Senate boss Flanagan rages at Dems for voting against Prez

ALBANY — The state’s top elected Republican is calling on New York’s two U.S. senators to do their jobs and start governing. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan accused Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, of jeopardizing New York’s interests in Washington by their continued attacks on President Trump.

With Trump hailing from New York, Flanagan (R-Suffolk County) said the state has a “unique opportunity to have the eyes and ears of the executive branch in Washington focused on New York.”

Gillibrand has voted against all of Trump’s cabinet-level nominations, with the exception of Nikki Haley for UN ambassador.

Flanagan said that in contrast, state Senate Republicans, who have had an icy relationship with Gov. Cuomo in recent months, nonetheless unanimously approved his recent “highly qualified” appointee to the state’s top court.

“In New York, we’re functioning and we’re doing our jobs,” said Flanagan, who is said to be considering a run for governor. He added that “New York’s leaders have a responsibility to foster a relationship with the President because it will benefit the people of New York.

“Instead of building bridges, they are putting up walls,” Flanagan said.

Gillibrand spokesman Marc Brumer responded that “state Sen. Flanagan may be afraid to stand up to President Trump when he threatens to do things like rip away health care from thousands of New Yorkers, but Sen. Gillibrand is not.”

A Schumer spokesman had no comment. Gov. Cuomo recently urged state Senate Democrats during a private meeting at the governor’s mansion to tamp down hostilities with a breakaway group of fellow Dems aligned with the Republicans, sources say.

Three sources in the room and one briefed about the meeting said Cuomo also suggested the best way to unify the fractured Senate Dems could be a leadership change to the mainline conference.

“A senator asked for political advice and the governor said it’s simple: They have to win seats and should stop with the nasty internal bickering, and they should change their political leadership because no one is going to support a team that keeps losing and keeps the same leadership,” a source said.

A second source said Cuomo looked directly at Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Michael Gianaris, who headed up his conference’s electoral efforts, when he made the comment.

But three others denied Cuomo talked about a political leadership change.

“Whoever is saying that should deal with facts, stop dealing with alternative facts and realize Democrats won,” said Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy. “The reason we don’t have the majority is because of rogue Democrats being enabled to help Republicans.”

Cuomo had a group of mainline Senate Dems, including Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (Yonkers) and Gianaris (Queens), to the governor’s mansion to talk about the budget when the discussion turned to the war with the Independent Democratic Conference, the sources said.The talk took place not long after Sen. Jose Peralta’s surprising defection from the mainline Dems to the IDC created an outcry against the breakaway group. Cuomo will be heading into his anticipated reelection campaign next year without one of his longtime money men. Campaign Finance Director Thomas Giordano recently — and quietly — left his job after first joining Cuomo’s team in 2009. He doubled since 2011 as finance director for the state Democratic Party, which Cuomo controls. Giordano, in a recent email announcing his departure, revealed his successor is Gita Tiku, who served as New York finance co-director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.