Casey Seiler is reporting at Capitol Confidential state Sen. John Flanagan was elected Mon., May 11, to lead the chamber’s 33-member Republican conference. Flanagan succeeds Dean Skelos exactly one week after Skelos was arrested alongside his son to face federal corruption charges. Flanagan added the vote of Sen. Simcha Felder, a Democrat who conferences with the GOP, to win a narrow 32-vote majority. Sen. John DeFrancisco of Syracuse competed with Flanagan for the job, and in the end, sponsored the motion for Flanagan’s election.. Flanagan is the chair of the Senate Education Committee. He is a lawyer in private practice and a former Assembly member, and was first elected to the Senate in 2002. His father served in the Assembly for 14 years. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.