Senate Dem: Cuomo Is Like Scott Walker, Out To Destroy Public Schools And Teachers

From State of Politics:

Queens Democratic Sen. Michael Gianaris in an interview on Monday compared Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education reform policies to anti-labor measures being enacted under Republican Scott Walker in Wisconsin.

“Resources are being diverted out of the public school system to private schools, an attack on the teachers who sacrifice so much to work in our schools,” Gianaris said on NY1’s Inside City Hall. “If I wanted Scott Walker to be the governor, I’d move to Wisconsin. But we’re here in New York. I think we should be a progressive champion that stands up for working people who stand up for public schools first and foremost and then we should help the entire school system.”

The comment underscores the deepening level of antipathy from Senate Democrats in the mainline conference toward Cuomo.

Many of us in the education blogosphere and twitterverse have compared Cuomo to Walker before.

Now a member of the mainstream Democratic conference in the State Senate is doing it.

If I were NYSUT, I would take the clip of Gianaris comparing Cuomo to Walker, bundle it into an ad and run it all across the state.

Cuomo's at his lowest approval rating ever in the last Siena poll, but that number will be bounce back up after his minimum wage political ploy (and make no mistake, that's what it is - albeit, some good will come from it) and news his consort Sandra Lee has cancer.

But overall we want the trend to be downward.

It's imortant to keep Cuomo's numbers down - the unions should be running ads to do just that.

This Gianaris clip seems tailor made for that task.

Gothamist Readers Sound Off On Cuomo

There are 33 comments on this Gothamist story about De Blasio joining the mayor of Syracuse in fighting Cuomo for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity money the state owes.

Mmany of the commenters at Gothamist don't like Cuomo any more than the commenters at this blog.

Here are some sample comments:

Fuck Cuomo.

...

Look, Andy, you will never be president. Stop with this bullshit thinking you're going to get the fiscal conservative GOP vote.

...

It is really, truly gross...he could accomplish something but instead he'll play to the dumb, old middle and fuck everyone while he's at it.
 

...

Is this DeBlasio's way of saying " fuck you" to Cuomo?  Fuck Cuomo...

...

does that asshole actually think he can be president? i give him a pataki's chance.

...

I wish de Blasio would deal with Cuomo more diplomatically. A pissed off governor is not what the city needs right now.

...

I wish Cuomo would deal with de Blasio more honestly. Cuomo is clearly at fault here and on many other points.

...

He's abandoned us on any number of issues (schools, MTA, etc.) Mayor Bill helped deliver the city vote in a more competitive election than expected, and Cuomo turned his back on us. Remember when he wouldn't debate Teachout and when she confronted him at some p.r. event he scrambled around deliriously shouting "Where's Bill" until deBlasio rescued Cuomo from that awfulness.

...

Chiming in with another Fuck Cuomo.

...

Cuck Fuomo.
 

...

 

Cuomo screws over the city and state in many ways besides owing money to schools.
Glad De Blasio is calling him out.
#FuckCuomo

And I thought Perdido Street School blog commenters were a tough bunch...

Independent Democratic Conference Unveil Backdoor Voucher Plan For Private Schools In New York

The Independent Democratic Conference released an agenda today and this was in it (emphasis added):

Creating an Education Investment Tax Credit (EITC) for Public and Private Schools

When it comes to effectively educating our children, New York’s schools need every dollar they can get. The IDC believes in rewarding New Yorkers which opt to voluntarily donate to their local public or private school by finally making these donations tax deductible. In order to make sure every dollar is spent fairly and effectively, tax deductible donations made to private schools must be used to fund scholarship opportunities that qualify.

They can call it an "Education Investment Tax Credit (EITC) for Public and Private Schools" or "scholarship opportunities" or whatever they want.

In effect, it's a backdoor voucher plan to steer tax money away from public schools to private schools and further undercut the public school system.

If enacted, that's how the program will work and you can bet that's the intent.