Metro
exclusive

Election reformers push Cuomo on public campaign financing

The political futures of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a key Senate Democrat are being tied to the long-shot promise that a full-blown system of publicly financed elections will become law by late May, insiders have told The Post.

In Cuomo’s case, the failure to deliver a statewide, New York City-style public-financing system will almost certainly result in the leftist Working Families Party (WFP) endorsing someone other than the governor at its May 31 convention, potentially costing him hundreds of thousands of votes in the November election, Democratic and WFP activists say.

While Cuomo would still be the favorite to defeat GOP challenger Rob Astorino, his victory would likely be a pyrrhic one because a WFP-backed challenger would seriously erode Cuomo’s hopes for a landslide victory to propel him to the White House in future years.

Opposition to Cuomo by the WFP, which is controlled by some of the nation’s most powerful labor unions, would also severely undercut Cuomo’s appeal to left-of-center Democratic voters who often dominate their party’s presidential primaries, insiders agree.

The WFP, a strong ally of Mayor Bill de Blasio and, after a string of victories in last fall’s elections, the most potent player in city politics, believes that winning approval of a public-finance system — which could cost taxpayers $200 million per election cycle — would enhance its quest for higher taxes and more government spending throughout the state.

Senate Independent Democratic Leader Jeff Klein, part of a governing coalition with anti-public-financing Senate Republicans, is at the center of the public-financing effort — which Democrat- and union-allied “good-government’’ groups claim as a reform that will “get money out of politics.’’

Last week, in an effort to satisfy the WFP and the good-government groups, Klein, with Cuomo’s backing, managed to cram a public-financing scheme that would apply only to this year’s election for state comptroller into the new state budget.

But the scheme was rejected as a public-relations ploy by the WFP and other advocates, who demanded that Klein and Cuomo produce a better plan.

If Klein fails to deliver Senate support for a broad public-financing program, he’ll likely face a serious primary challenge from former state Attorney General and City Councilman Oliver Koppell, a WFP favorite who is aggressively seeking to line up financial and organizational support.

“For now, Sen. Klein . . . and the governor himself tell some of us they are plotting away, negotiating with the Republicans for a full [public-finance] bill,’’ a key public-financing activist wrote to allies on Friday.

“When they have something real, they can give us a call,’’ the activist sarcastically continued.


As Cuomo is being accused of being too close to Republicans, Astorino is increasingly having to deal with Senate Republicans who are moving closer to endorsing Cuomo.

“I’m appalled by what’s been going on,’’ said Assemblyman Bill Nojay, a Rochester-area Republican.

“What you’re seeing is a wholesale collapse of the Senate Republicans, who are either talking openly about supporting Cuomo or mouthing the words that they’re supporting Astorino, when everyone knows that behind the curtain, they’re doing deals with Cuomo.

“In the 40 years I’ve been watching politics in New York, I cannot remember a time when any political party has gotten into the bed with the flag carrier of the other party the way the Senate Republicans have this year.”

Among Republican senators Nojay accuses of cutting deals with Cuomo are Senate leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County, Deputy Leader Tom Libous of Binghamton, and Sens. Andrew Lanza of Staten Island and Greg Ball of Putnam County, both of whom recently hinted they’ll be endorsing the governor.