Riverdalians await Klein's next move

While last week’s general election results have thrown state Sen. Jeff Klein’s standing in Albany into serious question, his place in the hearts of many northwest Bronxites seems safe for now.

Over the summer, Mr. Klein said his group of breakaway Democrats, the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), would form a coalition with the mainstream Democratic Conference after this month’s vote, ending a roughly two-year coalition between the IDC and Republicans.

That campaign promise became a defining issue of this year’s elections.  

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Working Families Party, among others, had threatened to support Mr. Klein’s challenger, Riverdale’s former Councilman Oliver Koppell, if Mr. Klein maintained his alliance with Republican state Sen. Dean Skelos and his conference.

But on Nov. 4, the general election gave Republicans an outright majority of 32 seats in the 63-seat Senate — meaning Mr. Klein would be unable to become Senate leader even if he joined forces with the Democrats.

It remains to be seen what role Mr. Klein — who easily defeated little-known Conservative, Green and Republican challengers with 86 percent of the vote on Nov. 4 — will find in the next Senate session, but he has indicated he now wants to maintain some form of alliance with Senate Republicans.

“I’ve had a great working relationship with Sen. Skelos. I hope that continues,” Mr. Klein, who did not answer an interview request for this article, told NY1 on Saturday. “And I hope he agrees with me that a coalition government was not only good over the last two years, but is something that I think really works very, very well in the months and years ahead.”

On Sunday, Capital New York quoted him as saying his main priority is making sure the IDC — which currently has five total members and may gain at least one other, state Sen. Jesse Hamilton of Brooklyn — remains a separate conference.

“If it’s with the Democrats, if it’s with the Republicans, I think the most important thing is that we have the IDC as a separate conference,” Mr. Klein said of a possible alliance.