Working Families Party Desperate To Keep Zephyr Teachout From Challenging Cuomo In Democratic Primary

In case you haven't relinquished all support for the Cuomo-toadying Working Families Party, this news ought to get you there:

The Working Families Party, which launched Zephyr Teachout’s New York political career, is now trying desperately to prevent her from moving forward without its support in opposition to the candidate it chose over her: Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Since Teachout lost the WFP endorsement to Cuomo at the party’s convention outside Albany on May 31, party leaders have tried several times to talk the Fordham Law professor out of her desire to challenge Cuomo in a Democratic primary.

Two sources with knowledge of the WFP’s efforts confirmed that there have been several meetings in recent weeks with Teachout and former members of the party’s staff who are now committed to helping her in her quixotic quest. That includes the WFP’s former field director, Mike Boland, who was so upset over the party’s decision to back Cuomo over Teachout that he quit his job to run her campaign.

As Nick noted earlier, the WFP is doubling down on its support of Cuomo, issuing a statement this afternoon urging “progressives” to support him in the Democratic primary (should one materialize) and vote for him on the WFP line in November.

State of Politics updated with the following this evening:

UPDATE: Teachout confirmed in an exclusive interview with BuzzFeed that she will indeed challenge Cuomo. Her LG runningmate will be Tim Wu, a Columbia Law professor known for his advocacy of net neutrality.

So Cuomo will get a primary challenger even though the Cuomo cronies at WFP were trying desperately to keep Zephyr Teachout from taking Sheriff Andy on.

Screw the WFP.