Seward supports NY Senate GOP continuing 'some sort of partnership' with Independent Democratic Conference

November 18, 2014 6:15 am  •  Robert Harding

Thanks to election night wins in three upstate New York districts, Republicans now hold the majority in the state Senate. But does that mean they will discontinue their coalition with the Independent Democratic Conference?

The answer could be no.

After Republicans re-elected state Sen. Dean Skelos as leader of the GOP conference, the focus shifted to what to do with the power-sharing coalition, which began in 2013.

Republicans don't need the five-member IDC to hold the majority. But Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, told reporters in Albany that the Senate GOP is open to a partnership with the Independent Democrats — a sentiment shared by state Sen. Jim Seward in an interview with The Citizen.

"We've had a power-sharing coalition the last years (with the IDC) and going forward with this clear-cut Republican majority, I certainly would favor and would look to some sort of partnership with the IDC," Seward, R-Milford, said Monday.

Seward said working together with the IDC has regional importance, since state Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, is a member of the conference. But he also touted IDC-GOP partnership's successes over the past two years.

"I think we've done some good things with this coalition in a bipartisan way," he said. "I would like to see a partnership continue. I have every expectation that it will."

Skelos told the Albany press corps that he will meet with state Sen. Jeff Klein, Independent Democratic Conference leader, in the coming days to discuss the partnership.

Klein and Skelos have served as Senate co-leaders for the past two years. The coalition was first unveiled in December 2012, just weeks before the start of the 2013 legislative session.

The power-sharing agreement between the IDC and Senate Republicans has upset the mainline Senate Democratic Conference, which believes the IDC should be conferencing and working with them.

In June, the IDC announced that they would form a coalition with the Senate Democratic Conference after the election. But with Democratic incumbents losing three seats on election night — Democrats did win a state Senate seat in western New York — it appears the IDC won't be aligning themselves with the mainline Senate Democrats.

Even if the IDC-GOP coalition doesn't come with the same type of power-sharing agreement that was in place for the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions, there could be plenty of perks available for the IDC in a partnership with Republicans.

For the IDC, one benefit of a coalition with Republicans could be committee chair assignments. This was part of the power-sharing agreement over the past couple of years and one that could continue, even if the partnership with Republicans isn't the same kind of "majority coalition" that existed before.

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