Stewart-Cousins sees support for minimum-wage hike

The new Democratic leader in the state Senate, Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers), believes she can get the votes to increase the minimum wage in New York and already is picking up vital support.

One of five breakaway Democratic senators now cooperating with Republicans in a shared leadership arrangement in the Senate said Thursday he would support a minimum-wage increase.

"I look forward to working with Sen. Stewart-Cousins and legislators from both parties on issues that help move this state forward," said Sen. David Carlucci (D-Rockland/Orange). "I know that results matter, and will work with every legislator who is interested in achieving that kind of progress, such as creating jobs, raising the minimum wage, reforming stop-and-frisk and enacting serious campaign finance reform."

Stewart-Cousins was elected Monday to lead Democrats in the state Senate. She might have become the Senate's president if a group of five Democratic senators calling itself the Independent Democratic Conference, or IDC, hadn't crossed party lines earlier in December and joined Republicans to share control of the Legislature's upper chamber.

Carlucci is one of the five.

In an interview on Wednesday, Stewart-Cousins told Newsday she plans to promote good relations with the dissidents by concentrating on areas of agreement.

"On the minimum wage, there's a consensus among Democrats and the IDC on that, but not with Republicans," she said. "This is a whole new world. You have coalitions."

Federal statistics indicate about 880,000 New Yorkers would be affected by such a change.

New York's minimum wage is now $7.25, the same as the federal minimum wage. Connecticut and several other states set the minimum wage at $8.25. The most generous states are Washington, at $9.04, and Oregon, at $8.80. Last spring, the Assembly passed a bill that would have raised New York's minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50; that effort eventually failed because of opposition from the Republican leadership in the Senate.

Republican political consultant Tony Sayegh suggested Wednesday evening that Stewart-Cousins' focus on issues -- rather than personalities and leadership arrangements -- might well prove effective.

"It's totally possible," Sayegh said. "It happens very often that you develop bipartisan coalitions on issues. What's interesting is that it would be a coalition within her caucus."

Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf agreed with Sayegh.

"We have never had a situation like this, with power sharing with people who are parties and factions in this way," he said. "Anything can happen."

Sheinkopf cautioned that Stewart-Cousins might have trouble persuading her own caucus to work with the breakaway Democrats.

"She has to be able to get people in her portion of the conference to agree to be in the same room with others who they feel have crossed them," he said.

Stewart-Cousins has demonstrated tenacity in the past, Sheinkopf noted. Stewart-Cousins defeated Yonkers power broker Nick Spano, a Republican, in 2006. Two years before, she had lost to him by only 18 votes after a controversial recount. In June, a federal judge sentenced Spano to a year in jail after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion.

"The fact that she has survived in Lower Westchester politics this long should be an indication that she is not someone to write off," Sheinkopf said.

In the conversation with Newsday, Stewart-Cousins predicted that Senate Democrats will reunite on several social issues of importance to progressives, mentioning campaign finance reform and women's reproductive rights in addition to the minimum wage.

"It would be great to work with my Democratic colleagues, especially as our conference and their conference have very similar objectives," Cousins said.

Corralling the breakaway Democrats might prove more difficult than Stewart-Cousins expects. The previous Senate Democratic leader, Sen. John Sampson (D-Brooklyn), struggled and failed to do the same thing.

But Stewart-Cousins sees opportunity.

"I never take jobs I'm doomed to fail in," she said. "I believe I can add light, not heat, to the situation."

That's not to say Stewart-Cousins sanctions the dissident Democrats' choice to form a separate bloc. She thinks they were disingenuous with voters who cast their votes for Democratic lawmakers in November. Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), who represents part of Westchester County, and Sen. David Carlucci (D-Clarkstown), are among the IDC senators.

"On some levels, it's kind of another way of voter disenfranchisement," she said. "You start as one thing and then when you get there, you are doing something else."

Stewart-Cousins represents the 35th Senate District, which covers Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Elmsford, Greenburgh, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington, Mount Pleasant, Pleasantville, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown and Yonkers. She served as a legislator in the Westchester County Legislature from 1999 to 2006.

A widow, 61, with three children, she was on the short list of possible candidates to run for lieutenant governor alongside Andrew Cuomo during his successful gubernatorial bid in 2010. She attended Pace University and Lehman College.

She doesn't see much chance of the dissident Democrats returning to the Democratic fold, at least for now. In the meantime, she said, she'll focus on passing bills her constituents want passed.

"I would love, love to have the breakaway Democrats come back," Stewart-Cousins said. "But I think it's important to focus on the people who sent us here."