In an extraordinary turnabout, leaders of the moribund Liberal Party want to mount a comeback by backing the guy who caused their demise a decade ago: Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“We would absolutely consider backing Andrew Cuomo’s re-election. There’s no question we’d be interested in doing that,” said Martin Hassner, the party’s executive director.
Hassner said party leaders are chatting informally among themselves about backing the governor — though there have been no official discussions yet with the Cuomo campaign.
“It could absolutely happen. There’s a natural constituency for him. Liberal Republicans would support Cuomo on the Liberal Party line,” Hassner said.
The overture comes amid tensions between Cuomo and the union-dominated Working Families Party, especially over Cuomo’s proposal to cut taxes by $2 billion statewide.
The Liberals could provide an alternative to the WFP — which would leave that party in a big bind come November.
To maintain its ballot status, the WFP has to attract at least 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial election year, and without Cuomo as its candidate that becomes an iffy proposition.
The Liberal Party lost its ballot status in 2002 after then-candidate Cuomo quit the race for governor and backed fellow Democrat Carl McCall, after the Liberal party had already endorsed him.
Cuomo remained on the ballot as a non-candidate, attracting just 17,000 votes.
“Many members of the Liberal Party were deeply hurt that he walked away,” Hassner admitted. “But many others understood the governor’s decision.”
Andrew Cuomo’s dad, former three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo, ran on the Liberal Party line in each of his four races for governor.