You traitors!
Gov begins war on N.Y. GOP House ‘pawns’
GOV. CUOMO came out firing against New York’s House Republicans on Tuesday, blasting them for betraying their constituents as he launched a push to boot them from their jobs.
Cuomo (photo inset) singled out upstate Reps. John Faso and Chris Collins, branding them “political pawns to the ultraconservative puppet masters in Washington” as he vowed to campaign to unseat GOP pols at the federal level.
“Today I charge Congressmen Faso and Collins and their colleagues with violating their oath of office to represent the interests of the people of the State of New York,” Cuomo told a union-heavy crowd at the Javits Center in Manhattan. “I also charge them with defrauding the voters of this state. They said they would help their districts. They said they would help the struggling middle class.”
The two angered Cuomo by orchestrating an amendment to the GOP health care bill backed by President Trump, which would force the state to pick up the tab for billions in Medicaid spending now funded by counties outside New York City.
Cuomo was joined by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in his push to help Democrats take back the House of Representatives.
When Faso won his Hudson Valley seat last year, Cuomo offered only a tepid endorsement of his opponent — Zephyr Teachout, who had run against him for governor — by saying he backed the Democratic nominee. He signaled he’d be more enthusiastic about a Democratic nominee this time around.
It’s the first time Cuomo, who has been mentioned as a possible 2020 presidential candidate, is actively involving himself in the effort to flip control of the House.
Cuomo has faced criticism from some liberals who say he’s failed to support Democrats closer to home by either campaigning for a Democratic takeover of the state Senate or pushing a breakaway faction of Dems to reunite with their mainline colleagues.
Nonetheless, Pelosi fully embraced him as a progressive champion. “The Empire State is one of our most important battlegrounds for Democrats to take back the House of Representatives for the American people,” she said, adding she believed eight seats in the state now held by Republicans could be flipped.
National Republican Congressional Committee regional press secretary Chris Martin said Cuomo’s effort would suffer from a scandal involving his administration’s upstate economic development program.