ALBANY — With a huge assist from Mayor de Blasio, Gov. Cuomo secured the nomination of the tiny but influential Working Families Party on Saturday — but not before the liberal party’s grassroots activists vented their frustration with the incumbent Democrat during a raucous convention.
Cuomo won the nomination after signing off on a more liberal agenda than he had previous embraced and promising to up-end the current leadership of the state Senate, all key priorities of the lefty third party.
The governor received 58.7% of the vote at the party’s convention after nearly three hours of debate in which many of the party’s grassroots vigorously fought for upstart candidate Zephyr Teachout. They pilloried Cuomo as a pawn of big business and the rich.
“He got his four years … no more,” said Bertha Lewis, as she formally nominated Teachout. She slammed Cuomo for cutting funds for education, favoring charter schools and privatization.
The Working Families Party is composed largely of labor union members and liberal activists. Cuomo received 154,835 votes on the party line in 2010, but many in the WFP now believe his policies have veered to the right.
Despite a tentative deal reached Friday night between Cuomo and party leaders, the nomination vote was expected to be so close that de Blasio — who over the last week helped broker the agreement — made a last-minute trip to Albany to push for Cuomo.
“I believe we can form this coalition and win with it,” he said.
The governor did not attend but sent along a video and addressed the delegates via telephone hookup — which added to the annoyance of many in the crowd. He was booed loudly when his video started.
Cuomo called for hiking the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, passing the DREAM Act, enactment of a statewide system to publicly fund campaigns and a Democratic takeover of the state Senate — all key issues in the deal between Cuomo and party leaders.
Party leaders said the governor’s call for a higher minimum wage and Democratic control of the state Senate were critical parts of the deal, but just as important were pledges by de Blasio and labor unions that the governor would keep his promises. The unions and Cuomo also vowed to provide up $10 million for Democratic Senate campaigns, sources said.
“The unions and the mayor are the holder of the promissory note,” said one party official.
Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos slammed Cuomo’s deal with the WFP and accused the governor of turning his back on four years of bipartisan cooperation.
“The scandal-scarred Working Families Party shouldn’t be holding elected officials hostage in exchange for an endorsement, legislation and money,” Skelos said. “The Working Families Party is bad for taxpayers and it’s bad for New York.”
In contrast to Cuomo, Teachout was cheered loudly when she took the stage at the convention. She called for greater income equality and a more open democracy.
“My goal is to launch a new argument about what kind of New York, what kind of America we want to live in,” she said.
Even with the nomination, Cuomo faces problems on the left as many within the party remain bitterly frustrated with the governor and unlikely to support his re-election.
“I consider it an absolute travesty,” said party member Bradley Russell. 42, who arrived at the convention with a poster showing Cuomo as Napoleon.
“He is anything but a progressive candidate,” Russell said. “I absolutely will not vote the Working Families Party line for years to come.”
Teachout, a Democrat, also said she may mount a primary campaign against Cuomo for the Party’s nomination, which Cuomo won earlier in May.
“I would love to seek the Democratic Party nomination and I will seriously consider whether I have the resources to be able to do that,” Teachout said.
The discord on the left is good news for Cuomo’s Republican opponent, Rob Astorino, who received the Conservative Party nomination on Saturday.
