Moving Forward:After Long Process, DiDomenico Affirms ‘Strong Relationship’ with Sen President-Elect Spilka

After a long process, Sen. Sal DiDomenico fell a few votes short of gaining the Senate Presidency, a process that completed last week when State Sen. Karen Spilka corralled the 21 votes needed to secure the presidency.

It was announced publicly in a press conference on Thursday, March 22.

While no one was keeping score on the outside, it was believed by those watching closely that DiDomenico had as many as 19 votes just within the last month.

Sen. DiDomenico would not comment on the process within the Senate this week where he had tried to make a run for Senate President.

However, he did say publicly that he will still be the assistant majority leader in the Senate – a post he was recently promoted to and will keep under the new leadership.

He also said there is no bad blood between himself and Sen. President-elect Spilka after the long process.

“Before this process Speaker-elect Karen Spilka and I were close friends as we will continue to be,” he said. “We have worked well for some time as a result of me being the vice chair on her Ways and Means Committee. There is no bad blood or animosity between us. There comes a point in time when you have to bring the body together and move forward. I thought this was the right time to do that.

“Now that this process is over and we have a new senate president elect, I support Karen 100 percent and will do everything I can to support her as senate president,” he continued. “Our relationship is as strong as it always has been.”

Sen. DiDomenico did not want to comment any further on his role in the new leadership team, but affirmed the strong relationship between himself and Sen. Spilka.

“I look forward to serving under Senate President-elect Spilka and being an integral part of her team,” he said.

Observers had been worried that, as typically happens, the senator that comes out on the short end of the bargain gets relegated to the back of the room. Many thought that if Sen. DiDomenico lost, he might also lose all of the power and responsibilities he has worked towards since being elected and coming into leadership roles under former Sen. President Stan Rosenberg.

However, with DiDomenico affirming his positive relationship with Spilka this week, many in the City believe that he will come out unharmed after the process finishes out.

As for the ascension, there is currently no consensus between Sen. President Harriet Chandler and Sen. President-elect Spilka about when she might take office.

Some postulated it could come on July 1 after the end of the current fiscal year.

Others thought it could come at the end of December.

During a press conference last week, Spilka indicated they had not yet ironed that out.

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