Senate Majority Co-Leader Jeff Klein on the Future of the IDC

At the Independent Democratic Conference’s party last night at the SOMOS conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, City & State’s Editor Morgan Pehme and Albany Correspondent Ashley Hupfl sat down with Senate Majority Coalition Co-Leader Jeff Klein for an exclusive interview about the outcome of last week’s election and the future of the IDC.

City & State: It’s a new day in the State Senate. Is it a brighter one?

Jeff Klein: We’ve always been clear as far as the Independent Democratic Conference and certainly my role in founding it. We wanted to make the State Senate work. We wanted to move forward with the legislative agenda—and I know that sounds like something that should be easy, but clearly in the dark days of yesteryear that wasn’t the case. We couldn’t form a legislative agenda, we couldn’t come together—forget about a bi-partisan fashion—we couldn’t come up with a Democratic message and I think we’ve really accomplished a lot over the last four years, especially in the last two years in this very new coalition government—the first time in the Senate history in 125 years and I’m very proud of that. Because, you know, I love public service and I love my service in the Senate and when we formed the IDC, it was really out of frustration that government wasn’t working, we weren’t listening to the people who sent us to Albany—and yes, they’re Democrats, they’re Republicans and I’m a Democrat and always will be and I want to elect Democrats during election time. But when the dust settles on an election it’s time to govern and I think that’s what we’ve accomplished and I think we were able to initiate and move forward important Democratic legislative accomplishments, like the SAFE Act, like increasing the minimum wage to nine dollars, helping seniors with high prescription drug cost by extending the EPIC program, helping seniors with increased minimum rents, putting forward affordable housing. And I think now, what I want to make sure the IDC does is remain a separate conference. We’ve worked too hard to just give that up. And yes, we’re always going to be Democrats, and yes, we want to make sure Democrats get elected during election time, but right now I think it’s very important the IDC remain a separate conference and I hope we can accomplish that when the dust settles on this new legislative session.

City & State: Do you think the coalition is going to look the same as it has looked in the last session, or is the IDC going to have the favored nation status that you had once before?

JK: I’m not really sure, but I just want to set the record straight and be clear. There’s a lot of talk about what we agreed to. When this whole coalition came about, led by Mayor de Blasio—the governor of course had a role—this was about a Democratic majority, this was about the IDC and the Senate Democrats having a coalition government with myself and Andrea Stewart-Cousins as co-leaders if there was a Democratic majority. We never said we were just going to fold our tent and go into the Democratic conference—we worked too hard to do that. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. I know I worked hard to make sure we elected Democrats, but I think we have to take a step back as Democrats and I think not only our message, but what really what we stand for in New York—and certainly nationally, but I’m concerned about New York—didn’t resonate with voters. If you sit back—and I represent portions of Westchester County, so I do watch the TV commercials, News 12 Westchester and everything else—when you see that the Republicans turned around and tied our loss in the Senate to issues that the Senate Democrats talked about constantly and the things they didn’t get done and it was used against us, I think we have to take a step back.

They didn’t have to lie about the Democratic agenda. Instead of talking about that we passed the SAFE Act—the toughest, most comprehensive gun law in the nation—that we did increase the minimum wage to nine dollars, that we did initiate affordable housing, that we made government work by passing four consecutive on-time budgets—that was a message to get reelected on. Instead, they chose to talk about the things we didn’t get done: the DREAM Act. I support the DREAM Act, no one should stand in the way of a kid’s education, it’s not even an immigration issue—it’s an education issue. But, when a family outside of New York, and even in New York City for that matter, can’t afford to send their kid to college, they’re not ready to make sure that someone else is going to get a benefit that they don’t have. When they’re talking about campaign finance reform, where you’re going to spend $300 million to fund elected officials’ campaigns and [New Yorkers are] trying to make ends meet, that’s not something they can wrap their arms around.

So, when the Senate Republicans sent out fliers and put out TV commercials saying, This is [the Democrats’] record, and they weren’t lying about it, and [that record] was rejected by the voters, it’s time for us to take a step back and really ground ourselves. We forget we’re the party of Roosevelt, Kennedy and Bill Clinton. That we’re about helping the many, not the few. I think we do that by lowering taxes, by creating jobs, by increasing government as far as helping families. That’s the message I think we need, and that’s the message, by the way, that’s been successful for Democrats since the beginning of time.

C&S: Did the regular Democrats not uphold their side of the bargain by running Oliver Koppell and John Liu? 

JK: That, to me, was certainly not a deal-breaker. I won my primary overwhelmingly—close to 70 percent. Tony Avella was re-elected against John Liu, who certainly is a household name in New York City, but what I think it did was, it validated us. Forget about the general election, it showed that the IDC could run on our records in a Democratic primary among Democrats and be validated. So, when the dust settled on our primaries I think it was incumbent on the Senate Democrats to say, “Hey, wait a minute, these guys may be on to something.” They just won Democratic primaries. They were called traitors, they were called “less-than-Democrats,” they were called “Democratic wannabes,” “Republicans in sheep’s clothing,” whatever you want to call it—and they won!” Because we ran on our records and really accomplishing core Democratic accomplishments, so I think that was their mistake, that was their error. But I think moving forward, I think as Democrats we have to really talk about a message that resonates with voters. I think right now, the only thing I can say is I’m not closing the door on any option for the Independent Democratic Conference. I think what we really have to make sure happens is that it remains a separate Democratic conference. I think it’s just a great governing model.

You’re going to see in Washington [D.C.] now that unfortunately the Democrats lost the [U.S.] Senate, they lost more seats in the House [of Representatives], that’s not going to be good governing. Republicans aren’t going to say, “Hey, let’s govern in a bipartisan fashion.” No. They’re going to push forward their agenda, which I think is wrong for the United States, and we didn’t do that. I think we’ve really taken a balanced approach to governing over the last two years, and I think that’s an honorable course.

If you have a Democratic majority as far as the voters of New York, it’s hard to screw it up. So, I think you’ve got to take a step back and say, “What is our message? What does it mean to be a Democrat?” To give kudos to the governor, here the governor was re-elected—not by a huge margin but I think a very comfortable one in a very tough Democratic year—[he] made government work, worked with the IDC and the Republicans in the Senate to accomplish this, worked with the Assembly to come up with four on-time budgets, the first time in 45 years—and instead of embracing the governor’s accomplishments and the IDC’s accomplishments and our accomplishments in Albany over the last four years, the Senate Democrats ran away from it somehow. So, by the way, did some of the left of our party, like the Working Families Party, and I think that didn’t help us as a party. I think if we all came together [as a party] and said, “Hey, we’re Democrats, we’re going to support our Democratic governor,” I think the governor probably would have done better and maybe would have had more coattails and maybe [as a result] helped the Senate Democrats get reelected.

C&S: Is this also about doing right by your constituents? That the IDC members can do so much more in their districts being in the majority rather than in the minority?

JK: I still always believe that all politics are local. Tip O’Neill said it many years ago, and I think he’s right. I think what happens in many cases, a lot of people think voters are stupid, they’re not sophisticated, they don’t understand. Well, you know they don’t spend as much time talking about these issues as we do in government, but they’re very, very smart. They know what they like, and you know something, when you see all these polls that were taken constantly, [asking between] the Democrats, the Republicans, Independents, Conservatives, “How do you is the best way the Senate should be governed?” It’s always the IDC and the Republicans. It’s always this coalition government between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans like it, Democrats like it, Conservatives—everyone likes it. Now of course my colleagues in the Senate Democratic Conference will say when we talk about bipartisanship, they’ll always say it’s right. No, people know when the dust settles on an election, it’s time to govern, and they don’t care how it gets done as long as it gets done. That’s really the success of our government since the beginning of time.

C&S: Is that the problem with the Democratic Party, that there’s this litmus test for what it is to be a Democrat? That they’re trying to create a monolith out of a party that should be a big tent?

JK: You’re absolutely right and I couldn’t have said it better. I’m very proud of the fact I grew up in a two-family home, my grandparents were immigrants who came to this country from Poland and Hungary, and they came for a very simple truth: to get ahead, to make a better life, not only for them, but more importantly, their family. They wanted to see the next generation get ahead. They had the opportunity in a very different time during the Roosevelt administration, all those great administrations, where government was there to help. It was there to help you buy a home, get a decent apartment, send your kids to school, even put away some money for retirement. You know something, the good old days are just that, they’re fond memories. We’re moving away from that system of governing that made the Democratic Party great. And I’ll never forget, when I turned 18, my grandfather, who was a lifelong Democrat, and the entire family [was], I asked him, “Why are we all Democrats?” And he said, “Because Democrats are people like us.” And that’s what we’re talking about, we just said it. The Democratic Party is always a big tent. That’s what made us strong, that’s what made us diverse, and that’s what made us effective during election time, and we’re moving away from that.

I’d be less than honest [not to say], when I had the attacks against me in my primary, “You blocked the DREAM Act. You blocked this, you blocked that.” I had to take a step back and say, That’s not the case. I support these issues, but we didn’t have the votes for these issues, and we probably didn’t have the votes for these issues because they don’t resonate with all voters around the State of New York. That’s why Ted O’Brien, who I think is a really good guy and a good senator, lost. Yeah, he voted against the DREAM Act, but how do you explain to the constituents any place when people are hurting, they can’t send their kids to college, that all of a sudden you’re going to give a benefit to someone other than your own family. I don’t think people are selfish, but people are concerned about their own. So, I think that’s what we have to move away from, kind of labeling people: who is a good Democrat, a progressive Democrat, a conservative Democrat, a moderate Democrat… No, we’re Democrats. And if we continue to recognize that I think we’re going to be successful as a party, we’re going to be successful in governing, and we’re going to be successful in winning elections.