BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | As the Democratic primary for governor headed into the homestretch, set for Tues., Sept. 9, Governor Andrew Cuomo and progressive challenger Zephyr Teachout both marched in the West Indian Day Parade on Labor Day.
Cuomo marched with the city’s leading progressive, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and his family — wife Chirlane McCray and children Chiara and Dante — who did their signature “smackdown” dance.
De Blasio, despite clashing with Cuomo earlier in the year over taxing the rich for pre-K funding, among other issues, has been supporting the governor’s re-election. Before Teachout entered the Democratic primary, the mayor backed Cuomo over her for the Working Family Party’s nomination. Insiders say de Blasio is just being politically expedient, in that, he knows Cuomo ultimately will win, and that they’ll have to work together for the next four years.
Meanwhile, Teachout marched with her running mate, Tim Wu, who is campaigning to be lieutenant governor. For her part, Teachout, at one point, impressively was dancing even though no music was playing. Talk about “dancing to a different drummer.”
On Tuesday, former Public Advocate Mark Green endorsed the Teachout-Wu ticket. A small group of press gathered outside the Municipal Building, on Centre St., for the announcement.
“Today I am endorsing two fellow progressive Democrats for governor and lieutenant governor,” Green said in his remarks. “At first I was content to sit on the sidelines as a commentator this summer, until I thought about Zephyr, who I’ve been impressed with since I heard her lecture about money in politics at the Brennan Center two years ago…and until I watched the governor run roughshod over the Moreland Commission, then refuse to debate her while disingenuously blaming someone by the name of ‘my campaign.’
“While the governor surely has accomplishments, I held him up to his own high standards of openness, progressiveness, reform…and held him up to the special progressive leadership our blue state has enjoyed, from Franklin Roosevelt to Pat Moynihan, Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer.
“I had hoped for a governor more principled than political, more candid than transactional, more progressive than hair-splitting,” Green said.
“True, as The New York Times editorial put it, Zephyr and Tim are inexperienced in official public office,” Green continued. “Experience in public office can certainly be a virtue. But there are times when experience takes a back seat to the kind of fresh idealism that can truly shake up politics-as-usual in Albany.
“Can a smart, progressive law professor do well in government? Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren seem to be doing fine. So I’m today endorsing Zephyr and Tim as ‘change we can believe in.’ ”
Green, who was the Big Apple’s first public advocate, added that if a split ticket is elected, with Cuomo and Wu winning, rather than Cuomo’s running mate, Kathy Hochul, it would be a situation that could work very well. In short, Wu could be a “statewide public advocate,” reviewing the performance of state agencies, as the public advocate does in New York City.
“Many pundits consider them Titanic underdogs,” Green said of Teachout and Wu. “But to quote our Lotto motto, ‘Ya never know.’ ”
In response to Green’s support, Teachout said, “I am proud to accept the endorsement of a great Democrat like Mark Green. We think we’re on the verge of a historic upset. The endorsements keep rolling in, and voters are excited about the prospect of electing our first female governor, and our first Asian-American ever to be elected statewide.”
Wu said, “We are honored to accept this endorsement. I hope to make the lieutenant governor office into a statewide public advocate position, and will be looking to Mark Green for guidance and support.”
As Green had mentioned, later that night Cuomo would indeed refuse to show up at NY 1’s TV studio to debate Teachout.
At the press conference, Teachout said she and Wu actually were considering debating each other, since New Yorkers deserve a debate and an airing of the issues. Meanwhile, Randy Credico, another candidate, blasted Teachout for not pushing to include him in the hoped-for debate, too.
On Wednesday, actor Mark Ruffalo — a staunch fracking opponent — joined representatives of the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter in announcing his backing of the progressive pair of candidates. Ruffalo applauded their call for a statewide ban on fracking.
“More than this just being a political endorsement of two candidates,” the actor said, “I’m endorsing the vision and policies that they are promoting for a statewide ban on hydrofracking and [their] drive to make New York State the renewable energy capital of the country.”
Ruffalo referenced the comprehensive scientific “compendium” that was recently authored by New York’s medical and health professionals, citing hundreds of studies and demonstrating water and air contamination across the country, public health impacts and the economic downsides and fallacies of fracking.
“Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu have reached this scientifically sound position that fracking must be banned and I’m proud to stand here with them in support,” he said.
Last week, as part of their “Whistleblower Tour,” Teachout and Wu visited a fracking site in Pennsylvania to see the shale-drilling method first-hand and talk to residents about their experiences living in the gas fields, where, they say, data just confirmed at least 243 cases of water contamination.
After Ruffalo’s remarks, Teachout said, “Mark is a thoughtful and passionate New Yorker who believes that all of New York State deserves to be safe from the dangers of fracking and that we should be leading the country in renewable energy — and we couldn’t agree more. And he’s the Hulk!”
Representatives from the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter were also present, highlighting their recent endorsement of Teachout and Wu.
The environmental group’s Roger Downs said, in a statement, “Like Mark, we’ve been inspired by the Teachout-Wu vision to rebuild New York through a robust, clean energy economy and reinvigorate a democracy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected. We look forward to working with Mark and so many New Yorkers who want to change history on Sept. 9.”
Fracking-impacted residents from Pennsylvania who met with Teachout and Wu on their recent tour of gas-field areas also came to the press conference to support them.
“The oil and gas industry is lying to the people of New York, just as they have lied to the people of Pennsylvania and every other state that has fracking,” said Ray Kemble, an ex-gas worker and affected resident from Dimock, Pennsylvania. “I came down to New York City today to tell the truth about what is happening to those of us on the front lines who have had our water and air poisoned and our communities made sick by this industry.”
On Aug. 28, Downtown Independent Democrats endorsed Teachout and Wu. In doing so, they joined the Village Independent Democrats, Coalition for a District Alternative and the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. D.I.D.’s endorsement was unanimous.
“Zephyr Teachout zeroes right in on issues of great concern to us: Fracking, government corruption, infrastructure investment, schools, natural resources, the business economy upstate and downstate,” a D.I.D. press release on the endorsement said. “Her legal and academic expertise are well-suited to the job at this time in our history. She is an expert on political corruption and antitrust/big bank issues. She’s clerked in the U.S. Court of Appeals, was a director in Howard Dean’s campaign, and was part of a foundation that focused on the role of money in politics and advocating for policy changes. She also hang-glides. We like the whole package.
“Timothy Wu has the attitude and forward voice to push New York State into the future,” the D.I.D. release continued. “He believes in open democracy as well as an open Internet. That works for us. His background is extraordinary, from antitrust issues to technology. He is the one who coined the term ‘’Net neutrality’! Timothy Wu is a…Harvard-educated lawyer, renowned author and fighter for the consumer.
“ ‘Zephyr’ is a word for a breeze or a light wind,” the D.I.D. release concluded. “Along with Timothy Wu, we need this fresh air in our government.”
Also endorsing Teachout were Paul Newell, a Lower East Side Democratic district leader, as well as a number of publications, including The Nation, Rochester City Newspaper, Metroland (Albany) and the Red Hook Star-Revue.
The New York Times didn’t endorse either Cuomo or Teachout, but hammered Cuomo for “hobbling” his own anti-corruption Moreland Commission’s activities, while adding that many voters might well see Teachout — a corruption fighter — as an attractive alternative. The main reason for the Times’s lack of an endorsement was Cuomo’s hypocrisy on the corruption issue, the paper said, since he came into office claiming to clean up Albany. His actions on the Moreland Commission — shutting it down early, and apparently trying to steer investigators away from looking at his own record — flew in the face of his own pledge, the Times said.
On the other hand, the state’s economy is doing well and Cuomo has whipped the State Legislature into shape in some regards, repeatedly bringing the budget in on time. He won gay marriage and passed the nation’s toughest gun laws. He stood up for charter schools — a hot-button issue — which many inner-city families feel offer their children a better education and a chance at a brighter future. Co-location remains the most fraught aspect of the ongoing charter school debate.
Teachout has also made campaign finance reform in Albany a campaign plank, and is a critic of the Common Core state-standards school curriculum.
In addition, both the Times and Daily News — which endorsed Cuomo — said Teachout lacks executive experience.
Asked by The Villager about her lack of either executive experience or a business leadership background, which the News also noted — for example, Mike Bloomberg ran a multinational corporation before becoming mayor — Teachout said that, in fact, one in 12 U.S. governors lack such executive experience. However, she countered, her experience as an educator and heading a good-government nonprofit group are just as valid qualifications. She is often retained as a consultant on startups for businesses and nonprofits, she added.
“I am very confident about my management ability,” she asserted.
Green also chimed in on Teachout’s behalf, noting, “Bloomberg made money — she made policy. [Mitt] Romney ran a big company,” he added. “But it’s obviously not the only consideration.”
The Times did endorse Wu over Hochul, though. Hochul has been criticized by liberals as being too conservative. When running for Congress Upstate, she was endorsed by the N.R.A. She supported weakening environmental protections in some areas, and voted against aspects of Obamacare, and opposed an initiative to allow undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses.
Reporters also asked Teachout about accusations that she recently ducked repeated opportunities on Fred Dicker’s Albany politics radio show to take a position on the recent Gaza war. At the time, Cuomo was in Israel on a tour to express his support.
In her most detailed response yet, she said on Tuesday, “New York has a very special relationship with Israel.”
New York has the world’s second largest Jewish population outside of Israel, she noted.
“As governor, it will be part of my job to be supportive of that relationship,” she stated.
Asked afterward in a follow-up question by The Villager about her position on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Teachout, said, “I’m not running for president. The way I feel is the way most New Yorkers feel — which is for peace and compassion.”
Taking a stance on Israel certainly risks alienating some left voters, similar to how Cuomo would lose some support if he were to make a decision on fracking before the primary. Currently, he continues to say the state is studying the health issues involved in fracking. State voters are estimated to be about evenly split on fracking.
