Dilan: 'Malcolm Has Done a Great Job as Our Leader. However...'

By Azi Paybarah

Here’s State Senator Martin Dilan of Brooklyn, outside City Hall this afternoon after endorsing City Council candidate Maritza Davila.

I asked him for an update on the Senate leadership situation.

“Malcolm is the leader of the Democratic conference. I expect that he will continue,” Dilan said. “But as you know, there is at least a member who is deciding in which direction he is going to go and one of the preconditions that he has is that Malcolm has to step down.”

Dilan said “I think that is a decision that Malcolm has to make.”

When I asked if he’d be comfortable with that change in leadership, Dilan said:

“I think Malcolm has done a great job as our leader. However, I think that Malcolm will look at it in terms of what’s right for the Democratic conference. We have to realize that the Democratic voters of the state of New York—the voters of the state of New York, all of them, a majority of them—voted for us to have a Democratic Senate. And I expect that he will work hard to maintain that.”

Azi Paybarah can be reached via email at azi.paybarah@politickerny.com.