As reported by The New York Times on 11.28.17:
ALBANY — There might kind of, sort of, be a possible deal to unite Democrats, and conceivably give them a majority, in the State Senate, pending just a few caveats: a pair of special elections, the party’s 2018 fortunes at the ballot box, and an ambivalent, politically polymorphous senator from Brooklyn and his obsession with school security.
On Tuesday, Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, the leader of the renegade Independent Democratic Conference, signaled his intent to work together with the 23-member Senate Democratic Conference — seemingly pausing several years of strife that has helped the Republicans control the Senate.
Yet, as always, there remained a swirl of questions and uncertainty.
The combination of the two Democratic clans would still leave the party just short of a 32-seat majority, because of the long-running defection of Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who nonetheless says he has no alliance to any party. As such, he has caucused with Republicans since his election in 2012, saying it favors his constituents.
On Tuesday, Mr. Felder reiterated that position — “I’m lucky to represent a district that really doesn’t care about party affiliations,” he said — but added that he could be swayed to join Democrats, or stay with Republicans, if either side embraces a plan to put armed guards at every city school. “That’s very meaningful to me,” he said, in a phone interview.
Whether such an idea would find a majority of votes in the Assembly — the measure passed in the Senate, with almost unanimous Republican support and some Democratic opposition — is unclear. But Mr. Felder seems well aware that he could be a very influential pivot vote in a divided Senate.
“You don’t need to be a C.P.A. to count to 32,” he said, adding, “Numbers matter; I’d be the first to say I want to be in a position where the leverage I have, I get the most out of it.”
— Posted on 3.25.18 by JVS, backdated to 11.28.17
Felder Tracker 