‘vulnerable’

State Senate big eyes takedown of breakaway Dems’ chief

ALBANY — In what some say could torpedo efforts to reunify fractured state Senate Democrats, a top Dem had a conversation with at least one person about a potential primary challenge to the head of a breakaway group of Democratic senators, sources told the Daily News.

Queens Sen. Michael Gianaris, who heads the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, recently met with a “young woman” about taking on Bronx Sen. Jeffrey Klein, the leader of the Senate’s breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

A second source identified the woman as Alessandra Biaggi, a Gov. Cuomo counsel who worked on the Hillary Clinton campaign and is the granddaughter of late Rep. Mario Biaggi, who resigned his seat in 1988 amid a corruption scandal that sent him to prison.

The meeting between them was followed by an email to Biaggi, who is in her early 30s, from a Senate campaign official containing an analysis of Klein’s district that showed women make up 60% of primary voters and those younger than 40 represent a big part of the electorate.

It also said that unlike in 2014, when Klein easily beat back a primary challenge, there is more voter awareness about his breakaway group and its ties to the Republicans.

The analysis concluded that “Klein is formidable, but vulnerable.”

It also suggested “a successful candidate must start building her coalition of support soon to harness grass-roots energy for both fund-raising and campaign infrastructure.”

Gianaris would not confirm or deny the meeting with Biaggi or that a subsequent email was sent.

But the email went out July 27, eight days after Cuomo met with Gianaris (left inset) and his mainline Senate Democratic Conference to talk about the importance of reunification, and several days before the governor met with Klein (right inset) and Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Westchester County to further the discussions.

Sources say the discussion with Biaggi came as Gianaris told his conference and labor unions that he would not be an obstacle to reunifying the Senate Dems.

“Gianaris only cares about Gianaris and doesn’t want Klein back because he loses power, period,” said one Democratic insider. “And either he has lied to his conference or they are all lying, because weeks before they publicly pledged to all their supporters to stop the attacks and to try to make peace.” A Senate Dem source, saying that the governor prefers having a divided Legislature, shot back that “everyone knows the biggest obstacle to a Democratic Senate is Andrew Cuomo, and he should stop playing games.” The Senate Dem source added that the meeting between Gianaris and Biaggi did not go against the promise to work toward reunification. He said the Senate Dems are approached “all the time” by people considering runs in various districts against Republicans and the breakaway Democrats aligned with them.

The source said Gianaris has met with other potential Klein challengers.

“There’s a huge difference talking to people expressing interest and actually supporting primaries,” he said. “We made it clear we are considering supporting primaries if there’s no reconciliation. Our preference is reconciliation and unity, but we’re prepared to get hostile if it doesn’t happen.”

Klein’s eight-member group is aligned with the Republicans in a leadership conference. A ninth Democrat, Brooklyn Sen. Simcha Felder, caucuses with the GOP, leaving the mainline Dems with 23 members in the 63-seat chamber.

“Democrats are better served when they deal with the policy challenges affecting the state rather than inventing delusional primary challenges to justify their insecurities,” said Klein spokeswoman Candice Giove.