Bronx State Senator Jeff Klein has found his way back to the top of the State Senate by brokering a deal with the Republicans to share power. Klein, who founded the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference last year with three other Senators, is has the votes to decide which party is in power.
As Adam Wisnieski at the Riverdale Press reports, Klein's move angered some fellow dems but Klein is describing it as governing by coalition. Hard to say it can be worse than we have seen in the last decade.
You fail to mention that although Senator Klein's district is mostly in The Bronx, it does include a small chunk of Westchester County as well.
ReplyDeletecharismatic & powerful but a little creepy
ReplyDeleteCharismatic? Perfidious is more like it.
DeleteNow that Klein is a top leader I hope that he remembers the little people.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Jeffrey Klein endorsed by you Tony and your club, the Northwest Bronx Democratic Alliance (or NBDA) ??????
DeleteI think the NBDA endorsed Klein many times, including back in 2004 (when the NBDA endorsed him against Stephen Kaufman in the race for State Senate in the 34th District).
DeleteThat's when Klein defeated Kaufman (who was running as Republican as well as a Democrat). And interestingly, the NBDA-endorsed Klein wiped the floor with the Dinowitz-endorsed Kaufman. I recall that Dinowitz had been quoted in the press as saying that Kaufman was "more straightforward" than Klein.
Kaufman won the Bronx. He lost in Westchester
DeleteIt's not the Electoral College, so every vote Bronx vote directly counted.
DeleteWow! If he can do this, I think this guy might be able to turn shit into gold!
ReplyDeleteIn today's New York Post, columnist Fredric U. Dicker states that Jeffrey D. Klein was one of the big winners in state government and politics for 2012.
DeleteHe writes:
"Another major winner this year: Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein, who gambled nearly two years ago by bolting from the Senate’s Democratic conference to create the Independent Democratic Conference — in hopes that Republicans would need his small group to hold on to their power after this year’s elections.
Klein is now on the verge of becoming the co-leader of the Senate and hence one of the most important figures in state government."
READ MORE: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/albany_on_loser_streak_PYHSWf67rCZlZWIlXnyegN
Partnering with Skelos?? Sorry Klein, but you should dance with the one that brung ya.
ReplyDeleteJeff Klein broke his promise to the Ben Franklin Club for his own political gain. It's just not right. This is not why we supported him.
ReplyDelete"bipartisan power sharing"??? no, it's really just POWER sharing ..... forget the partisan part .... that's just a show for the dumb public
ReplyDeleteToday’s NY Times reports that with this State Senate deal, Black and Hispanic leaders in NY (one of the most diverse states in the nation) are growing increasingly concerned that diversity is taking a back seat to power in Albany. The article quotes State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. as saying that with Republicans keeping control of the Senate, “There’s nothing for minorities.”
ReplyDeleteREAD MORE: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/nyregion/in-gop-state-senate-deal-diversity-takes-back-seat.html?ref=nyregion
It's time to move forward with serious gun-control laws. Here are 4 good ways to start:
ReplyDelete1) Reinstating the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.
2) Banning high-capacity magazines.
3) Requiring criminal background checks on gun buyers at gun shows.
4) Improving instant background checks to more thoroughly catch people with histories of mental illness.
Here's a good opinion article on this from today's Daily News:
ReplyDelete_____________________
BREAKAWAY DEMS GET THEIR FIRST TEST
Now, the pressure is on Jeff Klein to prove he can get gun control done
By Blake Zeff
New York Daily News, Jan. 10, 2013
It seemed counter-intuitive. But when state Sen. Jeff Klein announced he and four others in the Independent Democratic Conference would support Republican control of the body — disempowering the diverse Democratic majority that New Yorkers had just elected — he claimed it would help deliver a “progressive agenda.”
Now comes the first test of whether that pronouncement was self-serving spin or a credible strategic statement.
Successfully selling the deal as more than a power grab for Klein — who, under the odd arrangement, becomes temporary Senate president every other day — has been dicey from the start.
Democrats in the Senate have long pushed for liberal staples like tax fairness, a minimum wage hike and criminal justice reform; for years, Republicans have stood in the way of these priorities.
Klein based his defection on the premise that Democrats had been dysfunctional during their short-lived turn in the majority. At that time, a coup had erupted in which four turncoat Democrats teamed up with Republicans to shift power back to the GOP. The process had been messy and chaotic, and Klein cited this as proof the Democrats could not lead.
Never mind that the Republican leader with whom Klein is now aligned, Dean Skelos, had encouraged — and benefited from — the coup. Or that three of the four hostage-takers during the chaos are now out of the Senate. Or that Klein himself had been part of the Democratic leadership at the time, despite his alleged disgust.
Klein and the IDC aligned with the GOP — and Gov. Cuomo hardly seemed to mind it, angering many leading New York liberals in the process.
Truth be told, while far from perfect, Democrats actually did manage to deliver progressive accomplishments during their short reign. They achieved historic reforms to the draconian Rockefeller drug laws that ravaged communities. They ended prison-based gerrymandering that counted the incarcerated as part of upstate prison districts, rather than using their home addresses.
On economic issues, ...
READ MORE: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/breakaway-dems-test-article-1.1236859#ixzz2HZnjeWb0