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ANDREW CUOMO EARNS ENDORSEMENT OF REPUBLICAN-IDC COALITION LEADER

Jeff Klein, who led the charge to empower the Senate Republicans, strongly backs Governor (who likes to think he’s in lockstep with Bernie Sanders)

NEW YORK – IDC leader Jeff Klein, who oversaw the deal that gave control of New York’s State Senate to Republicans, is endorsing Andrew Cuomo’s bid for governor.

Cuomo’s opponent, Cynthia Nixon, released the following comment:

“You’ve got to hand it to Andrew Cuomo: He worked very hard to earn the endorsement of Jeff Klein, by blessing his sleazy backroom deal that gave Republicans control of the State Senate and blocked key progressive priorities like the DREAM Act, women’s health protections, and ethics reform. While Gov. Cuomo pals around with the IDC and Republicans, we’re proud to stand with progressive New Yorkers, like the Working Families Party, to bring positive change to Albany.”

BACKGROUND ON CUOMO & THE IDC-GOP COALITION

Cuomo Has Routinely Worked to Empower Republicans in New York, While Actively Assailing Democrats  

Cuomo Supported A Republican State Senate

Cuomo “Actively Encouraged” A Group of Democratic State Senators To Caucus With Republicans to Give Them the Majority. Cuomo was “deeply involved” in the formation of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group that formed “almost precisely” at the beginning of his first term, and has caucused with Republicans since 2012, preventing Democrats from controlling the chamber in spite of their numerical majority. [Politico, 9/2/14; New York Times,8/9/17; New York Times, 11/15/17; Politico, 12/2/16]

Cuomo Refused To Call Two Special Elections, Allowing “GOP [To Keep] Control In NY Budget Talks.” Democrats “urged Cuomo to quickly call the elections to give their party a chance at regaining control of the Legislature’s upper chamber before the state decides on a spending plan that will exceed $160 billion.” Cuomo refused those calls, which meant “Republicans will maintain control of the Senate during state budget negotiations… If Democrats take both open seats, there would be a numerical majority of elected Democrats in the chamber.” [Democrat & Chronicle, 1/22/18]

Cuomo Led “Backroom Deal” to “Bolster Power” of the GOP Senate Majority By Approving Its Partisan Redistricting Maps. In what observers called a “total cave,” a “huge flip” and and a “horrible process,” Cuomo made a deal to approve election lines drawn by the Republican senatemajority that “government watchdog groups say are gerrymandered to protect incumbents and that some minorities say are unfair to black and Latino New Yorkers.” [New York Times, 3/15/12; Associated Press, 3/15/12]

The GOP-Controlled Senate Has “Prevented [Cuomo] From Facing The Politically Precarious Choice Of Vetoing Or Signing More Liberal Legislation” [New York Times, 8/9/17]

  • The Republican-IDC Senate Prevented The DREAM Act From Passing On Several Occasions. In 2017, Assembly Democrats passed the Dream Act “for the sixth year in a row. But it has stalled in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans in a coalition with the Independent Democratic Conference.” [Daily News, 4/10/17; New York Times,3/24/14; Politico, 4/15/17]

  • The IDC Has Blocked The Passage Of Abortion Protections. The president of Naral Pro-Choice New York stated, “The IDC has failed to use its power to move progressive legislation” and faulted the coalition for not pushing to pass the Women’s Equality Act, which would have codified federal abortion protections into state law. [New York Times,3/24/14]

Cuomo Has Actively Fought Against Democrats Winning Elections

Cuomo Often Aids Republicans In Races Against Democrats. In 2016, Cuomo declined to endorse two Democrats in “competitive” races with Republicans, including a Buffalo Democrat involved in a competitive race for an open state Senate seat that “would [have given] the GOP absolute control of the chamber”; both lost. In 2015, Cuomo endorsed Republican Joanie Mahoney for Onondaga County Executive. The same year he declined to endorse a Hudson Valley Democrat in a “hotly contested” race that could “determine if Republicans retain their tenuous control of the state Senate.” In 2012, Cuomo refused to assist Democrat Cecilia Tkaczycwin a competitive Senate district, and even remained quiet while her opponent used his image in campaign materials to bolster his case against the Democrat.  [Politico, 12/2/16; New York Times,10/9/14; Syracuse Post-Standard, 10/28/15; Daily News 11/6/16; City & State, 10/11/16; Times Herald-Record, 10/29/16; Times Union, 11/4/12]

Cuomo Boasted To Republicans About How Little He Campaigned For A Democratic State Senate & Never Headlined A Fundraiser For Democratic Senators In His First 6 Years In Office. The New York Times reported that during his first six years in office, Cuomo “never headlined a fund-raiser for the campaign committee for the Senate Democrats.” In 2017, Cuomo told Senate Republicans “he could have done a lot more to help his own party gain control of the chamber [in 2016], but didn’t,” and even pointed to how little of his $19 million war chest was spent in the effort. The New York Times described Cuomo’s campaigning for Democrats in 2014 as “scant.” [New York State Of Politics, 1/17/17; New Republic, 7/17/17; New York Times,10/24/16]