Nice to see the dirty smear campaigning orchestrated by Killian fail miserably. As to Felder, it seems clear his party affiliation is Shas, not Democrat or Republican.
The article should mention that the thing Felder wants to win for his community is an exemption for Jewish religious schools to grossly neglect the secular education their children. They tech nothing of English, science, social studies, etc. Just religion. The Jewish kids emerge from Yeshiva poorly equipped to function in the working world. They are taught how to maximize their dependance on public assistance. It is a terrible disservice to these kids. They can barely read and write in English. People outside the Yeshiva world have no idea how messed up it is. It’s designed to keep them where they are. It’s sick.
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Felder is not a democrat. He should give up his seat and join in with Trump and his cronies. Add to the mess in Washington.
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I find it beyond absurd that a State Senator elected as a Democrat, but who consistently caucuses with the Republicans, thereby holding the balance of power in the Senate, is permitted to call himself a Democrat. The Democratic party, if it has any self-respect, should kick this guy off the ballot as a Democrat. Democrats in the State Senate should strip him of any committee assignments he may hold as a Democrat. Let him run in the next and subsequent elections as a Republican or Independent, or as the candidate of the Felder for Monkeywrench Party, just not as a Democrat.
This article does nothing to explain Felder’s reasoning or politics. Some background and context please!
SIMSHA FELDER must go! Let's put our money and voting power behind his primary opponent.Felder is an opportunist who gets elected by DEMOCRATIC MONEY.He should be honest for once and run as the Republican he is.
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I know Felder doesn't care what I think (he doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks), but he should resign. The man is a compulsive liar, which I know is in fashion; but, please, enough of the hypocrisy already.
Felder is a conservative moocher. Traditional values financed through tax dollars. It's a con.
Guess they won't be investigating Jeff Klein anytime soon.....; What is Felder's motivation?
Felder is a disgrace. Her wants to be a power broker not an honest trader.
Congratulations to Shelley Mayer! The 37th deserves someone as great as she is! Good luck and do your best, Shelley!
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Why doesn't Felder just switch parties? It's not like his base isn't already on the other side.
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It’s pretty hard to avoid Mr Felders image as he sells out his party for his own personal power. It’s not a good image for him or those he represents.
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"In addition, nine vacant Assembly seats, from Long Island to South Buffalo, were decided in the special election"
Do you think that, just as a nod to the rest of the state, that the results of these elections might be mentioned somewhere?
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Meet the candidate who is challenging Felder in the Democratic primary: Blake Morris
https://www.blakemorrisforstatesenate.com/
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Thanks for the link.I just made a donation to the Morris campaign.
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Felder should be kicked out of the party with great fanfare. With friends like him, who needs enemies. I implore my party, regardless of the political cost or implications, stand up and toss this guy overboard.
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Felder pretends he's taking the high ground, commenting on "political gamesmanship," yet he's playing the biggest game of all: He's getting whatever he wants from the GOP, so they can effectively serve as the majority. Meanwhile, he keeps Dems' hopes up by intimating he'd consider another arrangement after session ends. What baloney. He's interested in power, not service to his community.
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Are the Democrats going to run an actual democrat against Felder? Seems she ought to have the party spend millions on a primary to unseat her to send a strong message
7
Thank you and stay strong Simcha Felder!
A concerned New York Taxpayer
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The fact that Felder flipped right after the election tells me that there is money involved. t is highly suspicious and should be investigated. Anyway why can he still be a party memeber when he is always double crossing the party and the voters?
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At this point, Democrats in New York State need to forget about Simcha Felder and concentrate on unseating Republicans in upstate regions. It is a matter of time before Democrats flip the Senate without Mr. Felder. Between April 1, 2010 and July 1, 2016, the population of New York State grew by 367,179 people, of which 362,711 moved into New York City. Once the Senate does flip, Mr. Felder should be frozen out of decision-making in the Senate.
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We suffered through this same scenario here in Washington state a couple of years ago when two Demopublicans decided to caucus with the GOP. It took the death of a republican state senator and a special election to give control back to the Dems.
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New York: If you think your state and local taxes are high now, just wait. The new Democrat controlled State Senate is chomping at the bit to increase your taxes so as to pander to their special interest voters. That includes the teachers unions, public workers unions, and the bloated state and local governments who feed off of your hard working tax dollars, and whose benefit plans are bankrupting us at the state and local level. The exodus of homeowners from New York will accelerate when these people go to work on your wallet.
5
Teachers are not a “special interest”. They are responsible for educating the future adults of America, which is in the interest of everyone.
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I'm not aware of anyone I know leaving New York any time soon. Taxes are the dues we pay to belong to the organization (our cities, states, and the country) and to tell the truth I'm happy to pay to help finance our city and state educational systems. My kid got a beyond-first-rate education in New York City and at SUNY.
There are places where taxes are lower, you may be interested in relocating to say, Kansas...or Somalia.
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We do have high taxes but not enough of them in the right places. De Blasio never got the millionaires tax b/c of Cuomo, congestion pricing is not yet in place. There are ways to raise tax revenue without punishing the middle class, hopefully a progressive state government will do that.
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The Democrats should cut him loose. At least let the Republicans pay for his campaign if he's a Republican for all intents and purposes.
And from his perspective, assuming the Democrats win a true majority in the midterms, he will have lost all leverage. If he wants to use his swing position, he should do it now. Make a deal and get something for his constituents.
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He got what he wanted for his constituents which is why he cauces with the repubs. That is for Yeshiva's to have the right to not educate boys to the standards of public school. Thus giving NYC a huge population of englsih illiterate men who are are devoutly religious. It's a shanda in my opinion but it is most definitely the reason he was elected.
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The "handwriting is on the wall" for renegade Democrats and Republicans in deep blue New York. A blue tsunami here is about to sweep them all out of office as the anti-Trump rebellion sweeps across the state and the country. Mr. Felder has just a few months of mischief left before November. It's time for the opposition to the regressive and repressive policies of the Trump administration and its Republican enablers to seize control of the state and of Congress.
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Felder switched party loyalties hours after winning election. He played the people of his district by running as a democrat with every intention of caucusing with the republicans. He is the kind of duplicitous, hypocritical politician that the republicans welcome with open arms. It is time to vote him out.
82
We had same thing happen several times here in Georgia several years ago...Republicans running as a Democrat then flipping back to a Repug after winning election. It was an intentional act of deceit.
6
Felder should be impeached or forced to change his party designation. A special election should then be drawn up so that the IDC can be dismantled once and for all.
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There's the primary coming up in September.
Blake Morris is challenging Felder:
https://www.blakemorrisforstatesenate.com/
11
All sounds very Democratic - sarcasm and pun intended.
1
Should we also burn and torture those that don't believe in your political point of view?
Oy vay.
2
I believe the time has come for Democrats to cut their ties to Felder. He obviously is in this for himself, and we have too many representatives in Albany that are like that. All funding from Democratic organizations should stop sending him money, and Brooklyn Democrats should field a qualified candidate who cares for his/her community above being drunk with power. A primary is in order to correct this madness.
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Now we need to elect an actual democrat in Felder's district.
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The Democratic Party in Brooklyn needs to back-up another candidate other than Mr. Felder. Will the party do that??
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To you and Adam- he represents a district where that doesn't matter.
And a renegade- once in a while- is good to break party power.
1
Unless a candidate holds the same religious beliefs, they'll have no chance of being elected in the community he covers.
The Democrats need to take away all of Mr. Felder's DNC funding if they haven't already. I am sure there are other punitive actions that the party can take but they haven't been willing to put pressure on the IDC until fairly recently. It is an outrage. If he wants to govern like a Republican, than he should be a Republican.
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Mr. Felder needs to get with the program or switch parties altogether. He clearly hasn't gotten he message.
It's up to voters now.
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Sorry, his district overwhelmingly supports his move. If the Democrats don't like it, they can try to vote him out. He will still win.
2
DEms need to reject him in any reelection bid. Perhaps he would win again as a GOPer though.
6
Then he should do the honorable thing, switch parties, resign because his District elected a Republican and run against a true Democrat. If what you say about community support for this career pol is right, then his party affiliation shouldn't matter. He claims the Democratic mantle because he's selfish. Be a mensch, Felder- resign!
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