Some Democrats in the state Senate have apparently had enough of the leadership that brought New York the last two years of…gridlock? Dysfunction? A Return to a Republican majority?<\/p>\n
Led by Bronx Sen. Jeff Klein, they’re forming a new independent Democratic caucus.<\/p>\n
Karen DeWitt filed this story<\/a> with us:<\/p>\n The Senate Democratic conference, now in the minority in that house- just got four seats smaller. A new faction of Democrats, saying Senator John Sampson has \u201cfailed,\u201d announced they are forming their own independent Democratic caucus.<\/p>\n Senator Jeff Klein of the Bronx, who was recently stripped of his job as Senate campaign manager, was joined by David Valesky of Syracuse, Diane Savino of\u00a0 Staten Island, and David Carlucci of the Hudson Valley. The four said said they can no longer support the present Democratic leadership of John Sampson.<\/p>\n \u201cSenator Sampson has failed to move forward a legislative agenda, when he was majority conference leader that New Yorker\u2019s care about,\u201d said Klein. \u201cNow in the minority, I don\u2019t believe he\u2019s going to be able to make compelling argument why Democrats should be returned to power.\u201d<\/p>\n The Senators offered a scathing assessment of Democratic leadership, saying they overspent their own budget by more than $43 million, while cutting aid to schools and the needy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n