Metro

Cuomo gear$ up for ‘mystery’ foe

Gov. Cuomo is aggressively raising cash for next year’s re-election campaign in order to head off a last-minute entry by a wealthy, self-funding GOP “mystery’’ candidate, not because he fears the current Republican field, The Post has learned.

Cuomo, who Friday revealed his war chest had reached nearly $30 million after having raised $6 million during the past six months, would easily defeat any of the three or four second-string candidates who GOP leaders say may challenge him next year, polls show.

But Cuomo, remembering the unexpectedly tight challenge his father, Mario Cuomo, faced from self-funded Rite-Aid megamillionaire Lewis Lehrman in his 1982 run for governor, is determined to prevent any similar challenge in 2014, sources said.

“The fund-raising is all about Andrew trying to keep a real challenger away. It’s insurance against a serious challenger next year,’’ said a senior Democratic consultant and longtime Cuomo associate.

State GOP Chairman Ed Cox has repeatedly hinted that there may be a wealthy “mystery’’ candidate willing to take on Cuomo next year, but he has refused to name any names.

Ironically, Cuomo’s aggressive fund-raising success comes as the governor claims to be committed to publicly financed campaigns in order to get “special interest money’’ out of New York’s elections.

He even named a Moreland Act commission to probe supposed corruption caused by campaign cash in the political process.

But virtually all of Cuomo’s contributors represent special interests, and many are Republicans looking to gain favor with the Democratic governor.

“There’s no Republican candidate, and I like to be on the good side of a governor if I can be,” said a prominent Manhattan business leader and longtime GOP contributor. “While I don’t like everything Andrew is doing, he’s going to be there another four years, and the actions he takes could effect me.’’

Cuomo’s aides, meanwhile, are gearing up for what they expect will be — absent the arrival of the “mystery’’ candidate — an easy coast to re-election next year on the strength of a strong New York City and suburban vote.

But Cuomo’s aides nervously concede that upstate voters are a major problem for the governor, with some predicting Cuomo will lose as many as 50 upstate counties because of an ailing economy, a worsening tax burden, and outrage over the governor’s sweeping anti-gun Safe Act, which passed in January.

There’s also concern among Cuomo aides that the governor’s administration has run out of steam.

They claim the governor has become increasingly focused on political gestures and gimmicky programs, such as his StartUp New York tax-incentive scheme and upstate casino gambling, rather than on policies like tax reductions, mandate relief, and government consolidations that have proven to work.

“People feel the governor’s ‘take-no-risk’ attitude is really hurting him,” said one disgusted insider.

“All we’ve got these days are the governor’s poll-tested messages and policies.’’

Insiders predict longtime Cuomo political aide Joseph Percoco, a deputy secretary to the governor, will leave the public payroll to run the re-election campaign, perhaps by late fall.

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State Operations Director Howard Glaser isn’t the only top Cuomo aide with a close family member on the payroll of a prominent lobbying firm.

Melissa DeRosa, hired in March by Cuomo as his $158,000-a-year communications director, is the daughter of Giorgio DeRosa, chief lobbyist at Bolton St. John, a Democratic-oriented firm with a long list of influential and well-paying clients.

“So you have Glaser’s wife and Melissa’s father both seen as having special access to the Cuomo administration,’’ said another prominent lobbyist — who admitted being resentful that rival lobbying firms had gained a competitive advantage.

The Post disclosed in May that Glaser’s wife, Washington-based lobbyist Karen Hinton, was hired at a substantial six figure salary by Mercury Public Affairs, a lobbying firm employing a number of former aides to Republican Gov. George Pataki.