This is the NY Post, but if this is true, it is nauseating and confirms everything bad we ever thought about Andrew Cuomo:
The state’s most powerful Republican secretly worked for months to help Democratic Gov. Cuomo win re-election — in exchange for Cuomo’s promise not to aid Senate Democrats in their Long Island races, a top New York GOP leader has charged.
Former state Republican Party Executive Director Michael Lawler — who managed Rob Astorino’s ill-fated gubernatorial run against Cuomo — told The Post that he learned of the alleged bombshell deal between Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos and Cuomo just days ago, after suspecting for months that it existed.
“Dean Skelos clearly was working against Rob’s campaign — he and the governor cut a deal,’’ seethed Lawler, a protégé of GOP Chairman Ed Cox.
The Nassau County-based Skelos and his aides “fight for nothing, stand for nothing except staying in power,’’ Lawler charged.
Lawler said he found out about the alleged Skelos-Cuomo arrangement from a top political aide to Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican and Skelos ally who, in a serious setback to Astorino, endorsed Cuomo last month. “We heard rumblings that Mangano was going to [endorse Cuomo], and I reached out to his folks and was told ‘absolutely not,’ that Mangano would endorse Astorino, although he would then let Cuomo use a video of him praising the governor,’’ Lawler said.
“But after Mangano actually endorsed Cuomo in a video on TV, I called Mangano’s guy and said, ‘What the f–k?’ He said, ‘When this is over, give me a call.’
“So I called him a few days ago, and he said, ‘A deal was cut for Mangano to endorse Cuomo in exchange for Cuomo staying out of the Senate races on Long Island,’ ’’ Lawler continued. “I asked him, ‘Who cut the deal?’ And he said, ‘People higher than me.’
“I said, ‘Dean?’ And he responded, ‘That would be a pretty good guess.’ ”
Again, it is the Post, but it would not surprise me. And it is one more reason that Cuomo’s 2016 ambitions must be strangled in the cradle.
Belafon
I saw an interesting fact about this election: There will be no White Democratic Representatives from the South in the next Congress, and, if Landrieu loses, there will be no White Democratic Congresspeople from the South.
CarolDuhart2
No way he should ever get the national Dem nomination, ever. Treachery should never be rewarded. If he somehow gets it in 2016, I would vote Republican for the first time ever. I figure it might as well be the real deal.
I can understand some crazy maneuvering in a purple or even red state. Why should Cuomo do this in a secure blue state where the Dem Senate would be more than willing to work with him anyway?
PsiFighter37
@Belafon: There have been a few decent articles chronicling this phenomenon. Unfortunately, being a Democrat in the south will be associated with being a minority – which will mean that aside from not winning elections anytime soon, minorities will be treated like second-class citizens for a long time to come – and they can’t do anything about it.
As for Cuomo – this is zero surprise at all. Man’s a snake and had zero interest in being a proud Democrat. I wonder what Mario truly feels about all of this…
Tommy
Please tell me this isn’t true. Please. Please. Please. Look I can see doing something like this in a red state. But like Cuomo really had any chance of not winning reelection.
Bobby B.
What’s that you say? Kang and Kodos secretly working together? This changes everything! And I’ll stop using my tired old Simpsons references when they stop being relevant. I also like going back to the old “Animal Farm” quote about the pigs and the farmers in the last chapter of the book.
PsiFighter37
@Tommy: It’s about running up the score – basically what Christie did last year.
Christie and Cuomo – two asshole peas in a pod.
Gin & Tonic
Nassau County Republicans – the machine that brought you the distinguished US Senator Alfonse D’Amato. Nothing — nothing — would surprise me with that crowd.
Bruuuuce
I would be highly unsurprised to have this confirmed, after what he seems to have done, interfering with the Moreland Commission, and how he used sneaky and underhanded tactics to undermine first Zephyr Teachout, and then the Working Families Party. I hope he gets brought down before he has a chance to take the national stage as Chris Christie’s VP nominee.
Bruuuuce
@Bobby B.: Did you catch Kang and Kodos’ cameo on Simpsorama last night? Beautiful.
Tommy
@PsiFighter37: That is what I have read, that Cuomo wanted to run up the score so when he runs for President he can point to these elections numbers. Maybe that would help him in the general, but I would be his base in the primary and this does nothing to make me vote for him. Makes me want to vote against him.
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Al D’Amato — I can hardly believe it’s been sixteen years since Schumer sent him packing.
Machine or not, bear in mind that of his three elections to the U. S. Senate, two were by less than 1.5 percentage points.
Tommy
@Bruuuuce: Yeah if there isn’t a playbook on how to lose the support of a far left liberal like myself Cuomo seems to be writing it in real time. What he did to Zephyr Teachout, and isn’t that like the coolest name in the world, was terrible. How hard would it have been to say he embraces debate within his party and even taken one or two of her core issues as his own. He seemed to do the exact opposite.
Gin & Tonic
@Cervantes: And he would have lost in 1980 if Javits hadn’t pulled a Nader.
Gin & Tonic
@Tommy: Cause he’s a douchebag. He sees how well the Christie assholisheness plays with the Morning Joe crowd, and he wants to be the same.
Suffern ACE
Just reaching across the aisle to impress our wimpy northeast democratic voters that he’ll be the pushover they’ve always wanted. That way they can be shocked, just shocked, when republicans take the state back and don’t play nice any more. Dem dar Northeast democrats are no different than upper Midwest nice democrats who are now ruling a pile of rubble.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Abso-freaking-lutely.
beltane
@Tommy: It wouldn’t help him the general anyway since the Republican running with an (R) after his name will have an enthusiastic following while Cuomo won’t. His loss would be of Dukakis-like proportions.
Tommy
@Gin & Tonic: The Morning Joe Crowd. I used to force myself to watch that show and was always stunned how being a “dick” seemed to be something to be valued. I try very hard to be overtly polite. I don’t see being an asshole promotes my interest. Sure there is a part of me that wants to yell and scream, but I don’t see the upside outside of making me feel better.
I’ve talked a lot about my parents here in the last week. How they hold mostly liberal views but tend to vote Republican until recently. I so wanted to yell at them. Literally grab them and shake them and ask what the hell are you doing. But I knew that woudn’t work. I talked to them like the adults they are. Things changed.
Maybe not everybody is like that, but I’d rather live in a world or at least associate with people that feel the same way.
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Well, Javits was the incumbent, hence not precisely comparable to Nader.
beltane
@Cervantes: Javits pulled a Lieberman, though not quite as successfully.
NickM
@Belafon: I think that depends on how you define the South. Florida and Virginia were Southern states and will have white Democratic representatives and Senators. They are both “border” states in a sense, though.
gene108
Something similar happened in NJ, when Christie was running for re-election, with Democrats coming out of the woodwork to endorse Christie over his Democratic opponent Barbara Buono.
At some level, I can stomach this kind of corruption. I can wrap my head around it. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours is the sort of thing everyone runs across at some point in their life.
I am not saying it is not right, but considering the sort of perversion of the law the Supreme Court may inflict in the King case, I’d rather have this sort of corruption going on.
I think fewer people get hurt in the long run, because each side can try to keep the other side in check by calling in their favors.
PurpleGirl
Dean Skelos is opposed to so many of Cuomo’s supposed agenda items: He’s against abortion, he won’t help with Cuomo’s Women agenda, he won’t help with raising the minimum wage, he’ll give Cuomo cover to allow fracking, etc.
gene108
@Cervantes:
Very much like Jesse Helms, who was the god-master of winning 50%+1 of the vote to stay in the Senate for as long as he did.
Reagan’s coattails, in 1984, saved him from losing to Governor Hunt.
Morzer
@PsiFighter37:
I suspect Mario is working out whether the mailman or poolboy was a Republican.
Morzer
@Tommy:
Cuomo’s being playing this sordid little game for years. Why he feels he needs to is a mystery, because he was never going to lose unless this sort of corruption became obvious to the voters. Now it is obvious, I would imagine it’s ended what little chance he had of winning the Democratic nomination. Bad strategy from a mediocre little man. At this point the one thing you can say for Cuomo is that he gives Democrats a reason to vote for HRC knowing that there is a worse alternative.
beltane
@Morzer: He could have won bigger if he hadn’t done this. Tells me that it wasn’t so much about racking up big numbers as it was about eliminating his true opposition.
Morzer
@beltane:
Christie is to Cuomo as Ass is to Sphincter. No wonder they get along so well.
Tommy
@Morzer: I don’t know NY state nor NYC politics well. Not at all really. But how do you lose running as a liberal if you are not running for office in say Staton Island (isn’t Grimm from there) or upstate? I am sure other areas but I hope my point is clear. Running as a liberal in a state-wide office should be almost a given shouldn’t it?
Belafon
@NickM: You’re right. The article I was reading kept saying “Deep South” and, until your point, I was glossing over “deep”. But, I’m sure you agree, this doesn’t bode well for minorities in those states.
Jack the Second
So there have been a lot of disapointing sons in politics (Andrew Cuomo, Mitt Romney, Evan Bayh…).
Who is the LEAST disappointing/most awesome second generation politician in recent history?
Morzer
@Tommy:
Yes, it should be. I don’t honestly see how Cuomo thought this dirty little deal was going to do him any good – and how it wasn’t going to come out sooner or later. Someone always talks – and once they have, it makes Cuomo look frightened, stupid and devoid of any character or principle. I do wonder whether Ambitious Asshole Andy has just accidentally ended his political career after this term.
Barbara
The reason Cuomo plays this game is simple, it maximizes his power. He doesn’t want an actively Democratic legislature passing legislation that is too progressive or too invested in economic fairness because that would put him in the awful position of maybe having to veto it and show the world his true allegiance. Much easier to have to go to the mat (and expect kudos for doing so) to get minimal advances in the ares that Cuomo knows won’t offend his paymasters. Hence, gay marriage, which should have been a no brainer if Cuomo had not worked so assiduously to keep the NY assembly from coming under democratic control. That’s why he gets no credit for it from me — he intentionally made it difficult and then, when he twisted arms to overcome the obstacles he intentionally threw in the way, he expected to be praised to the moon. Fuck him.
Tommy
@Jack the Second: George Bush as disappointment?
PsiFighter37
@Jack the Second: Jerry Brown comes to mind (his father was also governor of CA)
NickM
@Belafon: I agree – it doesn’t bode well for anyone. The transformation of the South into a ultraconservative bloc is a frightening development.
Tommy
@PsiFighter37: Like minds. Brown was the only name that came to my mind.
But I only know that because in 1992 I went door-to-door for him as President. As a guy from Illinois doing that in Baton Rouge, it was interesting.
Morzer
@Tommy:
I’d throw in Mitt Romney for biggest disappointment, because his father was a pretty decent, competent man – and the Mittster is just a swindler.
kindness
Guillotine yet?
Bruuuuce
@Tommy: It’s possible to lose as a liberal in Lawn Guy Land, because of the heavy population of upper-middle-class to upper-class folks out there. (I grew up in Commack, which is more or less up the middle, but places like Nassau’s Gold Coast and Suffolk’s Hamptons have plenty of conservative voters).
Morzer
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/Philadelphia_school_runs_on_160_dollars.html
This is what corrupt, weak, dishonest Democratic politicians like Cuomo have achieved, with some help from sheer swinish stupidity and short-term greed. They make a desolation and they call it reform.
Cervantes
@Tommy:
If you count from the 1960s to the present day, New York has had Republican governors for about half the time (the last being George Pataki who served twelve years through 2006). If you look at US Senators from New York in that same period, again, you find Republicans (and a Conservative) serving for about half the time (the last being Al D’Amato who served eighteen years through 1998).
And yes, Grimm represents Staten Island and was just re-elected.
Felonius Monk
@Morzer:
Just a swindler? Why are you being so kind this morning?
Tommy
@Cervantes: Wow I didn’t know. Clearly I knew of Pataki. But not the history (like of the Senate).
Morzer
@Felonius Monk:
I don’t feel inclined to give the worthless creature more dignity than he deserves. Swindler covers the entirety of his sordid career pretty exactly, in my opinion.
Cervantes
@Tommy:
Sure, but just bear in mind that my start date was arbitrary. If you start counting, say, in the 1990s, you may get a different picture.
Morzer
@Cervantes:
Grimm finally got his fairy-tale ending?
I have to laugh, otherwise the sight of people knowingly re-electing that despicable little thug would induce utter depression.
Cervantes
@Jack the Second:
Where would you place Al Gore?
Felonius Monk
@Morzer: Point taken.
Cervantes
@Morzer:
He was re-elected by thirteen points, 55-42, despite his twenty-count federal indictment handed down last April by none other than Loretta Lynch.
NCSteve
Just a word of caution: when a Murdoch outlet tells you something you are already predisposed to believe, you need to be extremely skeptical. Because Murdoch is in the business of telling people things they’re predisposed to believe.
Not to say I’d cross the street to pee on Cuomo if his heart was on fire, but consider the source.
catclub
@NickM:
I wonder if folks were saying the same thing in 1832?
(1832 picked at random. No known significance.)
gene108
@Morzer:
Cuomo was never involved with Philadelphia schools. The issue is much more complicated than you make it out to be. The state takeover of Philadelphia schools was done by Tom Ridge and finalized by his successor, when Ridge went to head DHS.
People pushed back, but the idea was for the state to pick up a bigger share of funding for Philadelphia schools, in which Philadelphia would turn over control to Harrisburg.
Short version is Harrisburg has hamstrung what Philadelphia schools can do, especially under Corbett.
CONGRATULATIONS!
The Criminal Party wins again!
I predict much more of this is the future.
geg6
@gene108:
Not only that, but they have turned the “school reform” crowd loose there with absolutely no accountability. Zero. So not only have they drastically cut funding for the district, but they have created the situation where the most financially strapped district in the Commonwealth is not only having to face draconian budget cuts, but a huge portion of what little they have is being given to charter and cyber schools for students who aren’t in their classrooms. It’s one of the biggest education scandals in the nation and nobody is reporting on it (or nobody who understands it or who has a national megaphone).
gene108
@geg6:
There’s press coverage locally, especially when a few hundred to thousand students turn out in protest of something or the other or in support of their teachers, but for whatever reason this has flown under the national radar.
There were a lot of promises made by school reformers, when this was done and nothing substantial has been delivered.
Unfortunately for Philadelphia, it will take Harrisburg to pass a law relinquishing control back to the city and I do not see that happening.
It is not a coincidence that Republicans in Harrisburg and gutting the largest school district in the state, in the largest city in the state, which also happens to be a bastion of Democratic support. A lot of young people are moving into Philadelphia, but people staying to raise a family has been an issue and I think gutting the schools is a strategic move to keep people from settling down in the city and diluting its power.
Brendan in NC
@CarolDuhart2: Because he needs the $ from Wall Street – so any progressive legislation he’s forced to sign might upset his paymasters.
AMinNC
@Belafon: Not North Carolina. My Representative, David Price, is a white Democrat. The articles I’ve read mentioned that this horrible new state of affairs applies to states in the Deep South (Ga, Ala, Miss. La.,S.C., and maybe Ark., Tennessee and Texas?) Still awful, though.
Lihtox
I hope he does run for President, and Hillary (and anyone else who runs) eviscerates him.
mclaren
Obama coming out in favor of Net Neutrality inpublic represents terribly bad news. As we all know, Obama always does the exact opposite of what he says, so this means that Obama is ferociously and irrevocably opposed to Net Neutrality and is working hard behind the scenes to kill it.
Cervantes
@AMinNC:
Democrats Jim Cooper and Steve Cohen were both re-elected in Tennessee last week. In Kentucky 3, John Yarmuth was re-elected, receiving two-thirds of the votes cast. Plus in Texas, not counting Latinos, we saw Gene Green, Lloyd Doggett, and Beto O’Rourke all re-elected.
(Not meant as an exhaustive list; I have not checked.)
Tree With Water
I seriously doubt Cuomo is so politically inept as to place his future in the hands of any other politician. Which is what he did, if the facts as alleged are true. And even if he did, he wouldn’t have left a shred of evidence in his wake. Unless he cut a deal with three people in the room, it will forever remain his word against…. whats-his-name(?), his co-conspirator.
NCSteve
@Belafon: Not true. G.K. Butterfield, NC-1 and David Price from NC-4, just for starters.
RaflW
Sickening. But if this story has legs, I hope Cuomo’s career is toast. He’s not welcome in the Democratic Party I want in the future, thats for damn sure.
Renie
@Gin & Tonic: This has nothing to do with the Nassau County Republican Party. The head of it Joe Mondello publicly came out saying he was upset with Nassau County Executive Mangano endorsing Cuomo. These guys are all state Republicans voted into office by the stupid Republicans who live on Long Island. I should know they are all my neighbors.
Morzer
@gene108:
I didn’t say Cucomo was involved with Philadelphia schools. Nor would you have made the claim if you had actually read my comment with care.