That means that if — and this is a humongous “if” — Democrats were to unseat Republicans in three seats this fall, the only way Democrats could take control from the GOP would be if the IDC rejoined the Democratic Conference. And the only way the IDC would do that is if the Democrats were to choose a leader the IDC likes.

After Mr. Klein made a speech asking the Ben Franklin Club for an endorsement on May 29, Lorraine Coyle Koppell asked Mr. Klein if he would support a Republican Majority Leader over a Democrat.

Mr. Klein said no, but said that doesn’t mean he would endorse a Democrat just because of his or her party. He joked that if it were someone like state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, that would be fine.

Later, the club endorsed Mr. Klein, but the vote shows there was some hesitation from within the crowd. 

He received 59 votes, but 19 voted “no endorsement.” That means one-quarter of the club members present did not want to make an endorsement for the state Senate seat that will cover all of Riverdale. 

Mr. Klein and each of his colleagues in the IDC also received the endorsement of the Independence Party last week.

Mayor vetoes ‘Commie’ bill

As expected, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed the living wage bill last week. 

Although he did not blast the bill after his veto, he previously lambasted the living wage bill, officially the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, when he vetoed a prevailing wage bill in April.

“Think about it this way: if you want to encourage a business to open in a particular location that no one has been willing to invest in for decades, you cannot tell them that they have to pay a higher minimum wage than the competitor across the street. They won’t do it. And those jobs will be lost, and so will the tax revenues they would have generated,” Mr. Bloomberg said in April.

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