Why both parties are hugging Cuomo
A deliberate strategy is paying off
There’s a strange phenomenon in New York this election year: Democrats and Republicans across the state are clamoring to draw any possible connection with one man: Gov. Cuomo.
It’s not odd, of course, to see the governor featured prominently in Democratic campaign literature throughout, including for Sens. Neil Breslin, Joseph Addabbo and David Valesky.
More surprising is the fact that he’s being invoked on the Republican side, including in more conservative parts of upstate. Republican Sen. Mark Grisanti in Buffalo has used news footage of Cuomo praising his work; Republican Assemblyman Sean Hanna in Rochester, running for the Senate, has compared his bi-partisan working style to the governor; Republican Sen. Greg Ball touts his partnering with Cuomo to cut state spending.
Even Republican Deputy Majority Leader Tom Libous prominently declares in his campaign ads that he works closely with Cuomo to get results for the people.
While politicians have always sought endorsements from popular figures, this election cycle is unprecedented for two reasons. First, Cuomo’s popularity is at historic levels, with a job performance rating near 70%, including 73% among Democrats and a staggering 66% among Republicans.
Second, Cuomo’s popularity is not a function of circumstance, but the result of a concerted twoyear plan to reshape New York politics.
In retrospect, Cuomo’s theory and methodology are clear. He watched years of dysfunction and scandal in Albany and knew that no conventional approach to governing would succeed. As attorney general, he would often say that governor was an “impossible job” given the Albany power dynamics and landscape.
Cuomo knew he had to find a way to break the Legislative gridlock. He began by inviting in the unions that had long resisted reform, making them part of the process. He also knew that party label loyalty was quickly becoming a thing of the past and believed he could accelerate the decline. His campaign for governor branded him from the start an “independent Democrat.”
He told the Democratic Party in his nominating speech: “We are not first Democrats and Republicans and independents. We are first New Yorkers. And we must act that way now.” This was radical talk at a Democratic convention, but Cuomo was clear on where he was going.
This is more than opportunism. There’s something philosophically important happening here. A disciple of Bill Clinton’s triangulation and a son of Mario Cuomo’s liberalism, Cuomo has combined the two in a novel way.
Like his father, Cuomo genuinely believes in the role of activist government and has pursued and achieved landmark progressive goals that resonated nationally. And where Clinton’s triangulation would tack back and forth within a fairly narrow band of the American mainstream, Cuomo takes wider pendulum swings, going further right and further left.
On the left, we have a truly progressive, graduated tax code, aggressive rent regulation and his signature marriage equality. On the right, we have a property tax cap (which former Gov. George Pataki couldn’t get done), balanced budgets and a tax cut of historic proportions.
This “broadband politics” approach leaves only the extreme left and right untouched.
But political leadership is more than a popular agenda; it is about personal characteristics and relationships, and Cuomo has proven himself remarkably capable of fostering a collegial “everyone wins” climate. Heaping praise on colleagues while developing friendships, he ensured that a long-criticized Legislature was finally applauded. Things got done.
This political story is far from over. A stagnant economy and the prospect of his own re-election will present the governor with new challenges.
But without a doubt, he has already fundamentally reshaped New York politics.