According to a New York Times report this morning, the New York State Working Families Party does indeed seem to be leaning towards backing a liberal challenger to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.
As discussed recently in numerous news outlets and political blogs, New York state liberals have grown extremely disenfranchised with Cuomo - a governor that many New York state liberals have been calling "Governor 1%" since the early days of the Occupy movement.
My analysis from the perspective of a New York liberal below the fold.
For New York liberals, one would think that a challenge from the left coming at an extremely popular Democratic governor with a storied last name would be the last thing we'd want to see. Certainly, from a socially liberal perspective, Andrew Cuomo has lived up to his last name by muscling marriage equality and the NY Safe Act through a resistant Republican controlled* NY State Senate. He's even discussed loosening our laws governing marijuana use as has been seen in other states. All exactly what you'd expect from a socially liberal governor.
*Thanks in part to the turncoat Democrats in the IDC.
The problem for New York liberals is this: we expect better from the Democrats we elect to office than the Andrew Cuomo brand of liberalism. Essentially, we're not Republicans. We don't vote for Democrats solely due to social wedge issues in the way Republican voters are swayed by social issues. We expect more than that, and Andrew Cuomo has not delivered.
Cuomo, while being socially liberal, has been borderline outright economically conservative with his governing style during his tenure so far as governor of our great blue state. From his slashing of bank taxes, to his attempt to outright repeal a small stock transfer tax that the state current rebates 100%, to his recalcitrance to keep the states millionaires tax going, to his refusal to adequately fund education, to his coziness with charter schools, to his battles with his own workforce - Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly shown he is more beholden to his plutocratic, conservative donors like Ken Langone, the infamous Koch Brothers, and the shady characters behind the now-disbanded "Committee to Save New York" than he is to upholding economic liberalism.
This will not do in a state as blue as New York. Not for New York liberals.
As such, the states Working Families Party - a party controlled by liberal activists and labor unions - seems to be leaning towards not lending Cuomo their line during the upcoming gubernatorial election. The debate within the party, however, has been intense, because not endorsing Cuomo could be perilous for the party. The party could lose its line on the ballot if it does not get 50,000 votes. Cuomo - rumored to have a temper - could look to exact political retribution by asking key unions to pull funding for the WFP or re-activating the now defunct NY Liberal Party to try to peel votes off the WFP line.
The WFP, however, may be making a key misstep in other ways. Rumors now circulating seem to indicate the party may be settling on an relative unknown: Zephyr Teachout, a professor at Fordham Law School. Rumors had circulated that Diane Ravitch, a major and well know charter school opponent in the state, was to be the candidate. But Ravitch squashed those rumors yesterday. There have also been suggestions of cross-endorsing the well known Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, however those suggestions have seemingly fallen on deaf ears.
Nominating an unknown like Teachout, in this New Yorkers opinion, could be a major misstep, as without name recognition, she may not be able to peel as many voters away from Cuomo as polling predicts a liberal candidate might. If the election was to play out that way, the failed liberal rebellion would likely end up helping Cuomo politically within the state (by giving him a strong showing in the elections) and dooming the Working Families Party in the process. A strong showing in the election would certainly help him consolidate his power further.
On the other hand, even if the maneuver fails - dooming the WFP - it could potentially still spell trouble for Cuomos national ambitions, so a failure by the WFP might not be a total loss. If the WFP gets the 50,000 votes it needs to stay on the ballot, and Cuomo or his operatives work to kill off the party behind the scenes as political retribution for their rebellion, this could be seen as Cuomo - a Democrat - working to bring about the downfall of a major liberal movement in his home state. If liberal pundits and bloggers hammer home in the punditsphere and blogosphere how Cuomo actively took retribution on liberals for daring to challenge his clearly not-so-liberal fiscal record, that may be more than enough to end his chances of ever winning a Democratic primary for President. The question for the WFP is, will Cuomo realize that danger? Or will he act like a petulant child and throw that temper tantrum over the spat?
I, for one, am hoping the WFP succeeds and Cuomo gets the message. Especially as it may send the same message to other Democrats with similar socially liberal, fiscally conservative tendencies around the nation that liberals are starting to get fed up with a feckless, ineffective, and large donor-controlled Democratic party as a whole. Let's hope that message gets sent loud and clear.
UPDATE:
It now appears the backlash from Cuomo has already begun: he has apparently asked the other major Democratic candidates in the state (the Attorney General and Comptroller) to refuse the Working Families Party line:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/...
I'm not sure how effective this will be, given that last go round, Cuomo himself refused to endorse the DiNapoli campaign and has been at odd with the Comptroller ever since, and is rumored to have mocked Schneiderman for "wearing mascara." Will they help an obviously desperate Cuomo? I sure hope not.
UPDATE X2:
The local Albany Times Union is also reporting with a blurb in a blog post that in addition to asking the Schneiderman and DiNapoli to reject the WFP nod, Cuomo is also rumored to have stated he "would not object" to people raising money for the Republican candidate running against Schneiderman in what could be a tight race. They don't mention DiNapoli, but as DiNapolis Republican opponent has stated he will accept public financing (from the aforementioned public financing campaign meant to screw over DiNapoli and box him in), the issue is moot in that race. Knowing Cuomo - and his behind the scenes support for keeping the Republicans in control of the state Senate - this sounds just like him. He would quite literally be happy handing the Attorney General and Comptrollers post over to the Republicans because of this spat.