AL ABOARD!
Gore helps Andy elex fight as Nixon eyes run
ALBANY — Facing a possible primary from actress Cynthia Nixon, Gov. Cuomo Friday wrapped himself around former Vice President Al Gore and the environmental movement.
Cuomo held an event with Gore at New York University to trash President Trump’s push to open up offshore drilling while also announcing a number of new clean energy initiatives.
Though listed on the governor’s official government schedule, the event had the trappings of a campaign rally, including signs that were handed out that read “Thank You Governor Cuomo.”
Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said the signs were paid for by the Cuomo campaign, though there was nothing on the sign to indicate that was the case.
They were also adorned with the state government logo.
Some questioned why the posters were handed out at an official government event.
“The administration should make it clear that there is a distinction between government activity and campaign activity— and too often they appear to blur that line,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
He cited testimony in the federal corruption trial of longtime Cuomo top aide Joseph Percoco, who went off the state payroll in 2014 to run the governor’s reelection campaign but still had frequent access to his old office.
Azzopardi angrily blasted back at Horner. Citing state election law, he said it’s legally permissible to use campaign funds “to facilitate, support, or otherwise assist in the execution or performance of the duties of his or her public office.”
“To be clear, the campaign isn’t using anything — it is paying for materials used in a government event, to spare taxpayers, as is permissible under the law,” Azzopardi said.
Cuomo served as housing secretary during the Clinton-Gore administration. He and Gore have done other joint events in recent years.
Gore praised Cuomo’s environmental record, including his ban on a natural gas drilling process known as hydrofracking, plans to phase out the use of coal in New York by 2020, and New York’s inclusion in a bistate agreement designed to reduce greenhouse gases.
“He has done what I would dream every governor would do,” Gore said.
Some environmentalists have criticized Cuomo for his plan to bailout three upstate nuclear plants even while reaching an agreement to close the Indian Point nuclear plan in Westchester County.
Gore stopped short of specifically endorsing Cuomo’s re-election. But he trashed President Trump’s presidency as “an experiment” that may not last.
“In science, some experiments are terminated early for ethical reasons,” Gore said.
Friday was the last day for public comment on Trump’s offshore drilling plan. “Offshore drilling is a really really dumb idea. That’s my professional comment,” said Cuomo.
A source said Friday’s event was planned before it became public earlier this week that Nixon is edging closer to challenging Cuomo in a Democratic primary.