The New York State Senate is not likely to meet again until next January, but the fight for leadership of the chamber has already begun.
Governor Cuomo, eager to gain the endorsement of the left leaning Working Families Party, promised to lead an effort to help Democrats regain the State Senate.
“We must go out and we must win a majority of the seats in the Senate,” Cuomo said in a video to the group.
The Senate is currently run by the Republicans and a group of five break away Democrats, known as the Independent Democratic conference, or the IDC. Cuomo said the break away democrats need to be convinced to rejoin the rest of the Senate Democrats.
“We should start by telling the IDC that they must agree to return to the Democratic Party or face our unified opposition,” Cuomo told the group.
In recent days, the governor, according to numerous published reports, held a meeting with IDC Leader, Senator Jeff Klein to talk about a possible reunification.
Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins, the current leader of the Senate Democrats, says she would not rule out a possible power sharing deal with the IDC.
“I certainly would not be saying no to anything,” Stewart Cousins said in an interview with public radio and television earlier in June.
Cuomo, publicly, though still seems to be hedging his bets. In recent days, he’s appeared with Republican State Senators at ceremonial bill signings around the state. He was with Senate Deputy Majority Leader Tom Libous in Binghamton, where Senator Libous praised a new law to curb heroin addiction.
“We’re pleased that the governor is here signing this legislation,” Libous said.
Cuomo repeated the heroin bill signing ceremony in Buffalo the next day where he appeared with Republican Senator Gallivan Patrick Gallivan. He’s held two events in Rochester in the past month where GOP Senator Joe Robach was a featured guest. Cuomo called Robach “a great Senator and a good friend”.
Cuomo has relied on the Senate Republicans during his three and half years in office to help him, in addition to the anti heroin package, win victories on a property tax cap, and a lowered pension benefit for new public workers.
But Republicans have blocked several other progressive items that the governor wants. The list includes public campaign finance, college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants, and a women’s equality act with an abortion rights provision.
Cuomo told the Working Families Party convention that if the measures did not pass in the 2014 legislative session they would have “failed the people”.
However, when the session ended on June 20th, the governor had nothing but praise for the legislature, including the Senate Republicans and the Independent Democrats after agreements on the heroin package, and a limited plan to allow medical marijuana. Cuomo spoke in a conference call to announce a bond rating upgrade for the state.
“We have a cherry on the cake for what was really a great few weeks for the state of New York,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo was asked about the mixed messages. He says “two facts can co exist”, and that while he is pleased with the agreements that did come together, he’s dissatisfied that other issues were left on the table.
“I would like to see this state pass them,” said Cuomo, who says “obviously” it requires a different legislature to do so.
“That’s what I’m going to work towards,” he said.
There is some pressure on the Independent Democrats to reunite with the rest of the Democrats in the next couple of weeks. Senator Klein and two other members of the break away Democratic group face primary challenges from opponents who want a unified Senate Democratic conference. The deadline for filing the nominating petitions for the September primary is July 10th. It’s possible that if the IDC splits from the Republicans and rejoins the Senate Democrats, than some of those primary challenges could disappear.
