Inside the Capitol building in Albany, heavy iron gates and a security guard separate the Senate chambers from the long, extended lobby area, which is bifurcated by large, arching columns and lit with ornate chandeliers. This is the place where the terms “lobbying” and “lobbyist” originated.

Today, the day before the New York Legislative session is scheduled to end on Thursday, the lobby is a beehive of activity. Senators and lobbyists mingle. Groups of senators and staffers huddle. Lots of men and women in suits furiously tap away at their smart phones.

Hundreds of pieces of legislation, including blockbuster packages on women’s equality rights and campaign finance reform, are still up in the air and waiting for a vote because that’s just how things work in Albany. Everything is last minute.

With the Assembly dominated by Democrats and Speaker Sheldon Silver, all eyes are on the Senate, which is controlled by an unprecedented coalition of Republicans and four independent Democrats, led by Bronxite Jeff Klein, who is nowhere to be found.

Klein in the Spotlight

Klein, whose district stretches from the far east Bronx to Riverdale, is a legislative X factor. He and Republican co-leader Dean Skelos each have veto power over what bills come to the floor, which has made Klein a target for advocates who believe he is standing in the way of the two biggest progressive agenda items — campaign finance reform and the women’s equality package.

The day before, on Tuesday, which also happened to be the first-ever Bronx Day event in Albany, activists dropped hundreds of banners throughout Klein’s district, urging him to push campaign finance reform.

By mid-afternoon on Wednesday, when the Norwood News visited the state Capitol, Klein’s position had not changed. He didn’t support the campaign finance package passed in the Assembly because he said it didn’t go far enough and it didn’t have the votes to pass. And, while he supported the 10 items on the women’s equality agenda, he didn’t think the most controversial bill, which would strengthen abortion rights language in state law, could pass.

Klein had elected to break up the women’s equality package into 10 separate bills, so they could be voted on individually, although it wouldn’t matter unless the Assembly also voted on bills individually, which wasn’t likely.

At this point, Bronx legislators were, at least publicly, holding out hope on both pieces of legislation.

The Capitol building is enormous and beautiful after renovations were completed last year. It also lacks signage telling you where to go. A lovely middle-aged woman stopped us and asked where we wanted to go. She happily showed us the way to the Senate chambers. We asked if she worked here. “Do I have to admit it?” she replied, only half joking.

Hassling Hassell-Thompson

On the ground floor, before heading up to the chambers on the third floor, we bumped into Ruth Hassell-Thompson, an Albany veteran who represents the Bronx and Mt. Vernon. After redistricting last year, she now also represents Norwood and Bedford Park.

Hassell-Thompson was pleased. She had just emerged from a committee meeting where the new nominees for the state Board of Parole were introduced. For the last several years, there have been vacancies on the board. Last year, according to her chief of staff, Charlie Savage, Hassell-Thompson “balked” at the governor’s nominees because they lacked diversity. She approved of this year’s more diverse crop of nominees.

But what about campaign finance reform and women’s equality? She was holding out hope that the 10 women’s equality items and the campaign finance package would be on the agenda, but she wasn’t against compromise.

“We’re never willing to throw out the baby with the bath water,” she said.

Hassell-Thompson, whose signature bill on no-fault divorce passed a couple of years ago, also wasn’t willing to throw Klein under the bus if things didn’t work out, saying she “didn’t have time for that.”

But, she added, “If he didn’t do it, then he didn’t do it. If you say you’re going to do something” — like put progressive, Democratic bills on the floor for a vote — “then do it. Don’t pretend like that’s what you’re going to do.”

The Reverend Weighs In

Up in the Senate chambers, we instantly recognize Democrat Ruben Diaz Sr., a Pentecostal minister who represents the middle Bronx and who’s known as “The Reverend.” He quickly tells us, with a hint of mischievous glee, that he doesn’t support any of the Democrats most progressive agenda items, including campaign finance reform and the abortion part of the women’s equality package.

The heart of the campaign finance reform package is a new public financing system, much like the system in place in New York City, which would match campaign contributions, 6 to 1, with state money.

“Why should we use money to finance politicians?” Diaz says in his gruff, Cookie Monster-esque voice. Advocates of public financing say it will help rid the state of corruption by allowing grassroots candidates to run for office, but Diaz isn’t convinced.

He says the way to fix the system is to make their jobs full-time and eliminate outside income. (Legislators are technically part-time employees who are paid about $80,000 a year.) He also said terms should be extended from two years to four years.

“That would give you more time to attend to the people’s business, less time getting money,” he says.

Earlier in the week, Diaz’s good friend and former ally in the Senate, Pedro Espada, was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzling money from his network of nonprofit health clinics in the Bronx.

“To me that’s finished,” he says, wiping his hands and shaking his head. “Now, all we can do is pray for him and his family.”

So, what about Klein?

“He’s eating all the candies,” Diaz says.

Recently, Diaz had written that the Democrats blew it by not doing more to bring Klein into the fold and now he was reaping the benefits, distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to pet projects in his district, while Democrats were left banging their heads against the wall.

“We have been patsies,” he says.

Diaz predicted that the vast majority of bills would be passed at around midnight on Thursday, the last scheduled day of the session.

“They want to vote when everybody is sleeping,” he says.

Frustration Among Liberals

A short man in a sharp suit and bow tie walks past us. It’s Jose M. Serrano, the son of Bronx Congressman Jose Serrano who represents parts of the west Bronx and upper Manhattan. He’s now part of the Democratic Conference leadership team.

Turns out, it’s his 41st birthday. He looks much younger. Serrano laments the lack of movement on progressive issues this year under Klein’s leadership. One of Klein’s signature bills, the passing of a minimum wage hike, wasn’t as strong as it could have been, he says. “It happened, but it didn’t happen,” he says.

Why didn’t it happen? “You’d have to ask [Klein] that.” Soon, Serrano is encircled by a group of women from Planned Parenthood, who want the abortion piece to move.

“We’re as frustrated as you are,” he tells them.

Adriano Espaillat, the upper Manhattan senator who nearly beat Charlie Rangel in the 13th Congressional District primary last June, says he’s settling in for a long couple of days. “I might have to go to Macy’s to buy some shirts,” he says.

The lobby is jumping now. But where’s Klein?

“I don’t keep tabs on him,” says Gustavo Rivera, who’s been critical of Klein’s coalition since it was formed this past winter. With the four independents in the fold, Democrats would have a slim majority in the Senate.

Rivera is fully behind the Assembly’s campaign finance bill. Even if the votes aren’t there, Rivera says it’s good to have a debate on the legislation and find out where everybody stands.

But maybe that’s just him. “I’m actually far more liberal than most of my colleagues,” he says.

At one point, Rivera, who teaches civics courses on the side, starts breaking it down for us — the $140 billion budget, the 20 million New York state residents, the 63 senators, the 150 assembly members, the huge beautiful building, the people who are telling you how great you are. It can be overwhelming, he says.

“It’s incredibly important, not to forget what you’re doing up here,” he says.

A Klein Sighting

Klein’s office on the ninth floor of the Legislative Office Building is a good walk and an elevator ride from the Senate chamber. It’s like a ghost town up there. Quiet.

As we turn and enter the office reception area, Klein is standing in an adjacent conference room, talking with his press aide, Eric Soufer. He looks us in the eye and then looks away. Suddenly, as we make a move toward the conference room, Soufer stands up and walks toward the door and Klein vanishes.

Soufer says Klein had a meeting to go to. Meanwhile, a secretary is relaying calls into Klein’s office. Though he was caught off-guard, Soufer recovers and starts talking about wonky legislation. He details why the Democrats’ campaign finance bill is weak (“It’s disingenuous to tell taxpayers that this will change anything.”) and laments the fact that they don’t come to Klein’s office and press for their local legislative priorities.

So, what about Klein? How’s he going to make things move in these last days? What’s his strategy? “Constant meetings,” Soufer says.

Well, who’s he meeting with now? Soufer says he doesn’t know. It remains a mystery.

Epilogue:

As predicted, the session lasted well past midnight on Thursday and was extended to Friday. Democrats attached their public financing legislation onto a bill that would allow New Yorkers to temporarily use the old pull-levers on voting machines. Klein and the three other Democrats in the Independent Democratic Conference voted for it, but Diaz Sr. and former IDC member Malcolm Smith, who’s facing bribery charges, voted against it. Meanwhile, the Assembly passed the entire women’s equality package, but the Senate passed only nine of the 10 bills in the women’s equality package, meaning none of it became law.