Showing posts with label governor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label governor. Show all posts

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Seeking to recruit disenchanted Democratic Party voters, Green Party candidates Jones and Jimenez visit to Queens

Overflow crowd greet Greens at Flynn's Garden Inn in Woodside

Green Party candidates Brian Jones and Ramon Jimenez photo 2014-10-12BrianJones-RamonJimenez-GreenPartyQueensFunction600LouisFlores_zpsed175022.jpg

Greens reach out to reform-minded voters turned off by Gov. Cuomo's neoliberal priorities

“A few months ago, there was a lot of attention around the Democratic primary,” said Brian Jones, the Green Party candidate for Lieut. Governor. “A lot of progressives were thwarted [when] top party leadership rallied around Andrew Cuomo.” Mr. Jones said that progressive voters, who want other options in the Democratic Party, have no candidate to support. “A lot of that energy is coming our way.”

Ramon Jimenez, the Green Party’s candidate for the state Attorney General, was asked about one of the leading issues in this year’s election season : government corruption. During Mr. Jimenez’s campaign, he has made prior remarks about the Cuomo administration’s mistake in bringing to a premature end the corruption-fighting work of the Moreland Commission. At the meet and greet function in Queens today, Mr. Jimenez said that he found fault with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s handling of the Moreland Commission’s demise. Mr. Jimenez noted that the commissioners serving on the corruption-fighting panel had been deputized by Attorney General Schneiderman, giving his office a special responsibility in seeing to it that the commission’s work was handled appropriately. “It was wrong for him to remain silent as the commission was disbanded,” Mr. Jimenez said, adding, “The attorney general has to be more aggressive in prosecuting government corruption.”

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In Queens, Green Party candidates Jones and Jimenez talk about issues, momentum (Progress Queens)

Monday, May 26, 2014

Two prominent Democrats Complain About Cuomo's Pick For Lieutenant Governor

With dissatisfaction growing amongst Democrats, Gov. Cuomo faces a bumpy reelection campaign

 photo Cuomo-Hochul-628x471_zpsa472b03d.jpg

Is Gov. Andrew Cuomo going to get his neoliberal ass handed back to him in the form of collapsing opinion polling leading up to this year's gubernatorial election (à la Christine Quinn in last year's mayoral election) ? One can only hope.

Fred Dicker in today's The New York Post reports that more and more brave Democratic leaders, some of whom can hardly be called on to form a coalition for anything, are speaking up in a rare unified voice of dissatisfaction with Gov. Cuomo's reelection campaign.

Bill Samuels is seriously considering a primary challenge to Gov. Cuomo's pick for lieutenant governor, former Congresswoman Kathy Hochul, based on her work as a bank lobbyist, work that Mr. Samuels rejects as in contravention of the state's progressive sensibilities.

Mr. Samuels, who is described having "millions to spend," could upset Gov. Cuomo's plans for an avalanche reelection margin of victory.

Joining Mr. Samuels in expressing dissatisfaction with Gov. Cuomo's pick for lieutenant governor is none other than radical right wing Bronx conservative Democrat, Sen. Ruben Diaz. Generally counted on to espouse bigoted positions on social issues, Sen. Diaz shocked the conscious of middle of the road Democrats when he reasonably objected to Ms. Hochul's selection based on her own incredulous radical right wing rejection of the Dream Act, a proposed state law that would, amongst other things, allow undocumented college students who meet in-state tuition requirements to qualify for state financial aid and scholarships for higher education. The Dream Act is supported by progressive Democrats, but Ms. Hochul has a record of opposing legislation that would end aspects of de jure discrimination against undocumented immigrants.

Democrats have several reasons to be disgusted with Gov. Cuomo. His neoliberal record of closing five New York City hospitals during his first term under the guise of "Medicaid reform" were nothing more than a scorched earth campaign of austerity cuts to healthcare for the poor, the sick, and people of color in the urban neighborhoods of New York City. To undermine pressure for reforms from the political left, Gov. Cuomo enabled a break-away faction of Democratic state senators to form an unholy alliance with Republican state senators to jam the state legislature into gridlock. His recent budget reforms amounted to more tax cuts for the wealthy at the continuing expense of the working class and the poor. Finally, his cockblocking of ethics and campaign finance reforms up in Albany was so foul that federal prosecutors could no longer turn their backs to the governor's alleged obstruction of justice. Government reform activists in New York City are eagerly awaiting to see if a grand jury empaneled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan will hand down indictments of corrupt Cuomo administration officials.

If Gov. Cuomo's reelection is already triggering backlash from disparate corners of the state's Democratic Party, it foretells of a long hot wilting summer for the governor's popularity. Already, the governor is calling on electoral help from the Dan Cantor, New York executive director of the Wrecking Families Party, to fluff his reelection campaign.