Dilan says Democrats can regain senate majority

Veteran lawmaker is running for re-election

September 1, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

State Sen. Martin Malavé Dilan will seek to become chairman of the Transportation Committee if Democrats regain control of the senate. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas

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State Sen. Martin Malavé Dilan, a Democrat, said he’s confident that his party can regain control of the state Senate, but just how many seats the party wins will depend on Hillary Clinton.

The success or failure of Democrats in down-ballots races is tied to the party’s presidential candidate, according to Dilan. “I think we can win back the Senate. It will depend largely on how long Hillary Clinton’s coattails are,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle during a wide-ranging interview in the newspaper’s offices at 16 Court St. on Monday.

Technically speaking, there are 32 Democrats and 31 Republicans in the 63-member Senate. But fractious relationships in the Democratic Party created an opening for the GOP to rule in Albany.

A five-member group of Democrats, called the Independent Democratic Conference, that is led by state Sen. Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx), goes its own way. And state Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Borough Park) is a Democrat but caucuses with the Republicans, an allegiance that helps the GOP keep its majority.

If the Democrats do gain back power, Dilan has set his sights on becoming chairman of the Transportation Committee.

The committee will have a lot of work to do. There is a $5.1 billion MTA budget to consider, as well as the effects of long-term closures of the L and M subway lines.

In addition to transportation issues, Dilan is working on other bills. He expects to reintroduce a tenant protection bill that he pushed in previous legislative sessions without progress. Under the bill, a landlord who deliberately cuts off gas or electricity to a tenant or engages in other forms of harassment would be charged with a felony.

The 18th State Senate District, which Dilan represents, includes parts of several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Bushwick, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Cypress Hills and City-Line.

Dilan, who has been in the state Senate since 2002, said he’s not afraid of a political fight. And he has faced many.

In 2008, Dilan served as chairman of the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, a panel that looked at redrawing district lines for state Senate, Assembly and congressional seats. At the time, the Democrats held the majority of seats in the Senate. But Dilan did not get to oversee the redistricting process to the end.

That’s because Republicans gained back control of the Senate and installed a member of the GOP as the task force’s new chairman.

As the panel’s chairman, Dilan had been outspoken in calling for an independent entity to redraw district lines. The lines are redrawn every 10 years. “The districts should be co-terminus and each district should be contained in one county,” he said, adding that he objects to districts that run from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

Dilan said the Republicans sought to punish him by redrawing the lines of his district to include more low-income housing projects in East New York. There are now 22 developments operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in his district. To compensate for the new territory, parts of Greenpoint and Williamsburg were cut out of the district.

But if the GOP was trying to punish Dilan, he didn’t consider it a punishment. He said he made it his business to visit the housing projects to make tenants aware of the services his office could provide for them. “I went in the first month to meet with tenant associations,” he recalled.

In 2002, when Dilan ran for state Senate, he said the incumbent dismissively told him she wasn’t worried about his candidacy and that she could beat him. He won.

Another fight is coming up on Sept. 13 when Dilan faces a Democratic primary. His opponent, Debbie Medina, ran against him two years ago and earned 42 percent of the vote. Medina has garnered high-profile support in her quest to oust Dilan. She has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez and other local elected officials.

Erik Dilan, the senator’s son, who is an assemblymember representing Buchwick, challenged Velazquez in a Democratic primary in 2012 and lost.

The elder Dilan has the backing of several unions, including 1199 SEIU.

“Every year of Sen. Dilan’s tenure in the Senate he has stood with our members and been a dedicated advocate for everything from the $15 minimum wage, paid family leave and health care, to greater environmental protections and election reforms,” said Helen Schaub, vice president for policy and legislation for the union.

Dilan isn’t taking anything for granted. “Every since day since the session ended, I’ve been out on the streets meeting voters,” he told the Eagle.

His district has seen an influx of new residents in recent years. The easy access that the L and J trains provide to Manhattan is bringing new people into places like Williamsburg and Bushwick. “People from all around the country are moving in,” Dilan said.