ALBANY — New York Republicans are growing increasingly concerned that a tax reform plan under discussion in Congress could become another big obstacle to their party’s efforts to hang on to a slim majority in the state Senate.
Different versions of the plan include provisions to either eliminate or scale back the deductibility of state and local property taxes. The move would particularly harm residents of Long Island and Westchester County, which are considered key battlegrounds for the 2018 state Senate races.
And even though GOP state legislators have nothing to do with the tax reform bill, one downstate Republican senator fears they could still be hurt because “it’s known as the Republicans’ plan.”
The Senate currently represents the last bastion of Republican power in state government.
“It’s a concern of mine, certainly,” U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan (R-Staten Island, photo inset) said of the impact that eliminating or changing the deduction could have on the races. “The Republican Senate has been keeping a lot of the core beliefs of our party from falling apart in the state.”
Many Republicans are already jittery after the party on Tuesday lost county executive races in Nassau and Westchester counties and, for the first time in a century, the Hempstead, L.I., town supervisor position.
“Between the President’s unpopularity, the tax plan and who knows what else is coming down the pike, it could be a problem,” the downstate senator said.
U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican opposing changes to the deductibility of state and local taxes, says he has discussed the issue several times with state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County).
“He’s very serious about this,” King said.
Asked if Flanagan expressed specific concerns about the effect on the state Senate, King said, “To me, it’s always been implied. This would be devastating to our constituents and, politically, to the Republican Party.”
Currently, the Republicans have 31 members in the 63-seat chamber, but hold a slim majority thanks to Sen. Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who caucuses with the GOP. The Senate Republicans are also helped by a group of eight other breakaway Dems aligned with them.
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Blue wave? What blue wave???
In the wake of high-profile Republican election losses on Long Island and in Westchester County last Tuesday, a defiant state GOP Party Chairman Ed Cox still insists the party is poised for big wins in 2018.
“If I was a Democrat thinking about running for statewide office, I’d be very nervous,” Cox said.
Reminded the Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in New York since 2002, Cox said: “There are cycles.”
Even some Republicans aren’t buying it.
“He loses credibility with the press — and even with us — when he says things like that,” one Republican county chairman said.
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Bronx Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda plans to run for the state Senate if Gov. Cuomo calls for a special election to fill the seat of Sen. Ruben Diaz, a Democrat resigning at the end of the year to become a city councilman, a source close to Sepulveda says.
The Bronx Democratic committee would pick the candidate if there is a special election.
A source said the assemblyman recently met with the head of the Independent Democratic Conference — a group of eight breakaway Democrats — to discuss the possibility of joining them should he win, but Sepulveda indicated he would be joining the mainline Dems.
Meanwhile, in Westchester County, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano is contemplating seeking the Democratic nomination if Cuomo calls for a special election to fill the Senate seat being vacated by fellow Dem George Latimer, who won his county executive race last week, sources close to him say.
If elected, Spano — who cannot run for mayor again because of term limits — would have to work with Senate Democratic leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who won her seat by beating Spano’s brother, Nick.
Regardless, Spano, who like Sepulveda is close to members of the breakaway Democrats, would caucus with the mainline group, a source said.
Assemblywoman Shelley Mayer, a former Senate Democratic counsel, and Kat Brezler, a White Plains Bernie Sanders organizer, have also been mentioned as possible candidates.
Some insiders say Cuomo would like to see Spano in the seat. But a source close to the Yonkers mayor said the governor and Spano have not spoken about it.
