Republicans have decided to make Mayor de Blasio and his “progressive’’ agenda of higher taxes and more spending the central theme of their campaigns against Gov. Cuomo and state Senate Democrats this fall.
The strategy, hammered out by party leaders in recent weeks and reinforced by private polling data, was set in motion late last week after de Blasio and Cuomo convinced the small but crucial Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which has governed the Senate for the past two years in a coalition with the GOP, to rejoin the regular Democrats’ ranks.
“It’s clear that Cuomo caved to Mayor de Blasio and the [leftist] Working Families Party and that re-electing Cuomo means imposing their agenda of taxes and spending on the entire state, and that’s a great issue for us,’’ one of the state’s top Republicans told The Post.
Senate insiders describe GOP leader Dean Skelos as initially “stunned’’ by Cuomo’s action in moving the IDC to the regular Democrats’ side, even though the governor vowed to do just that a month ago in exchange for the WFP’s endorsement.
“Skelos didn’t want to believe what Cuomo was doing. He didn’t want to face an obvious reality, until last week, when he didn’t have a choice any longer,’’ a longtime Senate Republican told The Post.
Skelos’ immediate reaction to Cuomo’s move was seen as weak and tentative, angering some of his fellow Republicans and raising questions in GOP circles as to his fitness to lead his members into the fall elections.
Just a week earlier, a top aide to Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive, publicly questioned Skelos’ fitness as the Senate GOP leader, calling him a “prison punk’’ for his continuing refusal to take on Cuomo.
But in the face of the growing criticism, Skelos (R-Nassau) abruptly changed his tune and launched his strongest attack ever on Cuomo — directly linking him to the “radical agenda’’ of de Blasio and the WFP.
“The most surprising thing in all of this is the governor’s total capitulation to the WFP and abdicating his position as the Number 1 Democrat in the state to Bill de Blasio,’’ said Skelos.
De Blasio “would become the de facto governor of the state’’ if Cuomo gets his way, Skelos said.
“This type of radical agenda that the Democrats . . . are promoting, that’s going to turn off people — whether that’s in upstate, the mid-Hudson area or Long Island,’’ Skelos continued.
Other Senate Republicans quickly jumped on the theme.
Sen. Phil Boyle (R-Suffolk) sent a fund-raising appeal a day after Skelos’ remarks contending that de Blasio “is pushing to have city Democrats seize control of the state Senate.’’
Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin (R-Rensselaer County) tweeted, “Hey @NYGovCuomo. I’m just wondering, who’s running NY? You or DeBlasio? No need to answer, it’s a rhetorical question.”
Some influential Democrats are wondering about the life expectancy of a key part of the deal to reunite the five-member Senate Independent Democrats with regular Democrats, who number 25.
The deal included a guarantee that IDC leader Jeff Klein, of The Bronx, would be “co-leader’’ with Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, of Westchester, assuming both are re-elected in November and the Republicans don’t win the majority.
“If the Senate Democrats get back in power with the IDC’s backing, they’ll simply pass the whole Democratic agenda and then dump Klein,’’ said a Democratic Party source.