I saw the below story on The Week:
theweek.com/…
Okay, so New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) isn't seeking to challenge fellow outer borough native President Trump for the presidency. But he is "well-positioned" to serve as former Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff, should Biden be elected in 2020, BuzzFeed News reports via "chatter" surrounding the Biden campaign.
Full disclosure: this comes from chatter around the Biden campaign; and, it’s still early and isn’t really published or acknowledged anywhere else.
That said (and assuming the reporting is accurate), this shows that Joe Biden is not our friend.
Cuomo is at best a center-right corporate douchebag. Lest we forget, he shivved his own party in 2012. Per Politico:
But now, multiple sources with deep knowledge of the IDC and Republican conferences’ dealings confirm that in fact the governor was not a passive observer during the formation of the coalition. He was “deeply involved,” they say, and “absolutely” encouraged the marriage that allowed the Republicans to remain in leadership even after the election of a Democratic majority. Furthermore, they say, the governor was a key player after the coalition launched, privately offering advice about tactics and messaging.
Source: www.politico.com/…
A little refresher: despite being able to veto State Senate districts that were gerrymandered to Republican advantage, Cuomo did nothing to make fairer maps. Despite this, Democrats won a majority to the NYS Senate in 2012 and were poised take control until the four turncoats of the IDC caucused with the Republicans.
Consequently, a lot of good Progressive legislation passed the NYS House only to die in the Senate. This allowed Cuomo to protect the rich from tax increases, prevent a state-level public option, and other pieces of the agenda from Democratic wing of the party much less watering down needed reforms (like making sure kids don’t get tried as adults).
Cuomo also has a bad habit of taking money from reactionaries and Republicans (but I repeat myself). Eric Seitz-Walls writing for the Atlantic:
Several Democrats who spoke privately to National Journal lamented that Cuomo accepted $87,000 in campaign contributions from David Koch and his wife during the 2010 cycle—more than double the $34,000 that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker took. Cuomo has also accepted donations from John Catsimatidis, de Blasio's Republican opponent. And he earned praise and money from Home Depot cofounder Ken Langone, a major GOP donor who started the group Republicans for Cuomo. (Langone recently caught flak for comparing progressives to Nazis.)
Source: www.theatlantic.com/…
This may well explain why he’s blocked our agenda for so long. He’s (effectively) being paid to. Oh sure, these are campaign donations and there’s no quid pro quo attached but there doesn’t need to be for me to draw that conclusion. Quite simply: people make donations to politicians they feel they agree with. Cuomo didn’t specifically ask to be paid to block economic reform; it’s just what he does. The money is a side benefit to keep him in office (because that’s what those people want).
In short: I can think of a few people who would be worse than Cuomo (cough-RahmEmanuel-cough) but not many. The Chief of Staff is (to an extant) the President’s Bully Boy to whip Congress on her/his agenda and advocate for it. A President’s choice of CoS tells us a lot about her/his agenda and how they want to govern.
Cuomo is an economic conservative and corporate-lackey in an era that requires a restructuring of how our economy works for 99%. That means redistribution, higher taxes, more financial regulation, and other things that many powerful rich people hate.
That Biden would even think about hiring someone clearly opposed to such things (and screwed over his own party to make sure his hands stay clean) speaks poorly on Biden and means he’s not appropriate to be the 2020 Democratic Candidate.