GLOVES COME OFF
Cuomo & Nixon slam each other on everything from MTA to corruption & cash
HEMPSTEAD — Gov. Cuomo and actress Cynthia Nixon engaged in a feisty, heated and often-personal debate Wednesday in which they disagreed on most every issue except whether they would like to have Mayor de Blasio's endorsement.
When asked if they wanted the mayor's support before the Sept. 13 primary, neither Cuomo, who has warred with de Blasio and laughingly referenced their “dysfunctional relationship,” nor Nixon, a friend of Hizonner, would say “yes” or “no.”
Beyond that matter, the rivals — sitting at separate desks as demanded by Cuomo's campaign — repeatedly quarreled over such issues as the subway system, health care, the new Tappan Zee Bridge, their experience in government, and whether public unions should be able to strike.
Nixon came out swinging from the start of the CBS2sponsored debate at Hofstra University. The actress characterized Cuomo as an Albany insider, knocked his prolific fund-raising, accused him of handing control of the state Senate to the Republicans, and noted the problems involving corruption within his administration.
And that was in response to the first question.
Cuomo threw his own barbs, knocking his challenger for having her own corporation, which he said has helped her benefit from the very tax loopholes she often decries.
The governor also compared Nixon's initial decision to forego the release of five years' worth of her income taxes, only recently reversed, to behavior akin to President Trump.
Neither candidate made a major gaffe or delivered what would be considered a knockout blow.
Most importantly for Cuomo, he mostly kept his cool as his opponent sought to rattle him by cutting into his answers.
“Can you stop interrupting,” Cuomo asked several times.
“Can you stop lying,” Nixon once responded.
“As soon as you do,” Cuomo snapped back.
It was the first and only time the two Democrats will share a stage before the Sept. 13 gubernatorial primary.
Cuomo tried to play up his experience, derided the “Sex And the City” actress for living in a world of “fiction
rather than facts.”
Nixon touted her experience as an advocate fighting for issues including education funding and gay rights, but Cuomo said a governor is in charge of a $170 billion budget and has to deal with terrorism, fires, train wrecks and floods while also negotiating with the state Legislature.
“The government is not about politics, it’s not about advocacy; it’s about doing. It’s about management. This is real life,” Cuomo said.
“Experience doesn’t mean that much if you’re not actually good at governing,” Nixon countered.
Several times, Cuomo sought to portray himself and New York as a line of defense against Trump, as when the state took legal action to stop the Trump administration’s policy of separating parents from their children when they tried to illegally enter the country at the southern border.
"He has to be stopped; I’m going to fight with him,” Cuomo said of Trump. “He tweets at me weekly. I welcome it. Know me by my enemies.”
But Nixon accused Cuomo of engaging in a largely rhetorical battle, and asked why he hasn’t taken more concrete action like signing an executive order to authorize the issuance of driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
“We already have a corrupt corporate Republican in the White House,” Nixon said. “We don’t need a corrupt corporate Democrat in Albany as his main opposition.”
The two also mixed it up over the MTA and the beleaguered subway system.
Cuomo called for more city funding and the creation of a congestion pricing plan to help fund long-term fixes to the outdated transit network.
Nixon accused him of using the MTA as an ATM machine by diverting needed MTA dollars to fund his own “pet projects,” and of not fighting hard enough for a comprehensive congestion pricing plan.
Asked by the moderators if he would postpone next year’s scheduled fare hikes and have the state make up for the shortfall, Cuomo said he would consider it if the city kicked in half.
Nixon said she would do it on her own. “The state can’t fund the MTA without the city,” Cuomo said. “If the city does 50-50, I will do it.”
Said Nixon: “Talk about so many lies.”
“Gov. Cuomo knows the MTA is controlled by the governor; it’s a state agency,” she said. “To pretend something else is completely disingenuous.”
On the issue of corruption, something Cuomo promised to tackle when he first ran for office in 2010, the governor said the recent federal conviction of his longtime aide and friend Joseph Percoco was painful, and that his late father taught him good people can do stupid things. He said that various ethics reforms he has championed were blocked by the state Senate Republicans.
But Nixon asserted that it was Cuomo who emboldened the Republicans over the years, and argued that if he didn’t know what Percoco was up to in receiving bribes from companies with business before the state, he was asleep at the wheel.
Despite the hostilities, the two shook hands at the end.