Felder could become a key vote among Democrats if the party is able to claim 32 seats or more. Counting Felder and the IDC, Democrats currently hold 31 seats and the GOP 30 in a chamber that will expand to 63 seats next session.
Right after the 2012 election, the New York Daily News quoted E. O’Brien-Murray, Felder’s 2012 campaign manager, who said Felder had not decided whether to support the Republican Caucus in the New York State Senate. According to Murray, Felder would decide with whom to caucus in Albany based on what would be best for the 17th SD. Just yesterday, again quoting E. O’Brien Murray, the Republican “consultant” who managed the Felder campaign, it was indicated that the state senator-elect continues to leave open the possibility of caucusing with the Republicans. According to Murray, Democrat Felder has “made it clear he’d work with senators from any party at this point, but basically it would be incumbent upon which party is best for his district.” Murray also said, “Simcha Felder just won a seat with 67 percent of the vote. That puts him in a very strong position in any situation. In a tight Senate, that just makes it a little more powerful.” I wonder if Mr. E. O’Brien-Murray could just as easily have been talking about himself.
On November 7th Brooklyn GOP spokesperson Jacob Kornbluh wrote a very interesting piece about Mr. Obrien-Murray, calling him perhaps the most significant Republican in Brooklyn politics in 2011 and 2012. “From the Situation Room: The Man Behind Simcha Felder's Victory” is the title of Kornbluh’spiece which appeared in his blog, “Let’s Talk Dogri (straightfoward)” on 11/7/12 ; and in that post Kornbluh says that “While Simcha Felder is the ultimate winner of the 17th State Senate race last night, Murray definitely was the driving force behind the campaign.” Often referring to Mr. E.O’Brien-Murray as “OB,” Mr. Kornbluh observed that “...OB knew not to rely on the comforting advice some in the community gave his candidate, and the Republicans in Albany over the prospect of the race, and the bubble they created ...Murray took charge in setting the campaign message and outreach, fighting day and night .... OB managed to take on the big guys and a sitting State Senator with grassroots support.” And he and his candidate won.
Jon Lentz did a largely biographical article in “City and State” in which he noted that, “E. O’Brien Murray... helped Turner win a seat in Congress in a come-from-behind special election victory last year, has also served as political director for the New York Republican Party and currently is a member of the party’s advisory committee. *** Murray was also Turner’s campaign manager in the Republican primary for Kirsten Gillibrand’s U.S. Senate seat, a race that Wendy Long won ...(but in which Turner carried Brooklyn by a large margin). *** Murray has worked for candidates from other parties in the past. He worked for the Conservative Party on the Doug Hoffman race in upstate New York, and in 1992 he was campaign manager for Democrat Sandy Galef in her state Assembly race for George Pataki’s seat. But a source close to Felder’s campaign told City & State that that Murray’s decision to work for a Democrat this time around had not been especially easy.” The "decision" might also have been part of a rumored but largely credited deal between Democrat Felder and the GOP State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. The ultimate success of that "deal" for some Republicans is obviously, completely dependent on whether Skelos and the GOP are able to hold control of the New York State Senate chamber.
In the event that Simcha Felder emerges as part of a Democratic Party majority caucus in the Upper House of the New York Legislature, it would firmly establish "OB" as a Republican "Black Knight" with all of the love and affection that anyone has for a blackmailer.
Nonetheless, if State Senator Martin Golden is smart, he'll dump consultant Jeff Kraus and hire "OB"-wan ASAP, before somebody like Andrew Gounardes hires him. Since Jerry Kassar, the Conservative Party Chairman and Chief of Staff for Golden, "ultimately" (and maybe penultimately or even antipenultimately) backed Felder in the state senate race and has worked with O'Brien-Murray in some of his more notable recent successes (but not the recent Turner-Long head-to-head), that "deal" might be in the works already. But then Kraus would be available to...... Forget that, "OB"-wan probably wouldn't line up with Gounardes anyway. But then again...... who wants to work for a minority caucus state senator, like .......
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