State Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who won a competitive primary in 2004 to snatch Guy Velella’s old seat from the Republicans, now represents the Bronx neighborhood where he grew up, Morris Park. Klein recently sat down with City Hall at his favorite local Italian eatery, Venice Restaurant & Pizza.
What follows are edited excerpts from the interview.
City Hall: You’ve talked quite a bit about the subprime mortgage crisis. What can we expect to see happen at the city and state level?
Jeffrey Klein: I started out on this issue back in January. I felt like the boy who cried wolf. I’m not trying to be an alarmist, but really to show that this is an issue that’s going to have a tremendous impact on all of us, whether or not we are in the middle of foreclosure or whether or not we have a subprime loan. It’s going to impact our real estate values, it’s going to impact our neighborhoods.
[Klein orders Caesar Salad and Veal Milanese]
JK: According to the study that I did, we’re looking at over 19,000 foreclosures in New York City, Westchester County and Nassau County. That’s almost a 75-percent increase. Not to sound corny or be alarmist, but if we had 19,000 properties that were burned down in New York City we would do something about it, and that’s really the equivalent because there’s no quick action.
The most important piece of legislation that we can pass in the state of New York, if we can, is to regulate mortgage brokers and create a fiduciary duty, or a duty of care, between the mortgage broker and the borrower. If we had that, a lot of these problems wouldn’t be taking place.
CH: Do you cook?
JK: Not a lot. Too busy. Take-out. This is one of my take-out places. They deliver, it’s close enough so it comes hot.
CH: What about in Albany? Do you find good places to eat up there?
JK: Not Italian food. I don’t eat Italian food any place else except my district.
CH: That’s a very strong statement.
JK: I represent a very large Italian-American constituency. Morris Park has great restaurants, Throgs Neck, City Island. It’s very hard to get Italian food elsewhere. Even Manhattan. There are some that are outstanding, but not half as good as Belmont.
CH: You have focused on restaurant cleanliness. I was going to ask you if you have separate cutting boards for meat and vegetables at home, but you don’t cook. Do you even have a cutting board?
JK: Yes, I do.
CH: When was the last time you used it?
JK: Yesterday. I actually made hot dogs yesterday. I took a tour of the Sabrett factory in the Bronx that makes hot dogs.
CH: Is that a good thing? Do you wish you hadn’t gone on the tour?
JK: No! That’s what my staff said. I’m not the healthiest eater in the world—I eat a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers. The place was spotless! You know, they crush up a lot of meats that aren’t the prime part—
CH: Pig snout?
JK: I didn’t see a lot of that. I saw a lot of fat. Large fat content in hot dogs.
CH: Any other foods that you eat that you probably shouldn’t?
JK: Love pizza. French fries. I cut back on fast food. But I like McDonald’s and Wendy’s. White Castle is my favorite.
CH: You are one of three chairs of the Democratic Campaign Committee, which previously had just one person as chair. Is it better now that there are three people, or is it too many cooks?
JK: I think it works out very well because we divide it up into different areas. I’m finance, Diane Savino is recruitment and Antoine Thompson is campaigns. I think we have a good team. And I think we really proved ourselves during the Craig Johnson race. [Minority Leader] Malcolm [Smith], I remember, made the appointment, decided that we were going to break it up into these three co-chairs and the next week we had this major campaign and we raised like $700,000 in three weeks. It worked out very, very well, and it still continues to work out very well.
CH: Do you have advice for colleagues about what they should eat on the campaign trail?JK: I eat terrible during campaigns. I don’t want to give them advice. That’s when my eating habits really go down the toilet. I knock on a lot of doors. I love going door-to-door. When I first won, I actually made contact with 5,000 people at the door. So drink a lot of water. Stay hydrated.
CH: Something I read about you on your Wikipedia page—
JK: My what page?
CH: Wikipedia—never heard of it? It’s great. It’s this online, interactive, communal encyclopedia. Wikipedia said that “it is widely speculated that Klein plans to run for Congress.” Is that true? Do you think you’re going to run for Congress?
JK: The one thing I’ve found in politics is anything can happen. You never know what’s going to open up, but right now, my next step is what’s going to happen in the next election cycle, and I expect to be the deputy majority leader.
CH: But you’ve raised a fair amount of money, probably for not a very competitive race.
JK: Oh no, they spend money. You’ve got to remember, I won a seat that was a Republican seat for 100 years.
CH: But you’re also on the Campaign Committee, so you’ve got time to devote to other people’s campaigns.
JK: Yeah, but they don’t give up lightly. They spent $3 million trying to win this seat, they spent $1.4 million last time, and I’m sure they’ll spend $1 million again. So I raise my own money and I’m raising money to help my Senate Democratic colleagues and future Senate Democratic colleagues as well.
CH: You have four lizards for pets. Where do they live?
JK: I have tanks. Like wood-framed, glass enclosures. One tank is the size of a phone booth. I have like a sunroom in my house. That’s where I keep them.
CH: How did you get into lizards?
JK: I always liked animals growing up. I had every animal under the sun—I had snakes, I had birds, I used to race pigeons. A lot of people don’t know about that sport. Big Bronx sport. And also Brooklyn. Very outer-borough, Italian-American.
CH: Do you have to ask a neighbor to lizard-sit ever?
JK: I do, actually. I have a very understanding neighbor.
CH: Do you have to feed them live animals?
JK: My ex-girlfriend used to do it.
CH: That’s your criteria for the next girlfriend?
JK: That’s a hard sell.
