Why Kruger Is Immune

ALBANY—Why is Carl Kruger getting a pass?

The ring-leader of the so-called "gang of three" has spent a quiet holiday season, people close to him say, and as his fellow renegades have been blasted by mail, canvasser and YouTube, no one has gone after Kruger.

He even passed some quality time at Brooklyn scion Vito Lopez's holiday party last night without incident from the scores of party loyalists who came to pay their respects in Bushwick.

"He's kind of hard to get to," said one operative, begrudgingly.

Look at the enrollment statistics: Kruger's 27th district has a comfortable Democratic edge, but nothing approaching the 12:1 and 15:1 enrollment advantages the party holds in Diaz's and Espada's districts.

Eugenio Villasante, a spokesman for 32BJ, the union that has been at the forefront of trying to bring Diaz and Espada into line, said, "It's a matter of having an impact; and 32BJ has more than 8,000 members in Diaz and Espada's districts. They should be held accountable to their constituents. They both represent working class people who have voted for change and they should deliver that change by supporting a Democratic majority in the State Senate."

The Working Families Party, which put a lot of pressure on State Senator-elect Hiram Monserrate to pare the gang of four to a gang of three (before he ran into some legal and political troubles), has very low enrollment figures in Kruger's district. One Kruger loyalist even argued that W.F.P. action, especially if the actors were from other neighborhoods, would actually strengthen the senator's position.