Jeff Klein

Here’s an invitation for a Sex and the City-inspired fund-raiser on May 29 for Democratic City Council candidate Alfonso Quiroz of Jackson Heights.
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Jeff Klein, the hotelier behind the prim City Club, doesn’t have much nostalgia for the gritty, arty days of the old Chelsea. “Not really,” he said from L.A.

So Mr.  read more »

The Times Union offered a gift of sorts to Democrats in the state Senate queasy about voting to allow illegal immigrant to obtain a driver’s license. By reporting on the technological difficulties some DMV machines have in detecting phony documents, senators can now, legitimately, say they oppose the plan because the technology isn’t there yet.

That’s how Jeff Klein had previously hedged his concerns about the issue before voting against the measure.

Seven other Democrats joined him.

I just got off the phone with Tom Staudter, a spokesman for one of them, Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

At first, he pointed to the TU story and the technological troubles as the reason for Stewart-Cousins’ objection.

But when those kinks get worked out, I asked, would she support it?

“She still has a problem, in a sense, giving people a privilege that is conferred by the state,” Staudter told me. “The other thing is she is still looking at the plan.”

Here’s a photo of state Senators Malcolm Smith and Jeff Klein with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during their trip to DC yesterday.

Earlier, I asked Klein, a Democrat from the Bronx, about Eliot Spitzer’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to obtain a state driver’s license. He told me, “I think it is only useful if it is used as a means to create a database of people we know nothing about. And if that’s not the case, I wouldn’t be in favor of it.”

More of his comments are after the jump.  read more »

A mustachioed man in a tan trench coat milled anxiously outside the newly reopened Cafe Fonduta at 1  read more »

Here is an interesting example of how closely Eliot Spitzer is working with state Senate Democrats: he's helping fund projects in their districts.

Saying the money is a "slush fund" that came from unspent resources from the Pataki administration is sort of shocking. But the idea of a governor helping lawmakers in his party that are stuck in the minority conference is a no-brainer.

"I haven't seen anything direct like a hand out," said Senator Jeff Klein of the Bronx told me in a brief telephone chat yesterday.

"You now have an ally and there are certain projects where the state awards. There's all kinds of applications, grant proposals that various entities, not for profits, municipalities apply for and I think now that its important, that it'll be helpful that now, Democratic senators can be part of the process and hope and hope our districts are taken care of."

Taken care of. But not in the wrong way.

"I read the Sun article as 'Here's a million dollars, go and spend it.' Which clearly is not the case."

-- Azi Paybarah

It’s World Cup time, and soccer is coming of age in New York.   Sort of.    read more »

In case you were wondering why a guy like David Paterson would want to leave the elevated job of Senate Minority Leader, a frustrated Democrat emails over a note that a prominent Republican, Dean Skelos, just introduced a near-copy (S6524) of a sex-crime bill introduced last year by two Democrats, Diane Savino and Jeff Klein. (The original is S2695).

Skelos, and the Republicans, will of course get the credit if it passes. Which is why it's nice to be in the majority.  read more »

"Typical albany bullshit!" grumbles the Democrat.