Politics on the Hudson

Sen. Carl Kruger, D-Brooklyn, is voting with the Republicans these days.

You might recall Kruger was last in the news when Republicans reached across the aisle, in an unprecedented move, to name the Democrat the chairman of the Social Services committee. Kruger called himself independent on certain issues but swore he was loyal to the Democrats and Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

But he voted with the Republicans on six of the seven controversial budget bills on the floor this week. He was absent on two others.

Kruger was the only person to break party lines on the various budget bills Republicans sponsored, including ones on taxes, schools and economic development—each passed 34-28. He stuck with the Dems on one symbolicly important vote, however. When the GOP brought to the floor Spitzer’s health-care budget, which would freeze reimbursement rates to hospitals—a ploy to test appetites for future overrides, Dems said—Kruger stayed with the Dems in a 33-29 vote.