NY Senate GOP Backs Deal With Breakaway Democrats

The unusual power-sharing arrangement in the New York state Senate between Republicans and a splinter faction of Democrats will continue despite the GOP’s gains, the chamber’s top Republican said Monday.
NY Senate GOP Backs Deal With Breakaway Democrats
Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos in Rye Brook, N.Y., on May 15, 2014. Skelos announced he would support legislative pay raises for lawmakers and state commissioners if the question came up in a lame-duck session this year. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
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ALBANY, N.Y.—The unusual power-sharing arrangement in the New York state Senate between Republicans and a splinter faction of Democrats will continue despite the GOP’s gains, the chamber’s top Republican said Monday.

Following a closed-door meeting with fellow Republican lawmakers, Senate Leader Dean Skelos also announced he would support legislative pay raises for lawmakers and state commissioners if the question came up in a lame-duck session this year.

The Senate had been led by a coalition of Republicans and the breakaway Independent Democrats, but Republicans won the majority outright in the Nov. 4 elections and will hold 32 seats in the 63-member chamber come January. 

The gains prompted speculation that Senate Republicans would brush off the five-member Independent Democratic Conference.

Skelos said he and Sen. Jeff Klein, who leads the IDC, will work out the details of the arrangement. Republican senators unanimously re-elected Skelos to his leadership position on Monday.

Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre in Albany, N.Y., on June 18, 2014. Skelos announced he would support legislative pay raises for lawmakers and state commissioners if the question came up in a lame-duck session this year. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre in Albany, N.Y., on June 18, 2014. Skelos announced he would support legislative pay raises for lawmakers and state commissioners if the question came up in a lame-duck session this year. AP Photo/Mike Groll