Republican Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan is close to a “Faustian pact’’ with Democratic Gov. Cuomo to raise the state’s minimum wage to a national high of $15 an hour — boosting union power and possibly costing New York hundreds of thousands of jobs, The Post has learned.
A source close to Flanagan (R-Suffolk) said the deal would involve Cuomo agreeing to do “little if anything’’ to help Senate Democrats, now just one vote shy of a majority, win the upcoming April 19 special election to replace former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau), who was ousted in December after being convicted on corruption charges.
Despite strong opposition from upstate business groups, the Farm Bureau, and not-for-profit organizations — as well as his own deputy Senate leader and state GOP Chairman Ed Cox — Flanagan has signaled he is ready “to cut a deal on the $15 minimum with Cuomo, likely for a longer phase-in time so that he can claim the Legislature will revisit the issue down the road,’’ said the source.
“It’s like a Faustian pact with the devil, with Flanagan trying to buy more time in power by giving Cuomo something that could devastate the state’s economy while boosting the governor’s standing with the unions, who want to organize higher-paid workers, and his prospects for president in 2020,’’ the source continued.
A study late last year by the conservative-oriented Empire Center found that a $15-an-hour minimum wage would cost the state “at least’’ 200,000 jobs.
Even if the Flanagan deal helps Republicans hold the Skelos seat, his support for the higher wage could cost the GOP Senate seats in financially struggling upstate areas, where opposition is strong.
“Flanagan seems to value his political alliance with Cuomo more than he fears losing additional seats when Republican voters turn away in disgust,” said Assemblyman Bill Nojay (R-Rochester).
Meanwhile, Nassau County GOP Chairman Joseph Mondello’s once-potent organization has been pushed aside as nervous Senate Republicans take direct control of the special election, campaign insiders say.
“It’s not the Nassau organization anymore. It’s being run by Flanagan’s Senate people, Tom Dunham,’’ said a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation, referring to Flanagan’s $182,500-a-year director of operations.
A Flanagan spokesman, Scott Reif, insisted that Dunham was not running the GOP campaign — a sensitive matter since rules in both the Senate and the Assembly strictly limit the time paid staffers can spend on political work.
GOP boss Cox is predicting that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign will get an added boost from the Friday-night violence that led to the cancellation of his Chicago rally — as long as Trump, whom critics accuse of inciting the confrontations, makes it clear that he opposes such conduct.
“To have these people trying to deprive Trump of his First Amendment rights will redound to Trump’s political benefit immediately,’’ said Cox, who served in the administration of his own father-in-law, former President Richard Nixon.
“But Trump has to make it absolutely clear that he’s not involved in any incitement of violence going forward.
“This is a lesson we learned in the early 1970s, which makes what went on Friday night look like a picnic,’’ Cox continued.