Gov & Senate set to block de Blasio pre-K tax
GOV. Cuomo, aided by a coalition of Senate Republicans and upstate Democrats, will defeat Mayor de Blasio’s efforts to raise taxes to fund universal preK this year, a leading legislative Democrat has told The Post.
“It’s an election year and it’s the governor who is running for reelection,’’ said the official, an expert on the Legislature’s internal dynamics.
“The governor is running on a platform seeking tax reductions, not tax increases. There will be no problem in the Assembly passing de Blasio’s tax, but I don’t see it passing the Senate,’’ the official continued.
The Assembly, controlled by New York City Democrats who overwhelmingly support de Blasio, is expected to easily approve the mayor’s taxhike plan, despite opposition from fellow Democrat Cuomo.
But the Senate, where 32 votes are needed to approve a measure, is controlled by a coalition of 29 Republicans in alliance with five selfdescribed independent Democrats — two of whom are from antitax upstate. The votes of two other Democrats are also potentially up for grabs.
“The Senate Republican conference is, ironically, Cuomo’s best ally in the Legislature, and given that Republicans claim they’re against higher taxes, and given that Cuomo wants de Blasio’s tax hike killed for his own political reasons, there’s no way this tax will pass the Senate,’’ confirmed a source close to the administration.
A new Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters was anything but encouraging to Cuomo’s widely described interest in entering the 2016 presidential contest.
The poll, released Friday, not surprisingly found Hillary Rodham Clinton the runaway favorite, at 64 percent, among Democrats asked to pick their favorite presidential contender. She was followed by Vice President Joe Biden, a distant second with 9 percent.
What was surprising was that a “progressive’’ favorite, freshman Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, placed third, with 5 percent of the tally, and that Cuomo was in a threeway tie for fourth, with a mere 1 percent, with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner.
An important Buffaloarea elected official who attended Friday night’s packed Erie County Republican fundraising event with Donald Trump came away convinced the megabuilder won’t be running for governor.
“He doesn’t have the fire in the belly. He keeps saying the Republicans have to clear the field for him — no convention, no campaigning, no committee meetings, no primary — or he drops out,’’ said the official, who requested anonymity.
“That is not how politics work. He was very standoffish, didn’t work the crowd at all, and at dinner sat at the head of the table, didn’t talk to people and actually left as dinner was being served,’’ the official continued.
Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos recently reinforced the view that he’s a Cuomo political ally as he sat in a corner without mixing at an important GOP fundraiser and then stunned many by leaving before Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a potential Cuomo challenger, arrived for a scheduled speech.
Skelos “looked like he didn’t want to be there. He didn’t talk to anyone, and then skulked out just before Rob arrived,’’ said a Republican at the event.