New York’s GOP must be in dire straits if its state chairman has to beg his fellow Republicans not to endorse a Democratic governor for re-election.
Yet that’s just what Ed Cox has done. In a letter sent this week to Republicans he believes are being targeted by Andrew Cuomo to support his re-election bid, Cox explained his case this way:
“When out of power, our job as a party is to provide loyal opposition, not for opposition’s sake but for the sake of the governing philosophy and principles that will advance our state. The Cuomo administration is well-known for their heavy-handed tactics in winning support, but for the sake of New York’s future, I hope I can count on Republicans such as yourself to be strong and to live up to our Republican convictions.”
Now, looking to New York Republicans to live up to Republican convictions sounds like a punchline in a Jon Stewart riff. Still, Cox is absolutely right about the role of a minority party — and he lays out a good case against the governor’s re-election.
After seven years and three Democratic governors, says Cox, New York “remains the most taxed, most regulated, least economically free state in America, with the highest out-migration and the most debt per capita.” He cites Cuomo’s opposition to “the most innovative industry in the United States” (fracking), his failure to address the state’s bloated Medicaid program, his refusal to call out Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver on the scandals in Albany, and so on.
That’s the argument the state’s Republican Party should be taking to the people of New York. But if Republican politicians aren’t even sold themselves, is it any wonder New York hasn’t elected a Republican to statewide office since 2002?