Fred Dicker continues his assault against Andrew Cuomo:
Disenchanted members of Gov. Cuomo’s administration, embarrassed by
the worsening government scandals and convinced that Cuomo won’t be
president, will soon leave their jobs — just as the governor is stepping
up plans to run for re-election next year.
Several “significant departures’’ are expected in the coming months, sources told The Post.
“A
lot of people are looking to get out. They’re tired and, frankly, it’s
not the best place to work,’’ said a source with first-hand knowledge of
the situation. “There’s a lot of abuse that’s involved in working for
the governor, and more and more people are saying, ‘What do we need this
for?’ ’’ the source continued.
An exodus, of sorts, has already begun.
Late
last month, state Correctional Services Commissioner Brian Fischer, who
oversees the prison system, quietly announced his plans to retire.
Earlier
this month, Ellen Biben, executive director of the badly troubled,
Cuomo-created Joint Commission on Public Ethics, surprised many by
saying she would step down within weeks.
Governors traditionally
tell their senior staffers after the end of their third legislative
session to either move on or make a commitment to remain in their posts
through a re-election campaign.
Three additional factors
contributing to the planned departures are the stunning round of
political scandals now unfolding involving nearly a dozen Democrats in
the Legislature; Hilary Rodham Clinton’s emergence as the presumptive
front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016; and
Cuomo’s failure to win pay raises for state commissioners and his senior
staffers, many of whom are being paid at a rate set in 1999.
“The
scandals have made it an embarrassment to work in Albany for many
people working for the governor. Hillary’s status as the overwhelming
favorite means Andrew won’t be taking anybody to Washington, and people
are angry that the governor said they’re paid too little and didn’t do
anything to change the situation,’’ according to one of the sources.
Cuomo’s
increased use of public and Democratic State Committee funds on a media
campaign promoting his agenda, his recent focus on “women’s rights’’
issues and his continuing delay in making a decision on hydrofracking
for natural gas are widely seen in political circles as the early stages
of his re-election campaign.
Couple of things to note here:
Even the people who work for Andrew Cuomo don't like Andrew Cuomo.
He abuses the people he works for.
That's the first thing to note.
He's not the only person in power in private or public office that abuses the people who work for him.
But it tells you a lot about him.
Second, he's weakened.
APPR is set to roll-out for teachers this next school year, the Common Core test scores are set to drop 30%, and parents and teachers all over the state are pushing back against the Cuomo reforms.
Cuomo does not have the hammer he had back in Year One and Year Two to fight this.
That's something important to note as John King and Andrew Cuomo get set to impose their teacher evaluation system on NYC in two weeks.
They'll impose that system and there's little we can do about it.
But the fight against it will be waged after that imposition - in the public sphere, in the media, in the courts.
And Cuomo no longer has the bully pulpit he had early on.
He can be beaten.
Like Nixon in 1973, Cuomo is surrounded by a smaller and smaller circle of aides and there's blood in the waters...
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