Kruger Coy on Golisano, Party Affiliation, Everything

ALBANY—State Senator Carl Kruger said he doesn't know much of Tom Golisano, the upstate billionaire and three-time gubernatorial candidate, but stopped short of denying Liz's report that they will meet tomorrow.

"If I saw Tom Golisano in the street, and I tripped over him, I wouldn't know who he was," the gang of three leader said. "I've never met the man in my life."

I asked again whether they'd be meeting.

"I have plans to meet with everybody. You know, my schedule is my schedule. But the point is if I've ever spoke with him? Absolutely not. I don't know what the future holds. I only deal with today. Today I'm here in my district office, and I'm certainly not meeting with him."

Kruger, along with State Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. and Pedro Espada Jr. have so far withheld their support of Minority Leader Malcolm Smith for majority leader.

I asked Kruger about a report that he won't back Majority Leader Dean Skelos to retain control of the chamber, and whether there were any Republicans he felt ideologically close to or would support. He replied:

"I didn't take a test to determine the philosophies or the lack of philosophies of any individual member in the Republican or the Democratic caucus. It's not my job to select leadership. I'm just a rank and file member. I'm a, you know, a simple guy here from Brooklyn, sitting in my chair in Sheepshead Bay trying to mind my own business trying to do my thing. And I wouldn't even, under any circumstances, try and give anyone the impression that I'm trying to manipulate a conference for or against any one member."

So, senator, are you then the Joe Lieberman of the state senate?

"What is Joe Lieberman in the United States Senate, is he a Republican or a Democrat?" Kruger asked. I replied he was an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. "I like to think that at the end of the day when we go into the washroom and we close the door and look into the mirror, we all want to think that we're independent."