Independent Democratic Conference: Traitors in the NY State Senate
With so much of the media focus on national politics and the Trump administration, state-level politics are often overlooked. New York, my home state, has quite an interesting political arrangement of which many are not aware. First, some background on New York and its status as a blue state. In presidential races, “New York has not voted for a Republican since Ronald Reagan in 1984. With 29 electoral votes, it is tied with Florida as the third-largest Electoral College prize. Barack Obama won New York in 2012 by 28.1 percentage points.” (1) In the 2016 presidential elections, Hillary Clinton also won New York State by a sizable margin:
Candidate Party Votes Pct. E.V.
Hillary Clinton Democrat 4,556,124 59.0% 29
Donald J. Trump Republican 2,819,534 36.5%
Gary Johnson Libertarian 176,598 2.3%
Jill Stein Green 107,934 1.4%
Others Independent 61,263 0.8%
When the presidential vote is analyzed at the county level, suddenly New York does not seem so blue. Referring to the election map below, much of the state voted for Donald Trump as indicated by the pink and red counties. The deeper the red, the more heavily the votes went for Trump. The blue counties voted for Hillary Clinton. The deeper the blue, the more heavily the votes went for Clinton. It is important to note that many of the blue counties include the largest and most populous cities in the state, such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and New York City. This reinforces the urban vs. suburban/rural divide in the electorate with urban centers overwhelmingly voting Democratic and suburban and rural centers voting more reliably Republican.
(3 - http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2016/11/09/new-york-state-presidential-election-2016-county-r)
Here is where it gets more interesting. Currently, in the 63-member senate there are 32 Democratic state senators and 31 Republican state senators. Technically, that would be a Democratic majority, but Democratic senator Simcha Felder of Queens, votes with Republicans and has never caucused with members of his own party. (4) That puts the majority in favor of Republicans 32-31, but wait it gets worse.
There is a group of eight Democratic senators that formed a group called the Independent Democratic Conference. This group aligns with Republicans and votes along Republican Party lines. On the surface, it may seem like a cross-party cooperative effort to break through partisan gridlock and actually pass legislation, but that would be a mischaracterization of the arrangement between these strange bedfellows. In reality, “IDC members get personal perks and district-specific goodies while statewide progressive legislation lingers.” (5) The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) is described by http://www.noidcny.org/ as:
…a group of NY State Senators who were elected to office as Democrats but align with Republicans.
In 2012, Democrats won a majority of seats in the State Senate, but the IDC broke away from the main Democratic conference to give Republicans control of the Senate. (6)
Democrats also held a majority of Senate seats after winning a Special Election in 2016, and once again after the 2016 election, but Republicans have remained in charge through their alliance with rogue Democrats. (7)
Taking into account Simcha Felder and the IDC, there is a grand total of 9 Republican wolves in sheep’s clothing. That brings the Republican majority to 40-23 in a state where they technically do not hold the majority of seats. “The Senate Republicans whom the IDC has empowered are among Donald Trump’s earliest and most ardent supporters and his closest ideological allies in New York State.” (8) “The Senate Republican conference is 100% anti-choice and anti-LGBT, opposes the NY DREAM Act, opposes criminal justice reform, and opposes campaign finance reform, all while promoting anti-immigrant legislation that could have been written by Steve Bannon. (9)(10)
IDC Senators function as infiltrators, using Democratic Party funding and voter support to win, then turning their allegiance to Republicans. It is a bait-and-switch. IDC Senators often co-sponsor the very legislation they help to kill, thus claiming false support for progressive issues & saying the voters misunderstand their records. Their betrayal of the Democratic Party has handed the majority to Republicans although that is not what was decided by the electorate. Meanwhile, they are denying Democratic Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins what should be her role as the first black, female Majority leader. Healthcare, education funding, reproductive choice, prison reform, election reform & many other issues get passed year after year in the Assembly, only to die in the Senate.
The Democratic voters of New York should take action if they want to change this arrangement and remove the Independent Democratic Conference from power. The next election for New York State Senate will be held November 6, 2018, and will be preceded by party primaries. The IDC needs to be unseated in the primary. Then TRUE Democrats can face the Republicans in the general election. Action is needed now if there is going to be a change. Democrats that will oppose IDC candidates need support in the form of donations and volunteers. Registered Democratic voters also need to be active and vocal, contacting your senators and representatives and expressing your opposition to IDC candidates. Shame the IDC, and support their opponents. Below is a list of the New York State Senators that are members of the IDC taken from http://www.noidcny.org/:
Marisol Alcantara
District 31, Manhattan
DISTRICT OFFICE
5030 Broadway Suite 701 & 702 New York, NY 10034 Phone: 212-544-0173
ALBANY OFFICE
Legislative Office Bldg. Room 311 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2041
EMAIL ADDRESS
alcantara@nysenate.gov
Tony Avella
District 11, Queens
Contact information:
ALBANY OFFICE
Room 902, LOB Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2210 Fax: 518-426-6736
DISTRICT OFFICE
38-50 Bell Boulevard Suite C Bayside, NY 11361 Phone: 718-357-3094 Fax: 718-357-3491
EMAIL ADDRESS
avella@nysenate.gov
David Carlucci
District 38, Rockland
ROCKLAND DISTRICT OFFICE
20 South Main Street New City, NY 10956 Phone: 845-623-3627 Fax: 845-708-7701
OSSINING DISTRICT OFFICE
2 Church Street Ossining, NY 10562 Phone: 914-941-2041 Fax: 914-941-2054
ALBANY OFFICE
181 State Street 509 Legislative Office Building Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2991 Fax: 518-426-6737
EMAIL ADDRESS
carlucci@nysenate.gov
Jesse Hamilton
District 20, Central Brooklyn
Contact information:
DISTRICT OFFICE
1669 Bedford Avenue, 2nd Floor & Mezzanine Brooklyn, NY 11225 Phone: 718-284-4700 Fax: 718-282-3585
ALBANY OFFICE
Legislative Office Building, Room 915 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2431 Fax: 518-426-6856
EMAIL ADDRESS:
Hamilton@nysenate.gov
Jeff Klein
District 34, Bronx
DISTRICT OFFICE
1250 Waters Place, Suite 1202 Bronx, NY 10461 Phone: (718) 822-2049 Fax: (718) 822-2321
ALBANY OFFICE
Legislative Office Building, Room 913 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-3595
EMAIL ADDRESS
jdklein@nysenate.gov
Jose Peralta
13th District (Queens)
ALBANY OFFICE
188 State Street Room 415, Legislative Office Building Albany, NY 12247 Phone: (518) 455-2529 Fax: (518) 426-6909
DISTRICT OFFICE
32-37 Junction Boulevard East Elmhurst, NY 11369 Phone: (718) 205-3881 Fax: (718) 205-4145
EMAIL ADDRESS
jperalta@nysenate.gov
Diane Savino
District 23, Staten Island and Brooklyn
DISTRICT OFFICE
36 Richmond Terrace Suite 112 Staten Island, NY 10301 Phone: (718) 727-9406 Fax: (718) 727-9426
DISTRICT OFFICE 2
2872 West 15th Street Brooklyn, NY 11224-2602 Phone: (718) 333-0311 Fax: (347) 492-3263
ALBANY OFFICE
315 Legislative Office Bldg Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2437 Fax: 518-426-6943
EMAIL ADDRESS
savino@senate.state.ny.us
David Valesky
District 53, Onondaga
DISTRICT OFFICE
333 East Washington Street 805 State Office Building Syracuse, NY 13202 Phone: 315-478-8745 Fax: 315-474-3804
ALBANY OFFICE
State Street CAP Room 514 Albany, NY 12247 Phone: 518-455-2838 Fax: 518-426-6885
EMAIL ADDRESS
valesky@nysenate.gov
IDC Senators MUST vote Democratic or be removed from office!!! Act now!!!
9 - http://nypost.com/2017/01/29/senate-proposes-bill-to-prevent-destruction-of-municipal-id-records/
