Cuomo has privately told groups of “progressive’’ Assembly Democrats that despite his election-year plans to reduce some state taxes, he’s sure he can find funds to help soon-to-be-Mayor Bill de Blasio deliver on his pledge of universal pre-K throughout the city.
Cuomo, in recent meetings he initiated with black and Hispanic caucus members and others, appeared to fear that city Democrats sympathetic to de Blasio’s attacks on the wealthy and angry over his Moreland Act Commission probe of state lawmakers, might turn on him during the next legislative session, a source familiar with the meetings said.
“Many members like de Blasio’s proposals and blame Cuomo for demonizing the Legislature, for instance, putting out stories that members got a $500 contribution from someone or some group — when the governor has gotten $50,000 from the same person or group.
“The meetings show the governor realizes he’s going to have a problem next year when he’s running for reelection and that members aren’t going to be as responsive to his needs as they have been in the past,’’ said the source.
I've long said that the bully in charge can only continue to be in charge so long as people fear him - especially Democrats in the Legislature.
But the anger Dems in the Legislature feel toward him seems to be superseding any fear they have of retribution from him these days.
As Dicker says, that's as a result of Cuomo's hypocrisy over Moreland, calling out legislators over corruption that Cuomo himself is engaging in.
In the end, Moreland is going to come back and bite Cuomo, as many Dems in the Legislature are looking to stick the proverbial, metaphoric shiv into him.
What all this means for educators looking to get Cuomo to change his education reform agenda is that Andrew Cuomo is vulnerable to pressure, vulnerable to attacks, and he can be beaten over APPR, CCSS, and inBloom.
I'll have more on this later.
Suffice to say for now, start putting pressure on Cuomo publicly over CCSS, APPR, and inBloom.
He may look like he's ignoring it, but he's not.
Not with his re-election looming in 2014 and his White House fantasies still floating around his head for 2016.
Who is going to challenge Cuomo? Please tell is.
ReplyDeleteIt's not about primarying Cuomo. You won't find anybody credible to do that and I'm not sure that's the way to go about this. It's about letting Cuomo know that if he continues to impose his education reform agenda on the state, his 2014 election totals will be held down by 5% or more because education activists will hammer him over and over for being the guy who imposed all the insane testing policies, the insane evaluation policies, inBloom, etc. Believe me, Cuomo is worried about just squeaking out a win as opposed to winning big. He needs to win big to make himself look like a viable candidate for 2016. Working to hold him to a small win in 2014 will be a very big threat to him.
Deletehttp://dan-mcconnell.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-where-we-are-at-next-what-do-we-do.html
ReplyDelete