said he would “consider it at any point.”
But, he said, “I think it’s fair to say that I would have to feel a compelling reason to leave.”