This is all "insider" sources and all, so take with appropriate grain of salt. But the report says that the deal would include:
- Cuomo having to kiss Bill de Blasio's butt in public, along that of the WFP. That base humiliation alone might be worth the price of admission.
- Cuomo pledges support for state DREAM Act and minimum wage increase, both of which would dramatically improve the lives of people in the state.
- But how does he get that through the Senate? Well, he gives up his tacit support for the turncoat Democrats who have given control of the chamber to minority Republicans. He either tells them "rejoin the Democrats, or I'll back the primaries against you." Of course, we still back those primary challenges, but regardless the outcome, the GOP is left in the cold. Advantage the good guys, again.
- Public financing of elections is a big deal. The governor promised it, then he decided to only apply it to one of his political Democratic enemies, and only this election. A recommitment to real public financing would be fantastic.
All in all, this would be a stunning surrender by the governor, and a stunning victory by the Working Families Party. If these reports are true and that's what's on the table, take the deal.
A commenter on Kos' post named Darth Stateworker says there's nothing "stunning" about this alleged deal:
Stunning?
No.
They're giving him the line because he agreed to be a Democrat.
There's nothing "stunning" about that. Rather, it's pathetic. You shouldn't have to get a Democratic governor in a very blue state to pledge to actually govern like a Democrat.
As a New Yorker, I'd rather they ran their own candidate. This does deal does little to weaken Andrew Cuomo in the eyes of most state voters, so there's nothing to say this asshole won't simply go right back to his old bullshit as soon as the election is over.
He needed to be taught a lesson. A real lesson. And the only lesson he's being taught here is that he can run roughshod over the base and still get their votes if he does a big "Kumbaya! Everybody loves everybody!" meeting with a few prominent liberals in public.
I am disgusted by this turn of events - not pleased. I most certainly don't view it as a victory - and I live here.
I'm with Darth Stateworker here - Cuomo needed to be taught a lesson and you can bet having a third party candidate on the WFP ballot line running around the state campaigning on how much a corporatist Cuomo is would have gone a long way toward teaching him that lesson, as would a WFP candidate taking double digits in votes away from him.
Instead the lesson a corporatist Democrat has learned once again is that the unions will consistently sell out their members for political expediency, that it always pays to screw the little people in favor of the corporate/Wall Street interests and that, in the end, all it takes to smooth things over is a little carrot-and-stick diplomacy around convention time.
Some of the WFP/Cuomo melodrama remains to be played out here and there is still an outside chance this brokered deal falls apart.
But it looks like Sheriff Andy Cuomo is going to get his way with the Working Families Party and have the opportunity to run roughshod over GOP opponent Rob Astorino in November without having to worry about an opponent from the left taking 15%+ in support away from him.
Time to go Green.
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