The unprecedented power-sharing agreement in the New York state Senate threatens to make things awkward for one prominent political consultant.
Scott Levenson, president of the Advance Group, represents dozens of political clients, but two in particular are mainstays of his business: U.S. Rep.-elect Hakeem Jeffries and state Sen. Diane Savino. Mr. Jeffries and Ms. Savino are now on opposite sides of a fight over minorities’ role in the revamped Senate. And as tempers flare, Mr. Levenson may find himself at the center of that battle.
“That’s an uncomfortable stable of clients,” said one insider. “At some point he’ll have to deal with the tension.”
Ms. Savino is part of the five-member Independent Democratic Conference, which recently formed a governing coalition with the Senate Republicans. Mr. Jeffries, a Democrat currently in the Assembly, was one of the first officials to publicly denounce the power-sharing agreement, arguing that it would disenfranchise minority communities. He doubled down on his comments at a Sunday rally at Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, issuing a warning to the members of IDC about possible recriminations from minorities in the 2014 elections.
Three of the five members of the IDC, Ms. Savino included, represent minority-majority districts, Mr. Jeffries said. Her Brooklyn-Staten Island district is 65% black, Asian and Latino, which could hurt her in the next election, he pointed out. (The state’s redistricting committee pegs her district as 54% minority.)
“Somebody ought to remember that in 2014,” Mr. Jeffries said. “People that were elected to represent communities of color have turned around and cut a deal to undermine the interests of those very same communities.” Members of the IDC who fit that description are Ms. Savino, Queens Sen. Malcolm Smith and the conference’s chief, Jeff Klein of the Bronx, whose new constituency is 57% minority.
Ms. Savino and her fellow IDC members have dismissed such claims, pointing to the involvement Sen. Malcolm Smith, who is black, and suggesting that committee chairmanships for non-IDC Democrats are possible.
Mr. Jeffries was just elected to Congress in a district that overlaps Ms. Savino’s Senate district at the Coney Island end of Brooklyn. And as their relationship becomes more strained, Mr. Levenson could find himself dealing with the consequences.
Mr. Levenson declined to comment on the situation.
A source close to Mr. Jeffries said that while Mr. Levenson is very close with Ms. Savino, he is not the day-to-day contact for Mr. Jeffries at the Advance Group; that role is filled by Michael Gaspard, the firm’s counsel and brother of Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard.
In a statement to The Insider, Mr. Jeffries said his dislike of the situation in the Senate has not changed his commitment to work with Ms. Savino on issues important to their districts.
“Diane and I can agree to disagree about the state Senate governance issue, but we will continue to work closely together on the post-Sandy relief and recovery effort on the Coney Island peninsula, as well as other issues of importance to our community,” he said.
