Cuomo Says Progressives Have It All Wrong: ‘I Am the Left’

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/nyregion/andrew-cuomo-democrat-progressive-ny.html

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ALBANY — After a six-month show of Democratic force ushered a raft of liberal legislation through the State Capitol this year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo faced a political conundrum.

It was, in Mr. Cuomo’s words, “the most successful legislative session in modern political history.” But behind that effort was a fresh wave of progressive energy, much of it from newly elected state senators who have sometimes seen Mr. Cuomo as more of an obstacle than an ally.

So in recent weeks, the governor has begun to push back — against members of his party, against state lawmakers, against the populist notion of progressivism and, inevitably, against Mayor Bill de Blasio, a frequent foil for Mr. Cuomo.

In a recent op-ed in The Daily News, the governor implied that Mr. de Blasio and other progressive lawmakers in the city had failed on several issues, including a plan to close Rikers Island, the handling of the New York City Housing Authority, and the homeless crisis, which he said was “worse than it was under the Republican and independent administrations of Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.”

Mr. Cuomo didn’t stop there, turning his fire on the State Legislature, chiding it for not increasing funding to “poorer school districts — our top social justice and equity priority — without simultaneously raising funding to richer districts.”

And then there was the very definition of “progressive,” which Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat in a deep blue state, has been repeatedly saying has little to do with ideals and more to do with getting things done.

“I believe I am the most progressive, or one of the most progressive leaders in the state,” Mr. Cuomo said in a radio interview earlier this month, before suggesting that some progressives in his party were engaging in “pontification,” espousing “aspirational goals with no realistic plan or knowledge or analysis.”

“I like to say you can’t be a progressive without making progress,” Mr. Cuomo concluded.

Asked if that was an attack on the left, Mr. Cuomo was blunt.

“I am the left,” he said.

In some ways, the governor’s battle with the new wave of progressives mirrors the friction between establishment Democrats in Washington — led by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi — and rising stars like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

“It’s a generational thing,” said Brian Fallon, the executive director of the activist group, Demand Justice, and a former top aide to Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton of New York.

Mr. Cuomo “came of age when the big ad hominem attack from Republicans was to be labeled a ‘tax-and-spend’ liberal,” said Mr. Fallon, also mentioning the former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the former Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel, as similar-minded Democrats.

“They worry that today’s younger progressive wing is going too far,” he added, saying that adopting an oppositional posture to the younger generation is a political calculation. “It allows them to say, ‘‘Don’t lump me in with those guys, they’re nuts.’”

In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said that his critiques of progressivism were part of an effort to get fellow Democrats to concentrate on, and refine, their platform leading into the 2020 presidential campaign.

“I am not challenging anyone,” Mr. Cuomo said. “I am challenging the Democratic Party to come up with a definition and an agenda” incorporating progressive ideas.

In a separate statement, the governor clarified that the agenda should include “poverty, racism, civil rights, and issues like jail reform,” as well as schools and public housing. “I don’t hear enough on those topics,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Critics of the governor say ample evidence exists of his lack of progressive bona fides, including his failure to use his sizable political capital to fight for legalized marijuana — a major criminal justice issue for many in minority communities — as well as his backing of Melinda Katz, the Queens borough president, over Tiffany Cabán, the insurgent democratic socialist, in the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney.

There have also been smaller perceived slights, such as earlier this month when Mr. Cuomo jumped aboard the bandwagon of the world champion United States women’s soccer team, and signed a bill promising pay equity. But, he neglected to invite the bill’s sponsor, the first-term state senator Alessandra Biaggi, who has been consistently critical of the governor since being elected as part of the blue wave last November.

“There is a progressive movement, nationally and in New York City, and he’s not a part to that: He is outside of that bubble,” Shaun King, a prominent liberal activist, said of the governor. “And inside the bubble of the progressive movement, we often feel in opposition to him.”

The skepticism about Mr. Cuomo, who took office in 2011, comes despite an impressive list of liberal accomplishments during his tenure, including legalizing same-sex marriage, raising the minimum wage, establishing a paid family leave program and eliminating most types of cash bail. This session alone, the governor and the Legislature won major victories addressing climate change, rent regulations and reproductive rights, among other issues.

To some Democrats, however, the liberal victories of the 2019 legislative session should be credited to the progressives elected in November, even though the governor beat back a primary challenge from Cynthia Nixon, the activist and actress who ran on a progressive platform.

“When we think back to the last election, Cuomo won the battle, but progressives are winning the war,” said Rebecca Katz, a former top campaign adviser to Ms. Nixon.

Mr. Cuomo’s supporters note that he trounced Ms. Nixon, and consistently scores high-approval ratings with self-described liberals. On Wednesday, the governor accused some progressives in New York of offering only “bumper sticker” solutions, while praising “original progressives” like Robert F. Kennedy and his father, the former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo. He again cited the deteriorating conditions at the Housing Authority and Rikers Island.

“Where is the outrage, where is the action, where are the politicians, clamoring to fix it?” the governor said during an event at The Daily News. “They’re not.”

He added that New York officials should stop calling the city “the most progressive capital in the nation.”

“How hypocritical,” the governor said, accusing the city’s politicians of ignoring such problems because they focus on the poor. “That’s what progressives are supposed to be fighting for.”

Although Mr. Cuomo did not single out Mr. de Blasio by name, it seemed clear that some of his remarks were directed at the mayor, who is running for president and has taken pains to present himself as part of that anti-establishment movement. Mr. de Blasio has emphasized issues like affordable housing, criminal justice reform and public education on the campaign trail. (He recently made news, for example, by saying he “hates” charter schools.)

“We’ve won big, meaningful progressive victories in New York City by pushing past everyone who said we can’t,” the de Blasio 2020 website says, “and we’re going to do it for the whole country, too.”

The party’s base, however, does not seem to be buying the pitch: Mr. de Blasio’s poll numbers among likely primary voters are hovering around 1 percent.

But if neither Mr. Cuomo nor Mr. de Blasio have truly been embraced by some progressive activists, it may be because the two men have more in common than they would like to admit.

“If Cuomo was genuinely connected to the progressive movement, he probably could have run for president, but he consistently makes himself an enemy of that community,” Mr. King said. “And I don’t think that’s wholly different from what de Blasio is facing."