The State Capitol, Albany NY.

ALBANY – A group of breakaway Democrats will stick with Republicans who control the state Senate, continuing a coalition that has helped to keep the GOP in charge of the 63-member chamber despite their showing in the November elections.

The Independent Democratic Conference said Monday that its seven members will join with the GOP to form a majority coalition because “we know how important it is to engage and get things done,’’ said Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), head of the group.

Six lawmakers from downstate and one from upstate make up the group.

As a result the Senate will continue to be led by Senator John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County). Keeping control of the Senate also means that Chautauqua County’s representative in the upper Chamber, Cathy Young (R-Olean), will continue to keep her position as chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

The state Legislature will return Wednesday for a six-month session that will be stressed by a strained relationship with Gov. Andrew Cuomo after its first pay raise in 17 years was scuttled.

Key issues that will be focused on during the next six months will be the State Budget, ethics reform, and the legalization of ride-hailing services, such as Uber and Lyft, in upstate.

The associated press is reporting that despite an earlier promise to work with traditional Democrats, the five-member Independent Democratic Conference is expected to again align itself with Senate Republicans during the legislative session that begins on Wednesday.

Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says Monday that the Independent Democrats’ decision was “disappointing” and would allow Republicans to block Democratic priorities. IDC leader Jeff Klein responded by saying that Stewart-Cousins is “in no position to pass judgment” since Democrats failed to win a Senate majority.

Before this year’s election, Klein had said that his group would work with Democrats this year.

Image from www.facebook.com/andrewcuomo

ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo will remain in office for four more years.

That after voters across New York went to the polls on Tuesday to vote for the top office in New York State – along with several other statewide, regional and local offices.

With nearly all election precincts reporting by the end of Election Day, Cuomo had collected about 54 percent of the statewide vote, with Republican challenger Rob Astorino of Westchester County picking up 41 percent and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins coming in a distant third with just over 5 percent.

Shortly after the close of the polls on Tuesday, the Associated Press declared Cuomo the winner. During his victory speech, the governor focused on his campaign’s rhetoric – playing up his accomplishments of the last four years, which include legislation involving property tax assistance, new jobs and on-time budgets. The governor also promised those in attendance that he was just getting started and that New Yorkers “ain’t seen nothing yet.”

The governor said during the next four years he will focus on raising the minimum wage, improving public education, fighting the local property tax burden, passing the Women’s Equality Act and passing the DREAM Act.

Schneiderman, DiNapoli Win Re-Election

In addition to Cuomo’s victory, the two other state-wide office holder also picked up re election wins for their respective offices. Both Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli will serve four more years in Albany following wins on Election night.

Schneiderman defeated Republican opponent John Cahill 58-39 percent, while DiNapoli bested his Republican opponent Robert Antonacci, 61-36 percent. It was the first re-election for both Democrats.

Reed Cruises to Third Congressional Term

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) with his family following news that he won re-election on Election Night, 2014. (photo from www.Twitter.com/TomReedCongress)

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) will remain in office for at least two more years. The two-term Republican from Corning easily defeated his lone challenger – Martha Robertson (D-Dryden) from Dryden New York – by a margin of nearly 63 to 37 percent. The unofficial Election Night total from CNN had Reed picking up more than 105,000 votes across the 23^rd Congressional District, while Robertson was able to pick up just over 63,000.

Reed fared especially well in the western section of his district, which includes Chautauqua County. He picked up an estimated 40,600 votes in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties compared to the 20,000 that Robertson Received. The only county Robertson won was her home of Tompkins County – where she received over 14,000 votes compared to just 5,700 for Reed.

GOP Retakes State Senate

While Republicans were unable to win any of the three statewide offices, the GOP did find some success in the state’s upper legislative chamber.

It appears that Republicans will once again have sole control of the state Senate with candidates picking up enough wins to attain the required 32-vote majority.

Statewide, there were enough GOP victories rolling in around 11 p.m. on Election Night for Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos to declare in a statement that “New Yorkers have chosen balance and bipartisanship over an entire state government made up of Democrats from New York City, and placed their trust in Republicans to lead the Senate.”

Democrats later conceded that they weren’t going to win the majority.

It remained unclear whether members of the Independent Democratic Conference, led by Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein, would once again join forces with the Republicans, as they have for the past two years, or ally with their minority-conference Democratic colleagues.

Locally, Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean) picked up her fifth term in office after running unopposed.

In the State Assembly, the Demcrats picked up a seat and increase their majority with 99 of the 150 seats.

Goodell, Gerace and Piazza win County-Wide Races

Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Chautauqua) and Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace (D-Jamestown) both won re-election, while Jeffrey Piazza was a four-way race to be the county’s new Family Court Judge.

In the Local elections here in Chautauqua County, it was a big night for the two candidates who hold county wide offices.

Assemblyman Andy Goodell, who’s 150^th district covers all of and only Chautauqua County, cruised to a third term in office after easily defeating democratic challenger Barrie Yochim. With all districts in the county reporting, Goodell picked up 75 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, Chautauqua County Sheriff Joseph Gerace cruised to a sixth term in office, defeating Republican Challenger Russell Payne from Frewsburg by a margin of 63 to 37 percent.

In the race for the newly created second Chautauqua County Family Court Judge position, republican Jeffrey A. Piazza of Jamestown easily defeated his three opponents. Piazza picked up 59 percent of the votes throughout the county. In addition to running as a Republican, Piazza also ran on Conservative and Independence party lines.

Democrat Sally Jaroszynski, picked up 28.5 percent of the vote, Fredonia Republican Michael J. Sullivan, who ran on the Green Party line, picked up 6.6 percent of the vote while Working Families candidate James J. Spann, received 5.81 percent of the vote.

Rankin Defeats Kresge in District 12 Special Election

The Chautauqua County Legislature will have a new member serving on the panel. Republican Elisabeth Rankin won the special election for the District 12 seat which cover the north side of Jamestown, picking up nearly 52 percent of the votes. Rankin was challenging Democrat Beth Kresge – who was appointed to the seat earlier this year after it was vacated by Fred Larson, who had to step down after being appointed as the new Jamestown city court judge.

Rankin picked up an unofficial election night total of 746 votes, compared to Kresge’s 691.

All Three State Propositions Pass

State voters were supporting all three ballot propositions, according to unofficial returns on Tuesday night.

Voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1 – the amendment that would retool the state’s redistricting practice, the once-a-decade redrawing of the state’s political districts.

And Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed Smart Schools Bond Act, Proposal 3, which would generate $2 billion to improve classroom technology and other elements of educational infrastructure, also saw approval, as did Proposal 2, the constitutional amendment that would eliminate the need for legislative bills to be printed and supplied to every lawmaker before being considered.

According to the report, an agreement was announced Wednesday afternoon by Sen. Jeff Klein, who serves as the leader of the five-member Independent Democratic Conference. Those five democrats broke away from the main conference at the beginning of 2011.

For the past two legislative sessions, the IDC has been allied with the chamber’s minority Republicans, an arrangement that has kept the chamber functioning but stymied progressive legislation dealing with reproductive rights, campaign finance overhaul, the minimum wage and more.

Klein said the IDC’s members would form a new coalition with the Senate Democratic Conference. He would retain his status as co-leader of the chamber, sharing that role with Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

There are currently 24 mainline Democrats and five IDC members in the Senate. Thirty-two members are needed to hold a majority.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Co-Leaders Dean Skelos and Jeff Klein, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver Monday issued statements regarding Moody’s Investors Service upgrading New York’s credit rating to Aa1 with stable outlook. This represents New York’s highest rating from Moody’s since 1964.

In its report, Moody’s points to New York’s sustained improvements in fiscal governance, the strength of the recent economic recovery, a strong financial position reflected in improved reserves, and reduced spending growth in line with growth in the state’s economic capacity.

A source with knowledge of the talks told the Albany Times Union that the Senate coalition was starting to show cracks over the minimum wage debate following a Wednesday budget negotiation involving Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Senate’s leadership team of Republican Dean Skelos and Independent Democratic Conference leader Jeff Klein.

Speaking to reporters in the afternoon, Klein denied any rift with Skelos.  He also praised what he described as the “framework” for a wage increase in the Senate’s one-house budget resolution, which passed Monday. It called for an increase over three years, but is silent on what the wage and its annual increases would be over the period.

Skelos has remained steadfast in the past against an increase, calling it a potential jobs-killer.

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An article today in the Albany Times Union says the tweaked rules, accompanied by a separate operating agreement, were finalized by aides to Republican Leader Dean Skelos, of Long Island, and Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein, leader of the five-member Independent Democratic Conference.

Skelos and Klein announced an alliance on Dec. 4, but until Tuesday senators in both conferences had offered only a few key adjectives about their plans to run the chamber in a coalition this year: decisions would be made in a “joint” and “equal” manner.

The unprecedented deal will see control of the Senate shared between the 31-member Republican conference and the five-member IDC.

According to the Albany Times Union, the basics of the arrangement were laid out Tuesday afternoon in a joint news release from the two conferences: Klein and Skelos will “administer joint and equal authority” over the flow of legislation, as well as negotiations over the state budget, appointments to state and local boards, and leadership and committee assignments for their respective conferences.

The new agreement will also “provide for a process” by which the title of temporary president — a singular role required by the state constitution — will alternate between the two conference leaders every two weeks. The agreement will become part of the Senate’s rules for the upcoming legislative session, with the participants referred to as the Senate Majority Coalition.

Good-government advocates said the real test of the coalition would come with the start of session, when the participants will have to divvy up resources and finalize a set of rules for moving legislation through the Senate committee system.

In the statement, each side lavished praise on the other, and on Gov. Andrew Cuomo as their mutual partner. But not everyone was pleased. Democratic spokesman Michael Murphy said it was not a coalition but a coup against all New Yorkers who voted for Democratic control of the Senate.

Under the current alignments, mainline Democrats will hold 25 seats. Two Senate races are currently unresolved: one in which Democrat Terry Gipson holds a comfortable lead over Steve Saland in the Hudson Valley; and the 46th District race between Cecilia Tkaczyk and Assemblyman George Amedore, where court arguments over contested ballots continued Tuesday.