The back-handed compliments of the NYT to Letitia James are getting tired. She has a raft of experience, has been a voice for the under-served in NYC, has been a force for community empowerment and overall progressive goals in public office since her election to City Council in 2003. She was never awarded for it and often punished, but even then she kept at it. When she was "awarded" the chair of the Sanitation Committee in City Council by Mayor Bloomberg's ally Chris Quinn, she used it to expose the catastrophic snow clearance practices under Mayor Bloomberg's DOT.
Yes, Governor Cuomo embraced her campaign and yes she's not the darling of the hard left like Ms. Teachout, but Public Advocate James has a strong, steady record of helping the people of NYC and has opposed incredibly powerful forces (e.g. Bloomberg, Rattner) to do so.
She won the primary because the downstate communities who know her voted overhwelmingly for her - not because the Powers That Be ordained her.
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WHAT ??? All that really happened on Primary Day is that we are guaranteed more of the same the next 4 years in Albany. Too bad The Times Editorial Board lives in a Fools' Paradise. It looks quite different here in the Real World of New York State where corruption, inefficiency and a broken NYC transit system reign.
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Cuomo has been challenged as he hasn't in a long time - and from the left. Good. He no longer has the IDC to hide behind - even better. The trick now is to keep the pressure on, on all of the "0ld-boy" "Politics as Usual" hacks.
This is only the beginning - and if people don't turn out in November, it will be for naught.
Charles P. Pierce deserves the word here: "If You Want to Defang Andrew Cuomo, the New York Primary Results Are Good News"
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a23140580/new-york-primar...
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I suppose now Cuomo will be more arrogant than ever, and continue to undermine DeBlasio.
Once again I have just come back from Europe, and had to suffer the embarrassment watching European tourists trying to navigate our ridiculous, backward, semi-functional ground transportation system from the airport, which Cuomo, in spite of lip-service, seems to have no idea how to fix, and no real commitment to fixing it anytime soon.
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Dear NY Times Editorial Board:
You enabled a crook to remain the most powerful politician in our state. I hope you are as happy as your choice of Hillary over Bernie in 2016.
From comments to your endorsement edititorisl and the ones that followed you know where you readers stand. You are far to the right of people who fund you. It won’t last long if an alternative paper comes out representing the truth and progressive politics. In this age of technological disruption, who knows, it may come soon.
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It is a testament to the failure of our democracy that 1 out of 4 registered Democrats showing up to vote is an unusually good turn out for a primary election.
It also seems like a failure to me that a man who won the governorship on the promise to clean out Albany and then disbanded his own corruption commission for seemingly getting too close to his people can now claim widespread and overwhelming support.
If politicians are not punished for such cynicism how will real change ever come.
Voters for cleaning up Albany are caught between a rock and a hard place next November as far as the Governor "race". Cuomo will have my very unenthusiastic vote.
Anything blue looks a lot better than red right now.
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Wow. The really big issues are money for people who aren’t citizens and more control of private rental properties by the government? The lunacy of the left.
1
Cuomo will end up in prison on federal corruption charges anyway. Congratulations centrists!
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Excelsior is the state motto.
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Corruption will continue as long as we have cuomo
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I voted for him but held my nose doing so. When the governor of a state is unaware of rampant corruption going on under his nose then that is willful blindness for purposes of greater ambition and a moral corruption for which thee is no known remedy.
3
I could not vote for Mr. Cuomo: the rising stench of his abrupt termination of the Moreland commission, the Percoco conviction, the extensive corruption in the Governor's big payola developments (including Kayolaros) ... cannot be rewarded.
I could not vote for Cynthia Nixon, another clueless actor deserves no support, whatever the appeal.
I have never voted for a Republican since moving to New York state -- they have either been wacky far-right or utterly clueless and feckless (here's lookin' atcha Mr. Lazio) ... or both.
But I will be considering my vote very carefully for governor, and Mr. Molinaro may get it, if he can avoid kow-towing to the Trumpists and the religious right.
4
I guess that necessary changes do come slowly, so the public may be served more equitably. Vigilance may be of the essence however, as the coziness that comes with unchecked balance in government, 'business as usual', is always lurking in the background. And unregulated power is always fertile ground for abuse...if/as past is prologue.
6
Most of the analysis of the primary ignores the importance of race. Nixon lost by such a wide margin because she failed to get much support among voters of color. In contrast, Jumaane Williams, who had strong support in the city among nonwhite voters, ran twenty points ahead of her, making him the only candidate on her slate who came anywhere near victory. The candidates who defeated incumbent state senators had strong support among racial minority voters and most were people of color. The same is true for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
8
I would like to see Nixon, Williams and Teachout run on the WFP line in the general election in hopes enough vote are cast for them to cost Cuomo the election. Then smugness and condescending attitude Cuomo and DeRosa demonstrated on primary night will be properly avenged.
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I think it would be fair to say that reform minded Democrats would have won the Attorney General race had their vote not been split between Teachout who got 31% of the vote and Maloney who got 25% of the vote. The winner---James only received 40.6% of the vote. Cuomo dodged another bullet but reform is in the air.
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I am compelled to set the record straight about the narrative being floated on WNYC and in the local papers that Cuomo's victory shows that New Yorkers don't really care about Cuomo's corruption. I loathe Cuomo and his sleazy brand of politics. And yet I voted for him. Why? Because Cynthia Nixon is an actress with zero experience in politics - not the city council, not the state senate, nothing, zilch - who had the arrogance to assume that by virtue of being a recognizable TV star who was involved in her childrens' school, she could just step into the job and figure it out as she went along. If there were another candidate even remotely qualified for the job, I would have voted for her/him. If Cynthia Nixon is the best opposition we can muster, then we deserve Governor Cuomo, warts and all.
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@Buck
Schwarzenegger had no government experience before becoming governor of California.
Reagan had no government experience before becoming governor of California.
Oh, but they were men. I see your point.
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@Buck
You believe the machine would allow viable opposition to execute a campaign?
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@Buck
If your characterization of Ms. Nixon were accurate, I would have not voted for any candidate for governor. "Zero experience in politics" - you mean she hasn't held elective office, but her involvement in educational policy has been an experience in politics. "By virtue of being a recognizable TV star" - nothing in her campaign, explicit or implicit, relied on her acting history. By the way, her experience as a small-screen, movie and theater actor, as well as her upbringing, deep intelligence and education, has given her broad interests, a commitment to researching and understanding the issues and finding solutions, and an impressive skill in articulating her positions. "Involved in her childrens' school" - your dismissiveness is offensive, as if she simply joined the PTA, when the fact is that Ms. Nixon has become a seriously informed thinker and activist on the education of all children. As others have pointed out, "we" Democratic voters were deprived of the ability to "muster" another candidate because others were discouraged by the threat of facing Cuomo's $31 million war chest and the campaign tactics for which he is all too well known.
The primary election is over. Maybe the time it's taken me to write this message has been wasted. But if you're going to "set the record straight", do so without misstating the record about Cynthia Nixon, who helped bring an extraordinary number of additional voters to this primary.
2
Cuomo and his Love Canal toxic baggage stays in Albany for another cycle. Can the voters expect a reprieve of the Moreland Commission? Will the Buffalo Billions graft and scamathon breadcrumbs lead to his door? The voters deserve elected officials free of the ethical and moral lapses so prevelant today. Cuomo may pass the “trump” bar on that score, the question is: By how much?
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Cuomo, for years - “Well shucks, folks, I’m just powerless to do a THING about those IDC turncoats!”
.
Voters - “Step aside then, Andy, we’ll do the heavy lifting on this one.”
.
The greatest progressive victory against Cuomo this week was denying Cuomo the ability to claim that he fixed the IDC problem with his little staged sitdown a few months ago. They would have turned again immediately after the election, and everyone knows it. The voters fixed this problem by tossing the bums out, and in doing so denied Cuomo some of his most valuable corrupt allies.
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I am an outsider but if in NY I would have voted for Mr. Cuomo as well.
The sudden influx of Cynthia Nixon from Sex in the City episodes was obviously not the best situation. She had no political experience, although the bagel story was silly to say the least but they were trying to prove she was an outsider.
Hope she goes for other positions and proves herself to be a worker and politically savvy.
She does have time.
4
Or, you could view the Nixon and Teachout each getting blown out as a real set back. After all, these were statewide races not limited to small compact geographic districts where an upstart can really pose a threat by campaigning on very district specific issues and pull off an upset. Also, district elections are fertile ground for retail politics for younger more energetic candidates’ personalities to have an impact as opposed to a blander statewide campaign having to be more things to more people. New York statewide may not be as ready as this op ed thinks for a Progressive movement.
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Maybe Cuomo will clean up his act without the IDC and better oversight of him.
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@John
Pigs might fly. He's just been given a pass on his corruption to date, and he's apparently free to continue without personal repurcussions. It seems he has an AG who has his back and won't be causing him any trouble. Why would he bother to clean up his act when he doesn't have to.
“Even though it was held, unusually, on a Thursday, more than twice as many people voted in this year’s Democratic primary than did four years ago, a sign of an energized electorate that could pay huge dividends for Democrats in November.”
There are plenty of competent tattoo artists in the college town where I live, and I plan to have the phrase “ENERGIZED ELECTORATE” tattooed on my right shoulder.
It will be my first.
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"Reform" democrats likely means a more leftward, anti-business and anti-suburban middle class agenda. There will be real voter repercussions across the state in 2020 as democrats are driven out of some seats they held for years. Just imagine the juxtaposition - Albany giving free college tuition to illegal immigrants while, as note in today's NYT, student debt piles up for the middle class in Westchester, Syracuse, LI, etc... .
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@Chris Gosh, you need to read more about the positions on the left. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been pounding the table about helping ease, or even forgiving, student loan debt. Obama shut them down.
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The key win for Cuomo was getting his person in at attorney general. That will limit any inconvenient investigations into his activities. He just has to worry about the feds now.
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I voted against Cuomo. I knew he would win. But the corruption has been given a green light to continue. And I wanted to send a message to Cuomo: You have become too arrogant. I will not support you for any higher office. The legislative wins you mention that will likely be enacted because of this fall's election will not include ethics reform. So the best thing that could happen is for the US Attorney in the Southern District to open an nice big office in Albany. They will have plenty of work to do and the taxpayers can save lots of money on travel expenses for the investigations and trials.
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Nixon may have lost this one, but it's good for America to have him back in the national conversation. Hey, he's suffered enough for a few minor, technical mistakes!
3
He lost a governor's race before and came roaring back. It can happen again!
@phil queeg
Simple question, should we address Nixon as" He" Now ?
I thought you made a typo but I saw another one doing the same.
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@phil queeg He's tanned, rested and ready. Nixon in 2020.
What this election clearly states is the electorate in New York State is willing to try something different at the lower levels of office, but they want experience at the top. Cynthia Nixon in this election was not even as good a candidate as Bernie Sanders was in the 2016 Presidential election, as she lacked experience. Hollywood, take note, if you want to run for higher office, get experience in the trenches first. Also, keep in mind Democrats that you will not lure independents, nor some centrist Republicans if you are too far to the left in a general election. What may work in the outer boroughs of New York City does not work in Manhattan, nor upstate. Despite the fact that aspects of our government from Social Security, to Welfare are socialist; the word does not work for most of the State, or the Country. In fact the word "socialist" frightens a majority of the electorate.
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@Bill - What the election more importantly showed was that NY voters, wisely, despise Republican politicians. The doom of the IDC was aligning themselves with Republicans.
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The Senate changes grow
But the State House not so.
Cuomo remains despite his stains
For reform quite a blow.
Ms Teachout ,best of all,
Again took a big fall,
A voting public uninformed
Made a most dreadful call.
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@Larry Eisenberg Zephyr Teachout may be a media darling, but she is not the best of all. I lived in upstate NY when she ran for Congress, and she was terrible in the debates--glib, smug, uninformed and lacking in essential knowledge about the district. She has never been a practicing attorney, she would not have been a good AG.
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Democrats might have run a more compelling candidate than Miranda Hobbes, one who was more experienced at governance, and certainly one less patently a social democrat. Given the corruption questions swirling around Cuomo's office, they may have had a play for a more strident liberal -- while not off the deep-end -- if they had.
But Democrats have fastened on making statements instead of winning elections. This is what has plagued them over multiple election cycles when going against Republicans, and they still haven't gotten the message. Cuomo had an immense advantage in campaign war chest and ability to spend, plus sheer, gut performance in New York, but a more moderate primary contender might have made it a lot closer. With a lot of presence, who knows? Might even have won.
4
As it is, she can claim what she likes about having moved the agenda left, but Cuomo can respond however he likes now. He’ll govern as he pleases and he’ll continue to do what he believes he can sell.
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@Richard Luettgen Nixon's post election rhetoric is chatter and meaningless. She was trounced, her candidacy was flawed from the start, Manhattan and Brooklyn centric with ideas that moved some millenials and little else; she failed at every level. I'm saying this as a Democrat, she needs to crawl back under the rock from whence she came.
@Bill
Don't think they're making another "Sex and the City".
New York got as good a deal with Cuomo as any state so generally blue could. Man knows what he can sell.
"Andrew Cuomo remains the most powerful man in New York politics."
What else should we have expected from the state which gave us the 2016 presidential "choice" between Donald Trump and his former admirer Hillary Clinton?
Earth to New York state "progressives":
In the future, please try to focus your support on non-corrupt candidates with tangible and relevant public service experience.
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@Sage
Twitter gave us Donald Trump. New York had nothing to do with it. We know and loath the man and our votes back that up!
We'll proudly take credit for Mrs. Clinton. Without Vladimir Putin's direct involvement in the 2016 election (he knew she would contain him and pressure his personal stolen wealth) she would be president right now. It's a tragedy for human kind that she is not.
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@Sage
Ronald Reagan. Schwarzenegger.
I grew up in California, my batchelor's degree from UCSD is facsimile-signed by Ronnie.
New York did not elect Ms. Nixon. New York did not elect Mr. Trump either. And if you go and look, what gave Mrs. Clinton her electoral start as a politician was the farce of Giuliani's adultery and prostate, and then Lazio -- the most feckless candidate in living memory.
Mrs Clinton's real problem is that she got to a Presidential campaign without ever having fought a real candidate.
3
Cynthia Nixon seems like a genuine and kind person - who would be eaten alive in Albany. New York politics just aren't for novices.
But Ms. Nixon can take pride in how much of the policy conversation she set, which was certainly an accomplishment. Perhaps that progressive vision will be realized with a Democratic Attorney General and Lt. Governor, who will have the support of the sharp-elbowed Governor, Andrew Cuomo.
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@NM "New York politics just aren't for novices."
I will take one exception to your post. Politics are not for novices. Period. One need look no further than the White House.
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@NM Ms. Nixon is a novice and she can now use her spotlight to run for a lesser office than governor, and win. She reached high, with no political experience leveraging her fame as an actor, and now she needs to leverage again, in a city office or in some way to give herself some street creds. She would be a powerful addition to politics in NYC.
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@NM -- Remember Phil Ochs "Join the Folk Song Army"
''... they won all the battles,
but we won all the songs!"
3