Out Of Public Eye, Andrew Cuomo Plans His Vengeance

Andrew Cuomo experienced many personal slights during the election season.

First he had to grovel for the Working Families Party nomination.

Then he had to face a primary challenge by Fordham Professor Zephyr Teachout that saw her win 34% of the vote on Primary Day.

He beat his GOP opponent by 13 points on Election Day - but only after outraising said opponent 9 to 1 in campaign funds (Cuomo raised $45 million for the race, his opponent Rob Astorino raised $5 million.)

In addition, Astorino got no help from the Republican Governors Association in the race and little-to-no help from the state GOP, which seemed to have a secret pact with Governor Cuomo that they wouldn't help Astorino out if he wouldn't help Democrats win back the State Senate.

In the end, Cuomo won re-election, but with vote turnout at historic lows and with the lowest vote totals of any gubernatorial candidate in New York State since FDR in 1930 - not exactly a victory to crow over.

Since his re-election, Cuomo has stayed out of the public eye, as reported by Ross Barkan at the Observer:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has not held a single public event since winning re-election on November 4, returning to a schedule Albany watchers know well–minimizing opportunities for the press to scrutinize him and ensuring that the public is unaware of exactly where their governor is going or what he is doing.

For a governor who avoided the campaign trail when he could and openly resents the news media, a 10-day quiet stretch–interspersed with one radio interview–is not much of a surprise.

...

With election season over, it’s now business-as-usual for an executive notoriously indifferent to transparency. While Mayor Bill de Blasio, who at times has had a testy relationship with the media, continues to hold several press briefings a week and distribute a relatively detailed public schedule, Cuomo watchers are left to wonder what “Governor Cuomo is in the New York City area” really means.

...

“It’s not unusual for politicians to pare back especially when they are trying to assess a changed political landscape,” said David Birdsell, the dean of the Baruch College School of Public Affairs. “A lot of people are looking around, trying to figure out what’s going on.”

...


“It’s a missed opportunity to unveil the positive agenda he was criticized for lacking the entire campaign,” argued one Cuomo observer. “It would have been a great chance to begin restoring his favorability rating. Instead, it reinforced his negative perceptions about his obsession with secrecy.”

Mr. Cuomo’s office did not return a request for comment.

People are wondering what Cuomo has been doing since the election.

I'm not wondering what he's doing - I know exactly what he's doing.

@CuomoWatch He's back in his darkened room, planning vengeance against all who slighted him during the election season.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) November 15, 2014

There you have it - Don Andrew M. Cuomo at work post-Election Day, getting ready to settle all Family business.

He's already threatened the public school system with destruction and teachers with sanctions.

You can bet other individuals and groups he feels slighted him are going to be targeted as well.

And if he doesn't like the Mafia reference, too freaking bad.

He ought to stop acting like an organized crime goon surrounded by other organized crime goons:

Meritocracy American Style Redux: Chelsea Clinton Edition

I've already covered the absurdity of Chelsea Clinton getting paid $600,000 a year by NBC to work as a special correspondent and the even bigger absurdity of Clinton saying publicly that she deserved that compensation because she works hard.

The absurdity grew to new heights yesterday when it was disclosed that Chelsea gets paid $75,000 every time she gives a speech:

There is a new Clinton paid to deliver speeches — Chelsea, the former first daughter — and she is commanding as much as $75,000 per appearance.

Aides emphasized that while Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton often address trade groups and Wall Street bankers, Ms. Clinton, now 34, focuses on organizations whose goals are in line with the work of the family’s philanthropic organization, the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Organizers said her star power helped sell tickets and raise money.

And unlike her parents’ talks, Ms. Clinton’s speeches “are on behalf of the Clinton Foundation, and 100 percent of the fees are remitted directly to the foundation,” said her spokesman, Kamyl Bazbaz, adding that “the majority of Chelsea’s speeches are unpaid.” The Harry Walker Agency, the firm that represents her parents’ engagements, handles Ms. Clinton’s talks on behalf of the family foundation.

The family speechmaking business is a lucrative one and has generated more than $100 million for her parents over the past decade as they hopscotched the globe. Their fees range from $200,000 to $700,000 per appearance, and Mr. Clinton alone earned $17 million last year giving speeches.

Her parents' connections got her a well-paid job at McKinsey.

Her parents' connections got her a well-paid job at NBC.

That's what she's done with her life so far.

What could she possibly share in a speech that anybody would want to pay $75,000 to hear it?

Here's what the Times says she shares:

Ms. Clinton’s speeches focus on causes like eradicating waterborne diseases. (“I’m obsessed with diarrhea” is a favorite line.) And she dispenses lessons picked up from her family. (“Life’s not about what happens to you, it’s about what you do with what happens to you,” she likes to say.)

I said in my last Chelsea Clinton post that she had risen above Jenna Bush on my list of Presidential Offspring Deserving Of Derision.

The news that she's getting paid $75,000 a speech puts her even higher on that list.

Just another example of how the elite take care of their own.