Republican business mogul John Catsimatidis is vowing to help bankroll efforts to revive the defunct Liberal Party and possibly have Democratic Gov. Cuomo run on its ballot during his re-election bid this fall, The Post has learned.
Liberal Party organizers endorsed Catsimatidis’ Republican candidacy for mayor last year, and he promised to provide funding to help gather voter signatures to qualify it to reappear on the statewide ballot this fall, party sources said.
“Catsimatidis will help us. We are on the same page,” said Liberal Party Executive Director Martin Hassner.
Catsimatidis confirmed that’s the case.
“I told them if they need me in the future, let me know. The Liberal Party could be a force,” he said. “They need leadership and they need money.”
Joe Lhota defeated Catsimatidis, owner of Gristedes supermarkets, in the GOP mayoral primary last year.
Although a Republican whose daughter, Andrea, is married to Chris Cox, son of the head of the state GOP, Ed Cox, Catsimatidis is backing Cuomo’s re-election and suggested that the governor would be a strong standard-bearer for the Liberal Party.
“I think it would be good for the governor. I think it would be good for the Liberal Party,” he said.
The Liberal Party was once a major force in state politics, helping elect Mario Cuomo governor and Rudy Giuliani mayor.
But the party lost its ballot status in 2002. It backed Andrew Cuomo for governor that year, but he pulled out of the race and endorsed Carl McCall to be the Democratic Party nominee. The Liberal Party then failed to attract 50,000 votes to automatically keep its ballot status.
Meanwhile former Liberal Party boss Ray Harding was engulfed in a pay-to-play pension scandal involving the state Comptroller’s Office. He cooperated in the case against then-Comptroller Alan Hevesi and pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of corruption. Harding died in 2012.
Meanwhile, the relatively new Working Families Party, which was founded by union leaders and labor activists, has become a powerful force on the political left.
Hassner insisted the Liberal Party will have the resources to gather enough signatures to qualify for ballot status again.