Female Democrats in the state Assembly are roaring over the doomed “women’s equality agenda” — and Gov. Cuomo is feeling the wrath.
“It was a missed opportunity,” said Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, a Hudson Valley Democrat.
Cuomo outlined the 10-point agenda in his State of the State speech, including a provision to strengthen abortion rights.
Barrett and other Assembly Democrats cheered.
But when the package crashed last week over the abortion issue, the finger-pointing began — and even Cuomo is getting some of the blame.
Some female Democrats complain that the governor dealt mostly with women’s advocacy groups and gave them short shrift.
“We would have liked to have more of a role. The advocacy groups became much more part of the negotiations,” Barrett said. “It might have been more effective to have legislators more involved in the process.”
The Assembly passed the entire package with the abortion-rights measure; the Senate rejected the abortion plank. Without passing identical bills, the agenda stalled.
Barrett said members of the women’s caucus expressed their frustration during a meeting with the governor last week, before the Assembly voted and adjourned for the summer recess.
Asked about the criticism, Cuomo’s office declined comment.
A source close to the negotiations said: “The governor brought 850 women’s advocacy groups together and negotiated an agreement on bill language on all 10 planks of the women’s agenda with Assembly leadership. Last we heard it is the role of the speaker to liaison with the women and men of the assembly, unless something has changed.”