Zephyr Teachout: Angry New York Teachers Can Get Get More Formal Political Power By Running For Office

Alan Chartock in the Daily Freeman:

Cuomo is known and respected up to now as a take-no-prisoners tough guy, but his political antennae seem corrupted. His picking on the teachers in New York state is dumber than dumb. It appears that he fell in with a crowd of rich potential funders who are always yelling about “educational reform.” Maybe he wanted their money and he became a fierce charter school advocate and then adopted positions which then threatened the hell out of the teachers who are underpaid and overworked. Their tenure is one of the few things they do have going for them, and however Cuomo meant it, the teachers saw him as looking to evaluate them with an eye toward firing them. These are usually people who want nothing to do with Albany politics, but they sure got a wakeup call. I talk to them all the time and they are angrier than I have ever seen them.

Zephyr Teachout has an excellent idea how teachers can take that anger and do something productive with it:

Liberal activist Zephyr Teachout is touring New York starting tonight in Syracuse to try to recruit teachers and women to run for public office in New York.


Teachout, the Fordham Law School professor who ran against Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary last year, said the education policy battles at the state Capitol should spur teachers and parents to run for political office so their voice can be better heard.

“The focus is getting more people into the political process, and the focus here is on teachers and women,” Teachout said in an interview with Gannett’s Albany Bureau. “If there’s a central thrust, it’s educators and parents.”

Teachout, who lives in Manhattan, is partnering with the union-backed Working Families Party and the New York State United Teachers union on the effort.

She said the massive testing opt-out movement in New York in April, as well as protests to new teacher evaluations show that education advocates can play an increasingly important role in politics — on the state and local levels.

“I don’t think most people go into teaching in order to run for office, but they didn’t go into teaching to protest either,” Teachout said. “And they’ve become this incredible, powerful political force, and my hope is to engage some of those teachers who are political and hopefully get them elected and have more formal political power.”

Now electing teachers to political office isn't guaranteed to make politics more amenable to public education teachers - after all, former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert (now under indictment for making illegal payments to someone he allegedly molested back in the 70's) and Independent Democratic Caucus head Jeff Klein are both former teachers and neither are what I would term "teacher- or public education-friendly" in their political views.

But in general, having teachers run for political office is a terrific idea and certainly there are many teacher leaders out there who would make excellent candidates.

The same goes for parent activists in the opt-out movement.

Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu, both professors, ran in 2014 for governor and lieutenant governor respectively and put in very respectable showings.

Had Teachout gotten the Working Families Party ballot line for the general election, she would have done some serious damage to Andrew Cuomo, taking him well under the 50% line in his race against GOP candidate Rob Astorino, but even in the Democratic primary she did serious damage, winning 23 counties to Cuomo's 29.

Cuomo's campaign was so worried that Tim Wu had momentum against Kathy Hochul that they called out Randi Weingarten and Bill de Blasio to robocall for her, turning the contest toward Hochul for good.

Nonetheless, the Teachout/Wu campaigns of 2014 served notice that many Dems were not happy with Andrew Cuomo and his policies and they can serve as models for educator and parent campaigns going forward.

Weingarten Tries To Spin Her Support Of Bank Lobbyist/Ed Deformer Kathy Hochul

AFT President Randi Weingarten and Arthur Goldstein were having a twitter conversation today over Weingarten's support of Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul during the primary (which you can read about here.)

Weingarten robocalled for Hochul during a pivotal moment of the campaign when it looked like challenger Tim Wu could actually pull off an upset.

She wasn't the only "progressive" dragged out for the robocalls by the Cuomo campaign - NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio taped one as well.

After Wu lost the primary to Hochul, he said that his campaign's internal polls had shown him closing on Hochul, but the tide turned after the robocalls went out.

It seems prominent "progressives" like de Blasio and Weingarten supporting Hochul assured enough New York City voters that she was all right, they could safely vote for her.

Weingarten has continually claimed that supporting Hochul publicly was payback for Hochul's support of public education when she was in Congress - but Hochul was only in Congress a short period of time (less than one-full term), so that rationale for Hochul support is absurd.

Weingarten has also said she doesn't think Hochul is in the "everything against" camp when it comes to public education, but as we know from history, any time anybody works for Andrew Cuomo, you either do EVERYTHING Cuomo wants you to do or you don't take the job.

So Hochul's acceptance of the LG gig under Cuomo was an explicit admission that she would be in the "everything against" camp because that's where her boss, Andrew Cuomo, wants her.

Which is EXACTLY where she was this week as she keynoted for the Cuomo administration at Eva Moskowitz's pro-charter Albany rally.

I try and stay out of the Weingarten jive-fests on Twitter these days because it's unproductive trying to argue with a pathological liar, but every once in a while Randi's lies, half-truths and evasions get to be too much and I have to jump in.

This is one of those times:

@TeacherArthurG -I'm more disappointed abt her silence abt public schooling in general--- quite different from when she was in Congress
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 7, 2015

To which I replied:

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Who are you kidding? You knew EXACTLY what Hochul would be like as Cuomo's LG.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Anybody who works for Cuomo does EXACTLY as he wants - as Hochul is doing shilling deform.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Your robocalls for Hochul were essentially robocalls for Cuomo - as many have pointed out.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG And just in case you think this wasn't pointed out at the time http://t.co/AX9KMqVy3M
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

Mary Ahern made another good point about the way Weingarten helped out the Cuomo campaign during the primary:

.@perdidostschool @TeacherArthurG Add this 2 @rweingarten 's defense of Cuomo's statemnts vowing 2 destroy pub. schl monopoly, I smell a RAT
— Mary Ahern (@mma718) March 7, 2015

Which reminded me about this:

@mma718 @TeacherArthurG @rweingarten Yes - she excused it as just "campaign rhetoric," even though she'd heard him b4.
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@mma718 @TeacherArthurG @rweingarten Randi was there when Andy trotted rhetoric out first http://t.co/pqyDwmvvCY
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

Weingarten replied just once to my tweets:

@perdidostschool @TeacherArthurG -sorry to disappoint you- no deals...
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 7, 2015

To which I replied:

@rweingarten @TeacherArthurG Then who called you to tape the robocall at the EXACT moment Wu's poll #'s were rising?
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

So far, no response from Weingarten on that.

This back and forth with Randi gets tiring after awhile, which is why I don't engage in it much anymore, but every once in a while it's important to jump in a point out how full of crap Randi is.

To that end, I'll finish this post with I think the takeway from all this is:

@TeacherArthurG @rweingarten I usually stay out of the Randi jive-fests these days, but her Hochul support is egregious
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

@TeacherArthurG @rweingarten In Cuomo admin, she will do as Cuomo says. That's basis for putting her in "against" camp
— realitybasededucator (@perdidostschool) March 7, 2015

Cuomo Sticks The Shiv Into De Blasio Before Election Day

Last spring, Governor Andrew Cuomo beat Mayor Bill de Blasio badly in fights over charter school co-locations and tax increases on wealthy New Yorkers to pay for NYC's universal pre-K plan.

De Blasio had been in a showdown with charter school entrepreneur Eva Moskowitz over co-locations of three of her schools when Cuomo helped co-ordinate a pro-charter rally in Albany and pushed through new rules in the state budget that forced New York City (and only New York City) to either find space for all charter schools or pay rent for space in privately-owned buildings.

Moskowitz and her charter school supporters are major donors to Cuomo and while the governor and the mayor were supposed to be friends going back to the days when they were both in the Clinton administration, Cuomo didn't think twice about screwing his old friend over for his wealthy charter school friends.

Cuomo also rolled de Blasio over the mayor's push for a tax on the wealthy to pay for universal pre-K in New York City.  The governor provided state money for de Blasio's pre-K plan (though not as much as the tax plan would have raised) but made sure that money did not come from increased taxes on wealthy people, many of whom are also Cuomo donors.

Again Cuomo didn't think twice about sticking it to old friend de Blasio and making sure his donors got what they wanted - no new taxes.

Cuomo was riding high after his twin showdowns with de Blasio during the budget negotiations, but that ride didn't last for long.

A challenge from the left flank of his party arose in the figure of Fordham professor Zephyr Teachout late in the spring.

Teachout attempted to get the Working Families Party ballot line during the WFP convention last May and present Cuomo with a problem for the general election - he would have had two opponents to take on, one from the right in GOP candidate Rob Astorino, one from the left in Zephry Teachout.

A Sienna poll showed Cuomo would have trouble breaking 50% if a challenge from the left emerged for the general election, so he and his campaign pulled out all the stops to make sure Teachout didn't get the ballot line.

First they had their union friends, major supporters of WFP, threaten the party with dissolution if the ballot line for the general election was given to Teachout.

Then Cuomo had his old friend Bill de Blasio intervene with the party faithful and negotiate an agreement between the governor and the party in which Cuomo would receive the ballot line in return for agreeing to work for a Democratic takeover of the State Senate.

De Blasio was supposed to be riding high after this intervention, since Cuomo had needed his help to secure the WFP line, but I thought at the time de Blasio was acting the fool for helping his old friend Andrew Cuomo in the negotiations.

On May 30, I wrote:

Is de Blasio suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or did he get something in return for mediating negotiations between Cuomo and WFP?

If you remember, it was just a short while ago that Cuomo took every opportunity to stick it to de Blasio over not just charter schools but issue after issue.

Anthony Weiner even noted how putzy Cuomo was to de Blasio in a DN piece.

Now de Blasio helps save the day for Sheriff Andy.

My guess is, seconds after the election is over, Cuomo starts sticking it to de Blasio and the unions again.

Hard to know if this is Stockholm Syndrome, stupidity or a sell-out, but whatever the hell it is, it sucks.

De Blasio's aid for Cuomo didn't stop in May at the Working Families Party convnetion.

Polls showed late in the summer that Cuomo's pro-gun, anti-abortion running mate, Kathy Hochul, could lose her primary challenge to Teachout's running mate, Tim Wu.

Cuomo again reached out to de Blasio and had the mayor (along with union buddy Randi Weingarten) issue robocalls throughout the city in support of  the"liberal" Hochul.

After the election, Wu said that internal campaign polling showed him with the momentum going into the primary, but the de Blasio robocalls essentially stopped that momentum cold and Hochul won the race.

In short, Cuomo's running mate won her primary challenge because de Blasio helped her do it.

Again I wrote at the time that de Blasio was a fool for helping Cuomo, that Cuomo wouldn't think twice about screwing his "old friend" - and Ken Lovett and Jennifer Fermino at the Daily News reported the same thing:

“For good or bad, the governor is not a person who views the world as 'I owe you one.' If someone came to him and said, ‘I was there for you and I took care of you — you owe me,’ you don’t get a good reaction,” the insider said.

A second source who has had dealings with de Blasio and Cuomo agrees.

“Andrew appreciates what Bill has done for him. But if he needed to f--k over the mayor tomorrow, he's going to do it. That’s just how he operates.”

Even I thought Cuomo would wait until after the election to "fuck over" de Blasio, but it turns out Cuomo, worried that his GOP challenger Rob Astorino is making inroads over the first reported Ebola case in the city, decided post-Election Day was too late to screw de Blasio over.

So he did it yesterday instead.

On Thursday, Cuomo and de Basio made a joint appearance to reassure city residents after it was reported a doctor who had worked with Ebola patients in West Africa had tested positive for the virus here in the city.

Both Cuomo and de Blasio took pains on Thursday to tamp down hysteria over the incident and assure New Yorkers that the chances of getting infected by Ebola on the subway or in a cab were slim.

That was Thursday.

On Friday Cuomo changed course and suddenly decided hysteria over Ebola was exactly what was needed:

On Thursday night, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sat beside Mayor Bill de Blasio at Bellevue Hospital Center as they offered soothing words to worried New Yorkers: New York City’s first case of Ebola, they said, was no reason for panic.

Less than 19 hours later, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, joined the Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, and struck a starkly different tone. The governors announced Friday that medical personnel returning to New York after treating Ebola patients in West Africa would be automatically subject to a 21-day quarantine.

The risk, Mr. Cuomo said, was grave. Offering an ominous hypothetical, he raised the precise situation that the mayor and the city’s health commissioner had tried to play down the night before: the danger of Ebola spreading through the subway system.

“In a region like this,” Mr. Cuomo said, “you go out one, two or three times, you ride the subway, you ride a bus, you could affect hundreds and hundreds of people.”

...

Within the city, an unexpected policy shift by Mr. Cuomo on Friday appeared to open up a public divide between the governor and the administration of Mr. de Blasio, a fellow Democrat. The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, was not informed in advance of the Cuomo-Christie mandatory quarantine order and was “furious,” a senior city official who spoke to her said.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo, Melissa DeRosa, said city officials were not consulted about the quarantine policy because it pertained to airports that are run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Mr. Cuomo’s shift came just 11 days before he will be on the ballot seeking a second term, and on a day when his long-shot Republican challenger, Rob Astorino, seized on the city’s Ebola case to assail the governor for not closing the New York airports to travelers from affected West African nations.

As Lovett and Fermino had reported in the Daily News in September, Cuomo wouldn't think twice about having to "fuck over" de Blasio if political expediency necessitated the screw job.

Apparently between Thursday night and Friday morning, political expediency necessitated Cuomo "fuck over" Bill de Blasio on the Ebola crisis.

In the same Times story on the "public rift" between Cuomo and de Blasio over Cuomo's sudden shift in policy, this is said about past health crises:

The partisan divide over how to respond to Ebola stands in stark contrast to previous public health threats over the last decade, including the anthrax attacks after Sept. 11, 2001, the West Nile virus, the avian flu and the tuberculosis outbreaks in the 1980s and 1990s. In those cases, public health officials worked largely in concert with elected ones to maintain calm and disseminate consistent information.

This time around politicians - including Cuomo and Christie, but certainly not limited to these two - are hyping the crisis for political gain.

Caught flat-footed once again by his old pal, Andrew Cuomo, it remains to be seen how de Blasio responds to the pre-election screw job by the governor.

But clearly Cuomo was showing de Blasio up yesterday at his press conference with Christie, big-timing the mayor by not alerting anybody in the de Blasio administration about the change in policy and protocol Cuomo was going to put into place with Christie at the Port Authority airports.

Much of this is de Blasio's own fault, of course.

De Blasio spent much political capital helping Cuomo in the spring with the Working Families Party and in the fall with the Hochul robocalls.

If Cuomo wins re-election with over 50% of the vote, that will happen because Bill de Blasio ensured Cuomo would not have a challenger from the left on the WFP ballot line taking double digits away from Cuomo in the general election.

Now Cuomo pays de Blasio back by sticking the shiv in him less than two weeks before Election Day.

I see two takeaways here:

One, De Blasio was a fool for expending so much political capital to help a "friend" who everybody knew would screw him over at the first opportunity.

And two, Andrew Cuomo is a sociopath, a man with no moral center who will literally do and say anything to promote himself and his career.

Neither of these takeaways are surprises, of course - we knew this stuff long before yesterday.

And indeed, Cuomo had already broken his promise to de Blasio and WFP that he would work for a Democratic takeover of the State Senate.

One thing I am surprised at, however.

I really thought Cuomo would wait until Wednesday November 5th to stick the shiv into de Blasio.

But he shoved the shiv in nearly two weeks earlier - that just shows you how desperate Cuomo is to not only win re-election but run up the score.

Cuomo/Hochul Spent $5.9 Million On Primary

This says everything you need to know about the corrupt nature of our politics:

ALBANY – They were never worried about their Democratic Party primary challengers earlier this month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his running mate, Erie County’s Kathy Hochul, insisted over and over again.

Worries aside, Cuomo and Hochul spent about $5.9 million in the final couple of weeks and days immediately following their recent closer-than-expected Democratic primary contests.

New campaign finance filings with the state Board of Elections show that the governor spent $5.6 million, much of it on television ads, during the primary campaign in which he faced political newcomer Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham law professor who captured 34 percent of the Democratic vote against Cuomo.

Hochul's opponent Tim Wu spent under $300,000 on the campaign, Teachout's filings aren't available yet but it will be around the same numbers as Wu's.

$5.9 million to about $700,000

American democracy at its finest.

Cuomo Will Be Happy To Screw De Blasio Over Despite The Help The Mayor Gave To Cuomo's Re-Election Campaign

After getting rolled by Governor Cuomo last spring over charter school co-locations and a tax increase on the wealthy to pay for universal pre-K, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made the decision to help Cuomo this election season with his re-election campaign in order to curry more favor with King Andrew.

First de Blasio helped engineer Cuomo's endorsement by the Working Families Party, then he began campaigning publicly for Cuomo, and finally he made a robocall for Cuomo's embattled running mate, the conservative Kathy Hochul, that Hochul's opponent, Tim Wu, said may have been the difference in the primary.

With all this help de Blasio has given Cuomo, Cuomo should want to help de Blasio out now too.

But Ken Lovett and Jeniifer Fermino of the NY Daily News report that if de Blasio thinks Cuomo's going to help him out in the future now that de Blasio has given Cuomo much needed help this election season, he's a fool:

A source with ties to Cuomo said the relationship between the mayor and governor has “fundamentally changed” as a result of the primary. “He’ll view the mayor much more as a reliable partner and friend,” said the insider.

...

The insider who is close to Cuomo told the Daily News that “the mayor can’t collect an IOU, but it’s the beginning of a real relationship” that will produce results for the city.

“For good or bad, the governor is not a person who views the world as 'I owe you one.' If someone came to him and said, ‘I was there for you and I took care of you — you owe me,’ you don’t get a good reaction,” the insider said.

A second source who has had dealings with de Blasio and Cuomo agrees.

“Andrew appreciates what Bill has done for him. But if he needed to f--k over the mayor tomorrow, he's going to do it. That’s just how he operates.”

Ah, yes - if Cuomo needs to "fuck over the mayor tomorrow, he's going to do it - that's just how he operates."

How's that for a "reliable partner and friend"?

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

The takeaway of this is, de Blasio is a fool, Cuomo is a scumbag and if anybody thinks Cuomo's going to help de Blasio get control of the rent board or hand him more money for pre-K or overturn the giveaway he gave to charters last spring when he forced the city to either find space for every charter or pay rent for them, they had better not hold their breaths waiting.

Cuomo does only what helps Cuomo.

Now I dunno if de Blasio really does think by helping Cuomo out, he's going to be able to call in some chits in the future or if he simply is trying to ride the winning team and expand his power base that way.

But either way, it's cynical politics and in the end, I don't think it's going to be terribly effective.

De Blasio Caves To Charter School Sector

If there was ever a time when Mayor de Blasio could tell Governor Cuomo to go @#$% himself, this is the time.

Cuomo needed de Blasio's help in securing the Working Families Party ballot line last May, something that was very important to Cuomo since the woman who might have gotten that line had de Blasio not helped Cuomo out - Zephry Teachout - took 34% of the vote away from Cuomo in the Democratic Primary on Tuesday.

In addition, de Blasio mounted a very public push for Cuomo's very conservative running mate, Kathy Hochul, making robocalls on Hochul's behalf and helping to curtail the momentum Teachout's running mate Tim Wu got after the NY Times endorsed him.

Wu said yesterday, the reason Hochul won was in large measure due to de Blasio's work.

So if ever there was a time that de Blasio could tell Governor Cuomo that he's going to go his own way on something, now would be the time - Cuomo owes him big time.

Alas, rather than try and stick it to the charter school sector over co-location space and risk making his pal in Albany mad at him, de Blasio has caved to the charter school sector in the latest co-location battle:

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which spent the winter in a bruising fight with charter school advocates, said on Wednesday that it would find space in public school buildings for four charter schools that want to open or expand next year.

The list of approved schools includes two run by Eva Moskowitz, the charter school leader who has been Mr. de Blasio’s sharpest adversary.

As public advocate, Mr. de Blasio frequently criticized Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg for giving charter schools, which are privately run but publicly financed, free space in public school buildings over the objections of some parents and teachers. As a mayoral candidate, he called for a moratorium on so-called co-locations until the process for approving such arrangements was improved.

In February, he denied space to three of Ms. Moskowitz’s schools, setting off a political battle.

Charter supporters financed television advertisements criticizing the mayor, and Ms. Moskowitz bused thousands of charter school students and parents to Albany for a rally, at which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo promised the families his support. The governor and legislative leaders ultimately inserted in the budget a requirement that the city provide space to charters or else contribute to the cost of their renting private space.

The four schools the city said on Wednesday that it would find space for are Ms. Moskowitz’s two schools, Success Academy Bronx 3, which is adding third grade next year, and Success Academy Bed-Stuy 1, which is adding fifth grade; Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School, which is adding high school grades; and Bronx Charter School for Better Learning II, a new school.

Don't think the charter entrepreneurs weren't worried about what de Blasio was going to do - because they were:

 

Charter school advocates expressed relief at the news.

“We hope that this great step on the administration’s part will be the first of several, in order to make sure that this law works for everyone,” James Merriman, the chief executive of the New York City Charter School Center, said in a statement, referring to the new state law.

Cuomo rolled de Blasio last March when he finagled the Eva Moskowitz Charter School Giveaway Budget and forced NYC to either co-locate every charter's whims or pay for rent in private space.

That was when Cuomo was riding high in polls and power.

Since then, Cuomo has been rebuked twice by the left wing of his party, once last spring during the Working Families Party convention when party activists wanted to nominate Teachout and Cuomo needed the help of de Blasio and the unions to get the WFP ballot nod and Tuesday when he had the worst showing in a Democratic gubernatorial primary ever in New York State.

Cuomo has also been rebuked by US Attorney Preet Bharara for shutting down the Moreland Commission in return for getting an on time budget deal and for later meddling with former Moreland Commissioners in an attempt to defend that commission shutdown.

As I said in the beginning of the post, if ever there was a time that de Blasio could force Cuomo's hand on an issue - even the charter school issue - it is now, when Cuomo is diminished, weakened, and owes de Blasio big time.

De Blasio, for whatever reason, has chosen not do so and instead has caved to the charter school sector in the spacing battle.

Many are blaming de Blasio over this, claiming he's a sell-out and what-not, and they're probably right about that.

But I also suspect that, after getting no backing in the battle with Eva and Cuomo last winter/spring (including from the UFT), de Blasio has decided that this is not going to be a battle he's going to take on anymore.

So yes, blame de Blasio for caving to Eva and the charter school juggernaut.

But also blame the UFT for not backing him over Eva last year in the co-location battle.

BTW, the unions helped Cuomo out big time too this election cycle, not only helping him secure the WFP ballot nod by threatening the party with dissolution if they gave the endorsement to Teachout, but by pushing for Cuomo's conservative running mate as well.

AFT President Weingarten, she of the pro-gun control, pro-DREAM Act side of the political spectrum, robocalled for the anti-gun control, anti-immigrants' rights Kathy Hocul, as did Bill de Blasio.

It's nice to see the unions and the mayor on the same side in a fight - too bad it's on the side of helping the loathsome Cuomo and his uber-conservative running mate win this election.

Tim Wu: De Blasio Is Big Reason A Conservative Will be Elected Lieutenant Governor

From Daily Politics:

Tim Wu, whose insurgent challenge to Andrew Cuomo's political machine fell short in Tuesday's primary, says he is furious at fellow progressive Mayor de Blasio.

“There was an effort to elect a progressive to the lieutenant governor office, and the greatest impediment to that was the Mayor Bill de Blasio,” Wu said in an interview Wednesday morning after he and running mate Zephyr Teachout were defeated by Gov. Cuomo and Kathy Hochul Tuesday. “He personally did more than any other actor to ensure that the lieutenant governor would go not to a progressive but to a conservative," Wu said.

Wu said that de Blasio jumped into the lieutenant governor's race at a crucial moment -- after Wu won an endorsement from the New York Times and was gaining “Wu-mentum.”

“He did radio ads, he did get-out-the-vote, he did the big ringing endorsement [for Hochul] right at the crucial moment. He took us on,” said Wu.

The only group of people who did more work than de Blasio to help Cuomo and his bank lobbyist running mate win the primary?

The UFT/AFT/NYSUT leaders:

1) who engineered a putsch at NYSUT to make sure the old leaders who had turned on Cuomo were ousted

2) who threatened the Working Families Party with dissolution if WFP gave their ballot slot to Zephyr Teachout

3) who refused to endorse Teachout in the primary and provide much needed cash and support for the Teachout/Wu campaign (as PEF did) and

4) who made robocalls for the campaign.

De Blasio, Weingarten, Magee, Mulgrew - four reasons why Andrew Cuomo will win re-election this year handily in the general election and his bank lobbyist running mate will ride along with him into power.

Cuomo Will Be Governor But He Will No Longer Be King

Matt Stoller on what the primary results mean for Cuomo:

Andrew Cuomo will be Governor, but his career is over. Cuomo will win in November. He will govern for another four years, or until he is indicted. But he will not hold another elected office, because he has proven himself a very good machine boss but a very bad candidate. The level of petty vindictiveness reflects a brilliant man who simply cannot help himself but indulge his desire for control. Interestingly, Zephyr won Albany County, and people there know him best.

The New York establishment hates and fears Andrew Cuomo. Zephyr Teachout is a great candidate, and she ran an excellent campaign. But Cuomo had a lot of enemies, and her campaign gave them all a chance to vent. It was like a dam broke, and every anti-Cuomo sentiment poured through the wreckage. I saw this up close as a volunteer for Zephyr; a surprising number of people at her rallies had had close experiences with Cuomo, and hated him for his micro-managing style and general petty vindictiveness. I heard from former state employees who complained of his staffs’ screaming and stapler throwing, librarians angry that Cuomo was selling public libraries to be bulldozed for luxury condos, and even the representative of an ultra-conservative wealthy plutocrat who said his boss hated Cuomo because “he is a fucking liar.” But that said, while hating him, they went along with him. For instance, New York politician Ed Koch still wouldn’t forgive Cuomo for a campaign stunt from 1977: “During the ugly 1977 New York City mayoral primary battle between Koch and Mario Cuomo, Cuomo campaign signs appeared throughout Queens — Cuomo’s home turf — reading, “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo.” Cuomo’s son Andrew, then 19, worked alongside his father on the campaign.” That didn’t stop Koch from cutting Cuomo a check for $1000 in 2010. (Koch passed away in 2013). Now that Cuomo’s control of the party is in question, his ability to govern will be dramatically weakened. He will be Governor, but no longer King.

I never thought Teachout or Wu had a chance to beat Cuomo or Hochul.

I did think they had a very good chance to embarrass him with their own strong showings and expose just how much many on the left despise Cuomo.

That's exactly what happened yesterday.

Cuomo knew it was coming too, which is why he hid with Sandra Lee last night rather than hold a victory party with supporters.

He'll try and put as happy a face on this as he can, but Matt Stoller got it right - he's finished as a politician seeking future political office.

He'll serve out his term as governor or he'll be indicted, but he will not be a serious candidate for president.

Teachout, with a little help from Credico, finished his White House dream last night.

No Democratic incumbent who can only get 62% in the Democratic Primary in New York will be taken serious if he attempts to run for president.

Also, we still have the US attorney looking into Cuomo's meddling with the Moreland Commission, so there's an outside chance he ends up with a lot more trouble this second term than he faced in his first.

But no matter - the "fear factor" on Cuomo is dispelled.

He can be beaten up in future political battles, whether over Common Core or APPR, tax caps or education funding.

He has been exposed as a weak, cowardly man, a politician who refused to even say his primary opponent's name until he finally put it into his "victory" press release last night (a press release that he purposely released during Teachout's own concession speech, another cowardly act meant to diminish Teachout that instead diminished Cuomo.)

That Cuomo had to offer a press release instead of give a public statement in person about his "victory" says all you need to know about how he felt about his night.

And it says all you need to know about how this second term is going to go.

What's Wrong With Andrew Cuomo?

There is no better emblem of what's wrong with Andrew Cuomo then this past weekend's exhibition of petulance, arrogance and hubris at the Labor Day Parade.

His opponent in the Democratic Primary, Zephyr Teachout, attempted to say hello to him at the parade.

Cuomo, who has never once uttered her name in public, did everything he could to make believe like he didn't see her (see pictures below.)

First, his goons, including his chief goon Joe Percoco, tried to keep Teachout away from Cuomo.

Then, when it became apparent that Teachout could take a roundabout route to Cuomo past the goons, Cuomo began screaming "Where's the mayor when you need him? Where's the mayor when you need him?" at Mayor Bill de Blasio, looking for his pal de Blasio to come over and save him from Teachout.

De Blasio obliged, ignoring Teachout and kissing his pal Cuomo on the cheek like a mafia underboss kisses the cheek of the head of the crime family.

As this was going on, Teachout attempted to say hello to Cuomo's running mate, Kathy Hochul.

Hochul, a former Congresswoman who served less than a full term in Congress and has most recently worked as a bank lobbyist, did her best to ignore Teachout too, even as Teachout tapped her on the shoulder to try and get her to turn around.

The Cuomo campaign had targeted Zephry Teachout for destruction previously by first finagling the Working Families Party from endorsing her for the general election (with pal de Blasio's help), then by twice taking her to court in order to get her thrown off the primary ballot over residency requirements.

Teachout survived those court attacks and so the Cuomo camp, clearly paying very close attention to her in private, decided their public strategy for handling Teachout would be to ignore her, make believe like she didn't exist.

What happened over the weekend exposed that strategy for the shallow stupidity it is, just as it exposed the people who pursued it - Cuomo, de Blasio, Hochul - as shallow, stupid people too.

Afterwards Cuomo claimed he never saw Teachout ("I never saw her. If anything, I failed an eyesight test"), a defense that I saw described on the Internet as "high school shit" - the kind of thing kids do to defend themselves after engaging in less-than-savory behavior.

Of course, Andrew Cuomo isn't a kid and he isn't in high school - he's the governor of the State of New York and he has plans to be president of the United States in the future.

He's also a childish, self-centered little man full of hubris and arrogance and petulance.

All of that was on display this past weekend at the Labor Day Parade and in his attempts to defend himself from that display.

That's what's wrong with Andrew Cuomo.

And that, more than anything, is why he doesn't belong as governor of the State of New York.

Vote Teachout/Wu in today's primary.

And tell everyone you know who is a registered Democrat to do the same.

It's time to get rid of people like Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul and put actual adults into power.

Randi Weingarten Robocalls For Andrew Cuomo's Pro-Gun, Anti-Immigrants' Rights Running Mate

From Daily Politcs:

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, has done a last-minute robocall for former Buffalo-area Rep. Kathleen Hochul, Gov. Cuomo's preferred lieutenant governor candidate.

Weingarten's call comes a day before the primary between Hochul and insurgent liberal Democratic candidate Tim Wu, a Columbia law professor. Political insiders say Wu has a shot at pulling an upset.
Weingarten is a well-known name in New York as she used to head the powerful city teachers union.

She said she was calling as a "fellow Democrat" and in her role as a National Democratic Committee delegate.

Her support for Hochul comes even as the state and city teacher unions have not endorsed in the race for governor and lieutenant governor.

First off, let's dispense with this jive that the AFT, NYSUT and UFT aren't helping Cuomo out in his re-election bid.

It's true that they never endorsed Cuomo officially, but the work the leaderships of the AFT and UFT did behind the scenes last spring to ensure that Cuomo got the Working Families Party ballot line was a big help to him.

It's one thing for Cuomo to have to worry about his Democratic Party Primary opponent Zephyr Teachout take 20% of the vote in tomorrow's primary.

It's another thing for him to have to worry about her taking 20% of the vote in the general election in November, as might have happened had she gotten the WFP ballot line.

Add the 20% Teachout could've garnered in the general election to the 38% GOP candidate Rob Astorino can be expected to get and suddenly Cuomo's winning re-election with a lot less than 50% of the vote.

But the AFT/UFT/NYSUT leaders made sure that wouldn't happen when they joined a contingent of union leaders who threatened the WFP with dissolution if they endorsed Teachout.

Now here's AFT President Weingarten robocalling for Cuomo's running mate, the very conservative pro-gun, anti-immigrants' rights Kathy Hochul.

Hochul, btw, was a one term member of Congress who's been working lately as a bank lobbyist.

She's got a stellar report card from the NRA for her pro-gun rights stances and an abysmal record on immigrants' rights issues.

Here are Hochul's own statements about her record and issue positions:

I've heard from a lot of Republicans ... they think I'm a different kind of Democrat, and I'll take that as a compliment.

I don't think that many people know that I've always had the Conservative Party endorsement every time I've run for office.

I did not support Obamacare 100 percent, of course. I voted many times to repeal it, so you just need to look at my record.

I led the fight against giving illegal immigrant drivers' licenses.

I voted with Speaker Boehner against the President's policy on Libya .... I'm one of 20 Democrats in the entire country who supported the energy bill.

I support the Keystone Pipeline, unlike the President and his administration.

I'm one of the few Democrats to receive the NRA endorsement.

I've become very conservative in my voting record.

I've talked to hundreds of people—many, many conservatives and Republicans, and they are with me on the issues.

Hochul now claims to support the DREAM Act, but given her past stances on immigrants' rights issues, you can certainly be skeptical of her conversion to pro-DREAM Act.

That Weingarten, who claims to care about gun control and the DREAM Act, is robocalling for Hochul shows you just how much work the teachers union leaders are doing to help Andrew Cuomo in this election cycle.

It also exposes Weingarten's hypocrisy that she can robocall for a candidate as abhorent to Weingarten's own views on gun control and immigrants' rights issues.

But that's par for the course with the teachers unions leaders in general and Randi Weingarten in particular - saying one thing publicly while doing behind the scenes work to bring about an opposite outcome.

Remember Weingarten's robocalls for the bank lobbyist with the A+ NRA report card and the abysmal immigrants' rights record the next time Randi jives in public about guns or the DREAM Act.

And know that whatever it is Weingarten is saying about the gun or immigrants' rights issues she doesn't really mean it.

Know that all she cares about is power and access - even if that means robocalling for a right-wing pro-gun, anti-immigrants' rights bank lobbyist that Andrew Cuomo wants as lieutenant governor.

Cuomo, Worried About Primary, Increases Campaign Ad Buys

Will Brunelle at Capital NY:

Governor Andrew Cuomo has purchased a reminder to Democratic voters about Tuesday's primary, in the form of $850,000 in broadcast television ads, according to F.C.C. filings reviewed by Capital.
The latest buy, running from Sept. 1 until the close of polls on Tuesday, September 9, is part of the most significant ad campaign Cuomo has run since late July, and is more than seven times the $114,000 buy made the week prior (from Aug. 21-27).

The filings that are currently available from New York broadcast stations indicate that the ads were placed in the Buffalo and New York City broadcast markets.

The Cuomo campaign has been aggressively selling his running mate, former congresswoman Kathy Hochul, to downstate voters, in the face of a primary challenge from Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu. Hochul hails from Western New York, where the campaign is hoping her prior supporters will turn out on Tuesday.

The campaign's largest volume purchase—538 ad spots—will run on WPIX in New York City. That entire buy is only costing Cuomo $35,600 (versus $190,700 for just 95 spots on WCBS).

Think they're not worried about Tim Wu knocking off Kathy Hochul?

Think again.

Cuomo's strongest support in the state comes in New York City.

The only reason he's running ads in New York City is because he's worried Kathy Hochul, with little name recognition, could lose to Tim Wu for the lieutenant governor spot.

Cuomo, De Blasio Threaten To Derail Pet Projects Of Any Democrats Who Endorse Teachout/Wu

Fred Dicker in today's Post:

Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio used threats and intimidation in recent days to block prominent Democrats from backing leftist law professors Zephyr Teachout and her running mate, Tim Wu, in Tuesday’s primary, party insiders have told The Post.

The largely successful pressure has been especially intense to stop endorsements for Wu, who is given a real chance of defeating conservative-turned-“progressive” former upstate Rep. Kathy Hochul, Cuomo’s running mate for lieutenant governor, insiders said.

“Cuomo and de Blasio were pulling out all stops, making it clear that anyone who even considers endorsing Teachout or Wu will pay a big political price,” said a prominent Democratic activist.

“Cuomo especially is obsessed with Wu because he clearly thinks Wu has a chance to win, which would be a disaster for him,” the activist continued.

City Council members were told that pet projects would be endangered if they back either Teachout or Wu, said a source close to the council. “You wouldn’t believe how much we were intimidated and muscled,’’ said one.

Council members and state legislators were also warned that state-funded projects would be at risk if they publicly backed Teachout or Wu, several sources said.

Delivering some of the messages was Joe Percoco, Cuomo’s longtime aide and political enforcer, the sources said.

“It’s almost a running joke in Democratic circles with people who speak up for Teachout saying, ‘I’m about to get a call from Joe,’ ’’ said a Teachout-campaign insider.

Cuomo himself was also described as directly involved.

“A few days ago, Teachout received a call from someone she had hoped would endorse her saying, ‘I’m so sorry. I just got a call from the governor, and he mentioned a particular project that I’m interested in, and so I’m going to have to endorse him,’ ’’ the campaign insider said.

Teachout told The Post, “When you speak to elected officials, they’re pretty blunt about wanting to protect their constituents from reprisals if they were to endorse me.”

“I absolutely would have had the support of dozens of elected officials who have endorsed Cuomo if it wasn’t for that.”

Gee, sounds like more quid pro quo corruption from our governor, Quid Pro Cuomo, with a little aid from his pal, "progressive" mayor de Blasio.

It also sounds like another investigation job for the US attorney, Preet Bharara, who is already looking into Cuomo's meddling in the Moreland Commission, with possible witness tampering and obstruction charges on tap for the governor and/or his aides (including Percoco, the aide mentioned in the Dicker column as the guy getting Cuomo's message across about Teachout/Wu.)

Or is it legal to threaten public officials with reprisals if they don't endorse you in an election?

You know, this kind of stuff:

Hey, like those senior centers in your district?

Better not endorse Teachout/Wu or state funding for those centers will disappear.

Tell Your Colleagues: Vote Teachout/Wu On Tuesday September 9th

We have two more days to try and get as many Democrats to vote for Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu in tomorrow's Democratic Primary.

Try and talk to as many people at school today and tomorrow as you can about Teachout/Wu.

Introduce those who don't know much about Teachout and Wu with this from the Teachout/Wu website:

My name is Zephyr Teachout, and I am a constitutional law professor and organizer. I am thrilled to announce my campaign for Governor, and the campaign of my running mate Tim Wu for Lt Governor for the great state of New York. We will be challenging Governor Cuomo and Kathy Hochul in the Democratic Primary.

The system is rigged, and Andrew Cuomo is part of the broken system. We are running to lay out a bold vision and provide a real choice for voters. New York can have an economy that works for all of us — not one which works only for the wealthy and well connected. We believe in a New York where wages are rising, small businesses are thriving and our public schools are the best in the nation.

We are not Albany insiders, but we believe Governor Cuomo and Kathy Hochul can be beat, and must be challenged. We will force Governor Cuomo to defend his record of deep education cuts, his tax cuts for banks and billionaires, his refusal to ban fracking and his failure to lead on the Dream Act. He has also failed to deliver on his core campaign promise from four years ago: cleaning up Albany.

Governor Cuomo and his corporate backers are going to come after us, and we need to know we can count on your support - can we count on you?

For those concerned about education issues, here's Teachout's platform on education:

THE BEST PUBLIC EDUCATION IN AMERICA

Public education is the foundation of democracy. That’s why so many members of the founding generation in America promoted free public education. I was lucky to have the chance to attend great public elementary and high schools. My first real job out of college was as a special education aide in a rural public school. I know from personal experience that strong public schools are essential not just to learn the skills and gain the confidence needed to thrive in today’s economy, but to build the knowledge and experience every citizen requires to become a full participant in political society.

Governor Cuomo has abandoned our public schools. His drastic budget cuts are short- sighted and entirely unnecessary. Under his tenure, class sizes have swollen to record levels, depriving students of the attention they need. New York school districts have had to eliminate tens of thousands of educator positions, amounting to more than 10 percent of the entire teaching workforce. This means schools have had to slash art, music, and sports, among other programs.

What makes this even more outrageous is that Governor Cuomo did not make these cuts because state coffers were empty. He made these cuts so he could cut the taxes of New York’s wealthiest individuals, of New York’s wealthiest banks, and of New York’s wealthiest corporations. Worse yet, after intentionally starving New York’s public schools, Governor Cuomo charged New York’s public school teachers with failing New York’s students. He then used this charge to justify calling for the privatization of schools and for the imposition of draconian testing requirements.

One of the prime duties of the governor of New York is to safeguard our public schools from any private interest that threatens their public purpose. Yet Governor Cuomo, in his four years in office, has rarely even visited a public school. As Governor, I would dedicate myself every day to restoring New York’s public schools to their rightful place as the best in the nation. Specifically, I would pursue the following five strategies:

a. Full and Equal Funding for Public Education 

New York spends $8,700 less per pupil in poor districts than we do in rich ones. That makes New York the sixth most unequal state in all America when it comes to school funding. This also means that New York is in violation of its own Constitution, which requires the government to provide a “sound, basic education” to every student, no matter his zip-code. I believe this constitutional obligation should be our floor, not our ceiling. New Yorkers have a right to demand the best public schools in the nation, with small class sizes, arts, and physical education for every child.
I would work to make funding more fair and equitable. Despite a promise to the contrary, Governor Cuomo has actually widened the funding gap between poor and wealthy districts.

b. End High-Stakes Testing 

Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, we’ve seen a culture of test-and-punish overthrow actual teaching and real learning. New York State entirely botched the implementation of Common Core, which has ushered in an unrelenting regimen of tests. Governor Cuomo’s system of basing teacher evaluations on student tests has corroded actual learning.

We should slam the brakes on the barrage of high-stakes testing. This means halting both the new Common Core tests and tests that are part of the teacher evaluation system. We need to undertake a thorough reevaluation of all high stakes tests, with full input from educators and parents.

c. Protect Against Privatization 

Governor Cuomo has promoted a private takeover of public education policy, by opening state coffers up to charter schools, which serve only three percent of New York’s students. In New York City, meanwhile, he has mandated that city taxpayers pay rent for privately run charter schools to the tune of $11,000 per pupil, thus fueling their massive expansion at the expense of public schools.
We should protect our public schools from privatization schemes, including the diversion of state funds to private schools through vouchers or back-door tax credits. We should repeal provisions enacted in 2014 that hijack control of decision-making about charter school co-locations out of the hands of local governments and that mandate that New York City pay for charter school rent.

d. Empower Local Communities 

I would eliminate the undemocratic provisions of the cap on local school budgets— falsely sold as a tax cap even though it caps nobody’s taxes. Specifically we should hand back to local voters the right to control their own school budgets, by eliminating the requirement of a 60 percent supermajority. We should return to the principle of one person, one vote in school budget elections.

e. Suspend the Suspension Pipeline 

We must end the ‘school to prison pipeline’ where excessive use of school suspensions for minor infractions deprive students of education, leaving them behind. Suspensions actually increase behavior problems and decrease school safety. In many urban communities there is a school suspension crisis—with huge racial inequalities in suspension rates. Greater suspension rates lead to higher expulsion rates and to increases in school-based arrests. This cycle starts with high suspension rates for young students, even as young as pre-k and kindergarten. We need solutions, not suspensions. We need to transform the culture in school buildings to support teachers and students, foster collaboration, teach problem-solving, engender real responsibility and accountability and keep students in school. This approach, called “restorative justice,” has proven highly effective. Due to a local community organizing effort in Buffalo, the implementation of these reforms have already led to a 30 percent reduction in suspensions. Students cannot learn if they are not in school.

f. Halt Common Core

I am calling for an immediate halt on all four new teacher certification tests, and for them to be replaced by the three former ones. Only by stopping the exams, which were introduced this year and are aligned with Common Core, will 2014 and 2015 teacher candidate graduates have a fair opportunity to enter the teaching profession.

Common Core has been widely and justly recognized as a rushed and flawed initiative, as well as an undemocratic one. Criticism of the new educational standards has been fierce among both Democratic and Republican legislators. Governor Andrew Cuomo, too, has acknowledged that Common Core needs to be fixed before students and teachers can be judged by it. Speaking out in support of a two-year delay on the use of negative evaluations for current teachers, Governor Cuomo said, “We want a fair evaluation ... People's lives are being judged by this instrument, so you want the instrument in the evaluation to be correct."

Inexplicably, Governor Cuomo has not extended the same rights to teacher candidates. Even though their exams mirror those used to evaluate current teachers, teacher candidates were not offered the same delay. As a result, qualified candidates are being blocked from entering the teaching profession because of flawed and unfair tests. Under Governor Cuomo’s watch and with his full knowledge, the State Education Department is shamefully using teacher candidates as guinea pigs while the standards are still being corrected.

Thousands of teacher careers are being ruined. This must stop immediately. We must go beyond the two-year delay and indefinitely halt the standards proposed for evaluations of both current and candidate teachers.

g. Prioritizing Early Intervention

For more than two decades, the New York State Early Intervention Program has been a vital resource for infants and toddlers with disabilities, and their families. Available to children of up to three-years old, the program has traditionally been open to all eligible children, regardless of socioeconomic status and level of family resources.

Since Governor Andrew Cuomo entered office, the Early Intervention Program in NYS has faced significant budget cuts. In 2012-2013 its budget was reduced to $508 million, down from $650 million in 2010-2011. As a result, many families of young children with special needs have been left without the crucial services they need to protect their children's future. A record number of Early Intervention providers and provider agencies – including physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, social workers, vision therapists, and nutritionists – have closed their doors over the last 18 months, due to changes in policies that have both reduced what they can earn and created huge lags in payments for services already rendered.

Early Intervention was created to make sure we get involved when we have the greatest chance of making a difference. From birth to three years of age is when a child’s brain grows to 80 percent of its adult size and is hence most responsive to change. Research has found that early intervention can change brain architecture and improve outcomes for children.

What’s more, intervening early can save the state huge resources. Investing in Early Intervention programs has been found to reduce education costs, by minimizing the need for special education services later. Studies document how every dollar spent in Early Intervention saves the state up to $17 in education costs.

Of course statistics can’t quantify for the joy and relief that a well-managed Early Intervention Program can personally provide families. Reducing state expenditures on Early Intervention is neither smart social policy nor prudent fiscal policy. It will make life far more difficult for tens of thousands of struggling families. And in the guise of saving taxpayers money it will actually cost taxpayers far more. In slashing funding, Governor Cuomo has ignored experience and evidence.

Real change is necessary to ensure that our NYS Early Intervention Program thrives. We will work to ensure:

• Each child with developmental delays receives eligible early intervention services regardless of his or her socioeconomic status.
• NYS meets the requirements set out in the Individuals with Disabilities Act C, which involves providing sufficient early intervention to obviate the need for special education later.
• NYS Early Intervention is part of the increases in funding for Early Childhood Education seen nationwide.
• Our early intervention providers and practitioners – 90 percent of whom are female – are compensated adequately for services rendered.
• New York State needs to honor our most vulnerable children and their families. We would make this a priority.

Finally, don't forget to tell people about Cuomo's lack of common decency and courtesy this weekend when he very prominently and publicly snubbed Teachout - here's the video of that:

I posted twice about the Teachout snub - here and here.

Two days to go - talk to as many people as you can, try and get some votes for Teachout and Wu and don't forget - Cuomo's gotta go!!!

Andrew Cuomo Snub Of Opponent Zephyr Teachout At Parade Goes Viral

And now the rest of America gets to see what an arrogant little man-child our governor is.

Here's Politico's coverage of the Cuomo/De Blasio snub of Teachout

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo greeted participants in New York City’s Labor Day Parade on Saturday, but one person didn’t get a warm welcome: his primary opponent.

A video posted on NewYorkTrue.com shows Zephyr Teachout, who is challenging Cuomo in the state’s Democratic primary, approaching the governor at the parade. She tries several times to get his attention, but first an aide asks everyone to step back, and then Cuomo turns away from Teachout, shouting instead to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. De Blasio moves through the crowd and hugs Cuomo, but neither acknowledges Teachout in the minute-long clip.

The video made waves on Twitter, with commenters calling the exchange “awkward” and “cringeworthy.”

Cuomo is expected to win the Democratic primary on Tuesday, but his reputation and political clout have taken a hit this election year. Teachout and running mate Tim Wu have attempted to brand Cuomo as being out of touch with progressivism in New York, including economic and labor issues.

There's not a ton of comments but some of them are insightful:

Cuomo clearly lacks something: class
I hope he has an 'Eric Canter' moment on election day.

...

I am a yellow dog Democrat, but the NY times article on Cuomos style of politicking, and this video I'm getting a distinct sense of entitlement. I have to say I hope he loses, the same way Cantor lost...not connecting, too busy, not engaging an opponent in a respectful way., arrogant. He couldn't take the time to be polite. Reminds me of when Clayton Williams refused to shake Ann Richards hand after a debate.

...

God, I hope this video gets so many views it crashes the Internet. How is this megalomaniac a lock for reelection?

 ...

Cuomo is a coward. The fact that he said "debates are a disservice to democracy" should get him kicked out of office. Debates are a vital element in a democracy. This country was founded on debating ideas. He's a total joke.

...

I just can't believe this guy has such a commanding lead in the polls. He's about as savory as the liquid slop at the bottom of a dumpster, and as inspirational as a late-night infomercial. Great job, NY... your complacency is epic

...

Gracious, Andrew Cuomo is not. His refusal to debate his opponent had a lot to do with why he didn't have enough class to look her in the eye, let alone shake her hand. He'll win by a landslide in November, no doubt, just as Nixon did in '72. After that, we'll find out whether the U.S. attorney considers him above the law.

Indeed, we will find out whether the US attorney considers him above the law soon enough - and the same for one of the aides who blocked Teachout's route to Cuomo:

The guy that blocked her is Joe Percoco, a key figure in the US Attorney investigation into Cuomo shielding himself from the anti-corruption Moreland Commission

The Daily News reported that Cuomo's henchmen were desperate to keep Teachout from getting to their boss or his running mate, Kathy Hochul, that they were yelling "Someone get her out of here!" as Teachout approached Cuomo to shake his hand:

Democratic challenger Zephyr Teachout got within arm’s length of Gov. Cuomo on Saturday, but all she got was a cold shoulder.

Teachout, who is running against Cuomo in Tuesday’s primary, tried several times to approach him during the Labor Day Parade on Fifth Ave.

She first encountered Cuomo aide Joe Percoco, who immediately stepped in between her and Cuomo, a video posted on newyorktrue.com shows.

Percoco trailed her as she walked around him to get to her opponent, and once again, the handler got between Teachout and Cuomo.

Teachout said “hi” to Cuomo, the governor ignored her like she was the invisible woman and repeatedly asked, “Where’s Mayor Bill de Blasio?” Hizzoner waded through the crowd and gave Cuomo a kiss on the cheek.

  Teachout also tapped Cuomo’s running mate, former Congresswoman Kathy Hochul, on her shoulder.

Hochul was also frosty. She never turned around to face Teachout, giving her a steady view of her back.

“I just wanted to say hello as a courtesy,” Teachout said after Cuomo’s snub. “We’ve been running against each other, and it seems pretty clear by now he’s not going to debate.”

Cuomo has refused to debate the Fordham law professor.

“Someone get her out of here!” someone screamed.

That ought to be the Cuomo campaign motto:

 “Someone get her out of here!”

In case you missed the video, here it is again:

Cuomo, Hochul, De Blasio Are All Class

Watch Governor Cuomo, Representative Kathy Hochul and Mayor Bill de Blasio all ignore Cuomo's Democratic Primary opponent Zephyr Teachout as she tries to say hello at today's Labor Day Parade:




Lots of people have hammered Cuomo and Hochul on Twitter over this classless exhibition.

Let's add Bill de Blasio to the anvil for some hammering.

He's as classless as Cuomo and Hochul.

What the hell, shake her hand, say hello.

It's not that hard.

Awful people, all three of them.

This will end of backfiring on Cuomo.

He wants to make as if he has no primary opponent, but his classless display is quickly becoming the talk of social media and is going to become the thing everybody remembers.

Classless Andy with the goons around him to keep him all safe and cocooned.

Cuomo's Weakened Stature Gets The Politico Treatment

The Politico article, Andrew Cuomo's Progressive Blues, that went up this morning and got prominent placement on the Politico website, is not going to make Andrew Cuomo or his campaign happy.

The takeaway: Andrew Cuomo's political stature is diminished and his future as both governor and presidential candidate are limited.

Even more interestingly, de Blasio is depicted as Cuomo's political savior this election cycle, and likely to be more powerful than Cuomo himself within the Democratic Party in the near future.

How quickly fortunes change in politics, where just last spring de Blasio got rolled over charter schools and the pre-K taxes by Cuomo and was declared near-DOA in some press accounts.

But I'm less interested in de Blasio's resurgence in press accounts than I am with Cuomo's downward trajectory.

Last spring after Cuomo got his fourth on-time budget and rolled de Blasio over charters and taxes, he was riding high, was fully expected to win a big re-election victory, take that momentum into a second term as governor and perhaps build on it as a future presidential candidate.

Now the press frame for Cuomo, days before the Democratic Primary, is this:

This should be Andrew Cuomo’s springboard moment: He has tens of millions in the bank and every sign of routing his largely forgotten Republican challenger to win a second term. Throw that together with what’s still one of the best-known names in Democratic politics and a record of balanced budgets and wins on gay marriage and gun control, and election night should, for an ambitious big-state governor, be the first step toward a White House run.

Barring true shockers, Cuomo will win his Democratic primary Tuesday, as will his embattled running mate, former Buffalo-area Rep. Kathy Hochul. But the governor is finishing the nomination fight amid a sense in Albany that his political clout is diminished, progressives who believe he’ll always value his power over their principles, and a re-calibrated rivalry with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

 Cuomo’s even fallen behind in usefulness to Hillary Clinton — the New Yorker who’s likely to clear the field of most other Democrats, particularly those also from the Empire State — with the upstart challenge from Zephyr Teachout and her running mate Tim Wu exposing Cuomo as out-of-touch with the political passions of many liberal New Yorkers, and with a larger sense of progressivism that’s now defined much more by economic than social issues.

That’s the progressivism represented by de Blasio — a former Cuomo aide whom the governor started off the year all but trolling, and on whom he’s finished the primary season leaning, repeatedly, to backstop him.

...

Cuomo stormed into Albany four years ago on a promise of cleaning out corruption, fixing the always-disastrous state budget and restoring New York as the progressive leader of the country. He’s arriving on primary day with a federal investigation of supposed meddling into his anti-corruption Moreland Commission — which exacerbated political troubles simmering over a left-wing revolt over spending cuts and tax breaks he’d signed off on and a failure to press for stricter campaign finance rules. That only intensified as Cuomo attempted to get Teachout thrown off the ballot in a move that made many New York politicos privately shake their heads.

Even Cuomo’s 2011 push for legalizing gay marriage, at the time a controversial effort that was seen as a definitive progressive validator for an eventual White House run, has faded from people’s minds. 

...

Crystallizing the progressive state of mind last week, as is often the case, were the local picks of the New York Times editorial board. The Times endorsed neither Cuomo nor Teachout, but they very strongly backed Wu — essentially as a way of punishing the governor without going so far as to support putting the state in the hands of a Fordham law professor whose own prior political experience was topped by working on Howard Dean’s presidential campaign.

“The Times is out to kill Cuomo,” said one supporter of the governor who asked not to be identified.

Regardless of what happens in Tuesday's primary or November's general election, Cuomo does not have the juice that he did in the first term to make everyone go along with what he wants or turn them into roadkill.

His "fear factor" to make others go along has been permanently diminished by the Moreland mess, by the machinations with the Working Families Party that make him seem weak and needy, by his reliance on de Blasio to save him both with WFP and help running mate Hochul in her battle with Wu, and by his refusal to engage in the campaign publicly.

Cuomo's been in hiding for a while now, first over the Moreland mess, when he hid from view to avoid having to address the scandal, now in the campaign, when he refuses to even mention his Democratic Primary opponent's name, let alone debate her in public.

If the emblem of the first Cuomo term was the iron fist, the emblem for the second will be a tattered glove:

“Governor Cuomo apparently doesn’t believe in the philosophy that it’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game,” said Mark Green. “But by being so focused on his percentage rather than being a happy warrior campaigner — welcoming debates, interacting with the press and public — he’s probably helping himself next week but not next term. … Ideally he’ll be either a better governor by being more principled than hair-splitting, or he’ll have a harder time because he would have lost some of the fear factor that enables him to get his way.”

And of course the elephant in the room that never gets stated explicitly in the Politico article but hovers above all else in Cuomo's future is what US Attorney Preet Bharara, the federal prosecutor looking into alleged tampering of Cuomo's Moreland Commission by the governor and his staff, does in the case.

Does he indict one or more members of the Cuomo administration on corruption, conspiracy, obstruction and/or witness tampering charges?

Does he indict Cuomo himself?

Remember, Texas governor Rick Perry has just been indicted on a charge that seems slight compared to what Cuomo and his minions are alleged to have done with the Moreland Commission and former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell was just convicted on 11 counts of corruption and is going to jail.

Cuomo's legal jeopardy in Moreland will trump everything else that has happened so far and will happen in the second term.

About the best Cuomo can hope for is Bharara to issue a report taking him to task for meddling in Moreland and failing to clean up Albany politics as he had pledged to do.

Bharara has already publicly admonished Cuomo in the media - on WNYC, on Charlie Rose - so you know his Moreland investigation isn't just going to end quietly without comment from him, not after he took on Cuomo so prominently and publicly.

Political fortunes turn quickly, as we can see from how high Cuomo was riding in the aftermath of his budget victory last spring to now as he totters toward re-election, which means Sheriff Andy, ever the wily politician, will try and turn things around again.

But given what has happened these past five months, since he closed down Moreland and needed de Blasio to get him the Working Families Party nomination, we have witnesses the diminishing of the once impervious Andrew M. Cuomo and I just do not see how that "fear figure" can be put back together again to operate in the way he did in the first term.

As I've noted before, that's good for those of us who want to turn back some of his worst policies - the tax cap, the charter school budget giveaway, APPR.

Last night, I posted about Eva Moskowitz's recent p.r. blitz and wondered what might be behind the Eva Media Tour.

I suspect Andrew Cuomo's diminished stature and weakened political power is behind her recent media blitz - especially now that national political outlets like Politico are talking up her bitter enemy, Bill de Blasio, as the new power in New York State.

Let Kathy Hochul Know What You Think Of Her

State of Politics:

At 3:30 p.m., Hochul does a Penn South walk through with NYC Council Member Corey Johnson, 26th Street and 8th Avenue, Manhattan.

Stop by and let Hochul know you think she should be running as a Republican, along with her running mate, Andrew Cuomo:

Hours after Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pick for lieutenant governor published a video touting her liberal credentials, her challenger said her voting record “should be disqualifying” for a Democrat seeking office.

Columbia Law School Professor Tim Wu made a campaign stop near the state Capitol to release Part 2 of what he’s calling the “Kathy Hochul dossier”—a selection of Hochul’s more conservative-leaning votes taken during her time in Congress in 2011 and 2012.

Wu is challenging Hochul, a Buffalo Democrat who is Cuomo’s running mate, in a Sept. 9 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor. He’s running with Fordham Law School Professor Zephyr Teachout; But unlike presidential elections, New Yorkers vote separately for governor and lieutenant governor candidates in the primary stage.

“I think her record on environmental issues is abysmal and nothing short of shocking,” Wu told reporters. “My conclusion is this: I believe that Kathy Hochul’s views and votes should be considered disqualifying for someone who is seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party in this state.”

Wu was particularly critical of Hochul’s support for the Keystone XL pipeline, the controversial project that would take oil from the Canadian tar sands to Texas.

Since Governor Cuomo remains in hiding, she's got to be his proxy.