The FBI is investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) “practice of hiring employees to work in the governor’s office while actually paying them through various state agencies and public authorities,” the Albany Times Union reports.
“Hiring pricey political appointees to work for the Executive Chamber — but paying them through other entities — has allowed Cuomo and prior governors to increase the size of their staffs while escaping criticism for inflating the Executive Chamber budget.”
New York Times: “At $25 million and counting, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) sits atop the largest tower of campaign contributions of any Democratic politician in America, but this monument to his prodigious fund-raising strength also reveals one of his greatest vulnerabilities, especially if he harbors presidential ambitions. He has virtually no small donors.”
“Since the beginning of 2015, Mr. Cuomo has raised more than 99 percent of his campaign money from donations larger than $1,000 and nearly 99.9 percent of his funds from donors who gave at least $200, according to an analysis by The New York Times. At one point last year, Mr. Cuomo went six months without reporting a single individual donor who gave less than $200.”
“If I were advising him, I would say don’t run.”
— A Democratic political consultant, who declined to be quoted by name by Politico because “I like my knees,” on Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) running for president in 2020.
“As a general rule, I haven’t found nasty ad hominem attacks on a person whose cooperation is needed to help your state especially helpful.”
— Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), quoted by the New York Times, on why he refuses to personally attack President Trump.
Politico: “Cuomo looks very much like someone doing the spadework to run for president. His speeches are increasingly laced with the kind of Big Themes that become the rhetorical cornerstones of presidential campaigns. He rails against Washington, contrasting the gridlock of Congress against his own relatively smooth management of the previously dysfunctional statehouse, the misplaced priorities of national Republicans against the steady progress he has made in Albany. Over the past several months, Cuomo has hired Chris Christie’s former chief of staff, a move widely seen as further burnishing his own bipartisan credentials; his aides have reached out to out-of-state donors about a possible fundraising swing later this year.”
A new Siena College poll finds New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) with a dramatic rise in his popularity, as his favorability rating hits its highest level in three years, 61% to 31%.
Maria Comella, a former top aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is crossing party lines to become New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) new chief of staff, CNN reports.
“Comella also has a long history of working on presidential campaigns, having joined George W. Bush, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Christie during their respective runs. That experience could benefit Cuomo if he decides to make a run of his own in 2020.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “reported his income last year more than doubled from the previous year, thanks to another round of royalty payments on a 2014 HarperCollins memoir that saw lackluster sales,” the Buffalo News reports.
“In all, Cuomo has made $783,000 from HarperCollins for his book. The book sold 3,200 copies since it was published in the fall of 2014… That works out to royalty payments to Cuomo of $245 per book.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “has hired two Florida fundraisers, a sign he’s building a national network,” the New York Post reports.
“The two consultants — one is former Hillary Clinton money man Jon Adrabi — will help plan events and build relationships with Democratic donors in the key swing state.”
“The governor has been expanding his national profile since the Democrats’ dreadful showing in November.”
“After studiously avoiding the event for six years, Andrew Cuomo finally made an appearance in Washington during the presidential showcase formally known as the National Governors Association winter meeting,” Politico reports.
“Cuomo, of course, insists that he’s not thinking about a presidential run in four years, even as he takes more steps to join the national conversation — in the days before the Washington trip, he urged congressional Democrats to ‘stand up’ and ‘fight’ to protect Obamacare. But New York operatives, state lawmakers and long-time associates see the 59-year-old governor as carefully laying down markers for his future, whatever it may hold, after Hillary Clinton’s unexpected defeat.”
New York Times: “As Democratic leaders reassess their party’s mission and long-term strategy after the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, Mr. Cuomo seems eager to quickly position himself as a different sort of Northeast liberal, one capable of building things beyond a social agenda — and remaking a persona that has long rubbed some of his colleagues and voters the wrong way.”
“Mr. Cuomo and Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Kamala Harris of California, among others, are thought to be on a short, if still amorphous, list of fresher options for 2020… Of those who have prompted presidential speculation, Mr. Cuomo seems the keenest to quickly broaden his appeal since the election, and is perhaps the most road-tested in political warfare and theatrics.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is proposing to offer free tuition at New York public colleges to eligible residents, the AP reports.
“Cuomo’s plan would provide free tuition to a State University of New York or City University of New York college, including two-year community colleges, for residents whose families earn less than $125,000.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “was so eager to celebrate Hillary Clinton’s presidential inauguration, he booked 200 hotel rooms in DC for family, friends and supporters of his possible future bid for the presidency,” the New York Post reports.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “intends to take a lead role in a broad campaign pressing for a crackdown on the improper dealing of firearms, swerving into national politics on an issue that has caused him some political heartburn in New York but has become a defining subject of the 2016 presidential campaign,” the New York Tiems reports.
New York Times: “Many fellow Democrats have seethed for years about what they view as Mr. Cuomo’s heavy-handed methods. But in a rare season of open criticism against the governor of New York, he has found himself unexpectedly on the defensive over an approach to politics Democrats call dismissive and domineering.”
“Confronted with a restive party, Mr. Cuomo, 57, now faces the most consequential political choice of his second term: whether to appease downtrodden Democrats by adjusting his personal style, or to continue relying on a set of hard-edged methods that his supporters call essential to maintaining political order in the state.”
“He chose to publicly vent his frustration. We all have our own styles and our own comportment and we all see our roles in a certain way. My father had one style, Koch had one style … that’s the mayor’s style, it’s not my style. … I try to bite my tongue once in a while.”
— New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), quoted by the New York Observer, on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).
“You rise above it publicly, but quietly, underneath, cut somebody’s legs off.”
— Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R), in an interview on MSNBC, on how he would handle the public feud between New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio (D).
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, “in candid and searing words rarely employed by elected officials of his stature,” accused Gov. Andrew Cuomo of stymieing his city’s legislative goals out of personal pettiness, “game-playing” and a desire for “revenge,” the New York Times reports.
Said de Blasio: “I started a year and a half ago with a hope of a very strong partnership. I have been disappointed at every turn.”
“His criticism — barbed by any measure, but especially so for a sitting mayor — amounted to an audacious gambit by Mr. de Blasio: The mayor is betting that he can outflank a governor who wields enormous power over his administration’s affairs, even as he needs him as a negotiating partner.”
First Read: “This feud is going to keep political reporters in NYC busy and entertained for some time.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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