Faces Syra-coup

Upstate mayor eyes primary challenge from the left

ALBANY — Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, a one-time ally and now political foe of Gov. Cuomo, said she’s been approached about the possibility of running a Democratic primary against him in 2018 — and hasn’t ruled it out.

Miner, who is term-limited out of her current office at the end of the year, said she’s been approached by different people about running for governor, Congress or state Senate.

“I’m taking everybody’s phone calls,” she said.

The inquiries to run against Cuomo as a progressive alternative have come from a mix of the “professional left, some advocates, consultants and just the public in general,” Miner said.

“We’re at a time that people understand that the Democratic Party has to stand for something,” she said. “As we’re seeing those values attacked in Washington, people in New York are saying we want to know our Democrats are holding true to our values and our progressive policies.”

Former one-term Hudson Valley state Sen. Terry Gipson last week surfaced as another possible progressive primary challenger to Cuomo.

“I think there is a reason you’re hearing so many people pretty openly discussing (a primary),” Miner said. “The governor has some explaining to do or some answers to give.”

Miner (photo inset) was picked in 2012 by Cuomo to serve as co-chairman of the state Democratic party, but left the post not long after the two had a fallingout when she publicly criticized his policies.

She said the day The Village Voice recently published a piece imploring a Democrat to challenge Cuomo, she received 35 emails, with the story attached, from people urging her to run.

With Cuomo taking hits for the downstate transit crisis — and several close to the governor set to go on trial next year on federal corruption charges tied to some of his signature upstate economic development projects — many across the political spectrum believe Cuomo is vulnerable. Miner is among them. “I think the infrastructure issues that have been ignored for so long, the governor is accountable for,” she said. “The poor economic development results, the governor is accountable for as well.”

In Cuomo, any primary challenger would be facing a formidable campaign — and someone who already has nearly $26 million in his campaign coffers.

Miner said money is a consideration, but it’s not everything. “I believe in a system where ideas and values are just as important as money,” Miner said. “But there’s no question about it, money is an issue for whatever office people are deciding to run for. It’s something you have to think about.” The Cuomo campaign defended the governor’s progressive credentials, citing passage of a $15 hourly minimum wage, a statewide paid family leave program, free college tuition for people making up to $120,000, and stringent clean energy standards.

“Gov. Cuomo has an unmatched record of accomplishment and looks forward to continuing to build on that record in his third term,” the campaign said in a statement.

A Democratic insider who supports Cuomo added that if Miner wants to take on Trump, “She’d run for Congress . . . and play a role in the fight to take back the House rather than quibble with the most progressive governor in the country.”

lll In the midst of the the mass transit crisis, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Tuesday will make a visit to Bombardier, an upstate company that makes subway cars for the state.

Heastie wants to learn “about what they do and how they do it,” his spokesman Michael Whyland said.

Cuomo has complained that it takes at least five years to build new cars.