Democratic Party circles are abuzz with talk that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who forced Gov. Cuomo to retreat on his controversial e-mail destruction policy last week, is seriously considering challenging Cuomo in the Democratic primary in 2018, should the governor seek a third term.
Democratic activists told The Post that Schneiderman has received preliminary encouragement to take on Cuomo from activists for the United Federation of Teachers and the New York State United Teachers, the state’s two big and powerful teachers unions, which are at war with the governor over his effort to impose a controversial system of teacher evaluations.
“The teachers would love nothing better than to see Schneiderman knock off Cuomo, who is clearly vulnerable in a primary, and Schneiderman knows that,’’ said a union activist.
Others promoting a possible Schneiderman primary challenge include a bevy of “progressive’’ Democrats associated with Mayor de Blasio and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, both on the outs with Cuomo — Fordham University prof Zephyr Teachout, who ran a surprisingly strong primary challenge to Cuomo last year, and union activists with the leftist Working Families Party, Democratic sources said.
“If Zephyr Teachout with no money could get over 30 percent of the vote against Cuomo in the Democratic primary think of what Schneiderman could get with, say, $10 million to spend,’’ said a prominent Democratic activist.
Dicker goes on to write that speculation about Schneiderman's running against Cuomo increased last week after Schneiderman stuck it to the governor by reversing the Cuomo-created 90 day email deletion policy in the AG's office:
Within a few hours Cuomo, who had stubbornly defended the e-mail destruction policy in the face of severe criticism for weeks, announced he would call a conference of officials to discuss a new non-destructive e-mail policy.
“Eric forced Andrew into the fastest and one of the worst retreats of his entire political career and it wasn’t pretty to see,’’ said a Capitol insider with ties to both men.
We'll see how this plays out - a lot can happen between now and 2018.
But you can see how opposition to Cuomo continues to foment - much of it no longer behind the scenes.
The opt-out rallies around the State are a very good thing but I've been a little skeptical that they could materially change the outcome of the education debate in Albany.
ReplyDeleteI now recognize that anything that demonstrates public resistance to Andrew Cuomo is a very good and desirable thing in itself. In addition, the rallies stiffen the resolve of Assemblymembers who may be willing to back off on their opposition to the education package when it's all wrapped up in some omnibus budget deal.
Congratulations to the teachers, parents and public officials who've been able to pull off these protests under difficult circumstances.