PROMINENT African- American and His panic Democrats may soon endorse Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — and not incumbent Gov. Paterson — in the race for governor, The Post has learned.
“A lot of black and Hispanic legislators are saying privately they’ve had it with Paterson, especially after the Senate breakdown, and they want to go with Cuomo,” said a prominent Democratic lawmaker, referring to the Senate stalemate that has pitted the governor against members of his own party.
At least one minority lawmaker called Cuomo within the last two weeks offering his support, but was told by the attorney general that such a move was premature, sources said.
An endorsement of Cuomo by a prominent minority Democrat would be a startling rebuff to Paterson, who took office as the state’s first black governor in March 2008.
A half-dozen recent public opinion polls have shown Cuomo trouncing Paterson by as many as 50 percentage points among Democrats. Cuomo was also easily beating Paterson among black and Hispanic voters in the polls.
Minority endorsements could help Cuomo withstand what is expected to be an orchestrated series of attacks by Paterson’s backers, charging the son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo with sowing the seeds of racial discord within the Democratic Party.
One such preemptive attack was launched last month by US Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), a strong Paterson backer who claimed “racial polarization” would follow if Cuomo ran in a primary against the governor.
Cuomo, who faced an identical charge in 2002 when he unsuccessfully sought to win a primary for governor against Carl McCall, the state’s first black comptroller, has publicly said he’s running for re-election as attorney general.
But he has told friends privately he’s gearing up to run for governor.
“The best-case scenario for Andrew is for David to recognize he can’t win election and just get out of the race, avoiding the whole racial thing,” said a prominent elected Democrat who is not close to Cuomo.
One likely black Cuomo backer is Sen. Kevin Parker of Brooklyn, who recently shocked the state’s political establishment by calling Paterson a “coke-snorting, staff-banging” governor. But it’s not certain Cuomo would want his backing, since Parker’s under felony indictment for allegedly assaulting a Post photographer in May.
*
Top Assembly leaders aren’t happy with efforts by Shelly Mayer, ex-Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith’s counsel, to pressure Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) into sending a controversial set of bills supposedly passed by the Senate to Paterson for signing.
“Shelly Mayer is calling assemblymen, calling hospitals, calling other interest groups trying to get them to pressure Silver to send the bills, but it isn’t working,” said a senior Assembly official.