Yesterday Mayor Bill de Blasio unloaded on Governor Andrew Cuomo, calling him a transactional politician who governs by vendetta and has no political allegiance to anything or anybody except his own career.
Today, Cuomo starts the counterattack:
2 Dem Party sources:Cuomo admin calling around today seeking Dems to publicly back Cuomo in fight w/ de Blasio.
— Tom Precious (@TomPreciousALB) July 1, 2015
So far, it's been de Blasio who's gotten backing from fellow Dems.
Yesterday there was this in Ross Barkan's Observer piece on the feud:
Among top Democrats in New York, Mr. Cuomo is virtually friendless. He has burned bridges with Sen. Charles Schumer, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. Ditto the rank-and-file party activists motivated more by ideology than Mr. Cuomo’s centrist pragmatism.
...
An Albany Democrat was similarly blunt.
“I think what you are seeing is that the governor has no friends and that is because he has no actual beliefs and vision,” the Democrat said. “He just wants to win.”
State Senator Mark Panepinto went on record last night backing de Blasio in the battle with Cuomo:
During a wide-ranging CapTon interview last night, Buffalo Sen. Marc Panepinto unleashed on the governor, saying he had “lined up with the Senate Republicans against the mayor of New York City” during the end of the 2015 session.
“Poor Mayor de Blasio,” Panepinto said. “There wasn’t one thing that the governor agreed with him on, even though they share a party affiliation.”
The senator’s comments echoed the mayor’s very public venting of his frustrations with the governor over the past six months, which included an accusation that the Senate Republicans were under Cuomo’s “control” when it came to thwarting NYC’s agenda.
Panepinto insisted he has a “great deal of respect for the governor, but he wants to rule the Democratic Party with an iron fist.”
“We’re a party of inclusion we’re a party of discussion…and it’s been my impression during my short time in state government that Governor Cuomo often doesn’t like those debates,” the senator said.
Cuomo privately backed Panepinto's Republican opponent, former state Senator Mark Grisanti, last November as payback for Grisanti's backing Cuomo on gay marriage, so Panepinto owes Cuomo nothing.
Still, you've already got one Dem on record echoing de Blasio's remarks and at least one Dem off the record doing the same.
We'll see how many Dems come out to support Cuomo - I suspect we'll see a few who owe either their jobs or their political relevance to Cuomo back him.
That means the inevitable David Paterson statement of support (though as Louis Flores pointed out, Cuomo played games with Paterson back in the day too) and a few others.
Political consultants who've worked for Cuomo will warn us that de Blasio is wrong here (you know, like Hank Scheinkopf), but again, they'll have expedient reasons to do so.
Otherwise, I bet Cuomo's going to have some trouble getting fellow Democrats or party activists to publicly back him.
After all the years of screw jobs, Cuomo has alienated nearly everybody in the political establishment and sits isolated in his darkened room on the second floor making his phone calls that nobody wants to get or act upon.
Cuomo has no friends. Only enemies.
ReplyDeleteNah...Cuomo will scratch together enough support. It may be thin, but then it doesn't have to be substantial. Basically he is trying to get some names on his side so when he lays the pimphand down, it will look like its not just a Cuomo act of revenge, but a statement validated by others.
ReplyDeleteAnd really, do we really think NYS Dems are going to start growing a spine now, en masse? No.
Traitor: a person who betrays a friend, country, principle, etc.
ReplyDeleteSynonyms: back stabber, turncoat, defector, deserter, mole, snitch, double-agent, Benedict Arnold, Judas, rat, scab, Fink, double-crosser.