Cuomo mum on debates
Molinaro and other candidates want public faceoff, but the governor has little incentive to participate
With no clear sign that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will participate in any forums, the recurring will-they-or-won’t-they debate question is adding pressure to New York’s gubernatorial drama.
Less than four weeks until Election Day, there has been little movement on plans to have Cuomo square off against any of the challengers hoping to deny him another four years in office.
Republican nominee Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive, is hoping for multiple one-on-one forums with the two-term Democrat, but his campaign says that Cuomo has not agreed to any. The three third-party candidates are also pushing to be included in debates before the Nov. 6 election.
Cuomo has little to gain from sharing the stage with his rivals; he leads comfortably in the polls and has the campaign funds to get his message to the voters without a debate.
His campaign did not respond to a
request for comment.
When asked on Sept. 25 about whether he would debate Molinaro and whether all the candidates should be included, Cuomo responded, “That’s something we have to talk about.”
League of Women Voters Legislative Director Jennifer Wilson said the organization hasn’t had any luck setting up a gubernatorial forum, noting that multiple media outlets abandoned plans to host an event when it became clear the governor wasn’t on board. She said they haven’t given up on the idea of organizing a debate.
The league’s forum policy would allow them to host a debate where Cuomo’s chair would be left open if he turned down an invite. “But that’s not a real debate,” Wilson said.
By this point in the race four years ago, the governor had already agreed to a televised debate with all four potential candidates and a one-on-one radio debate with Republican Rob Astorino. Astorino ultimately turned down the proposed radio debate, calling for a televised appearance with the two major candidates.
In 2010, Cuomo’s lone televised debate for the general election featured a crowded stage of third-party candidates, including Kristin M. Davis, the so-called “Manhattan Madam,” and Jimmy Mcmillan, the Rent is Too Damn High candidate.
It wasn’t until there was a month left in this summer’s race for the Democratic nomination against Cynthia Nixon that Cuomo agreed to a single televised debate, before cruising to a massive primary victory. He refused to debate Zephyr Teachout in the 2014 Democratic primary.
Stephanie Miner, the Serve America Movement candidate and former Syracuse mayor who was once a Cuomo ally, argued that “candidates should give citizens the ability to hear our ideas and critiques.”
She said she will participate in any debates that are scheduled, but her campaign said they haven’t been part of any negotiations.
Libertarian candidate Larry Sharpe’s campaign claims that “millions of New Yorkers” are looking for alternatives to the major parties.
Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, who was part of the four-way gubernatorial debate in 2014 and collected 184,419 votes, proposed four regional debates addressing the economy, government reform, the environment and social policy.
He wants media and civic organizations to organize debates without a guarantee that the governor will attend. “If Cuomo doesn’t come, there would be four of us criticizing his record and his absence would speak for itself,” he said in a written statement.
“It’s getting late,” Hawkins said this week. “Voters should be worried that Cuomo thinks he’s satisfied his one debate quota with his Democratic primary debate with Nixon.”
In a Siena Research Institute poll from two weeks ago, the third-party candidates were splitting about 4 percent of the vote.