Even before the Moreland Commission story broke last week, it was clear that there is no enthusiasm for Andrew Cuomo. Real support for him among real voters is amazingly shallow. The latest New York State campaign finance reports show how truly thin it is. Zephyr Teachout, Cuomo's last minute progressive challenger actually got more real people to give to her campaign than did Andrew Cuomo. From Teachout-Wu press release:
TEACHOUT BESTS CUOMO IN TOTAL NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL CAMPAIGN DONORS
by Laurin Manning
10sc
on July 16, 2014
New York, NY -- Today Zephyr Teachout, Democratic candidate for governor, released the following statement, announcing that over the past month, Teachout's campaign has garnered 818 contributions from individual donors -- 102 more donations than incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo's campaign reportedly collected from individuals in the last six months combined (716).
Teachout said:
"The reports show that in one month, more people contributed to my campaign than gave to Governor Andrew Cuomo in six months. The number of people—not corporations—shows grassroots excitement for our campaign and reflects a surprisingly weak showing for an incumbent governor who has spent millions on advertising.
"Governor Cuomo's millions come from corporations and wealthy donors. Our support comes from teachers, parents, and voters who want a governor to fight for traditional Democratic values.
What to make of a Governor with a huge amount of money, who
had good 'favorables' and yet gets virtually no individual donors?
His 'popular' support is ginned up. Voters tolerate him, based more on comparison with the embarassments of his predecessors than with any enthusiasm for the man or his policies.
The 'establishment' donates huge sums to him, currying lucrative favors.
But nobody really likes Andrew Cuomo. He's a paper tiger.
Now as the Moreland commission story drips on, are Andrew Cuomo's fellow Democrats coming to his defense? No.
No statements of support from any of the pols he's doublecrossed. Just silence. Has NYC Mayor de Blasio (whose progressive polices Cuomo attacked from the beginning of de Blasio's term) rallied to the Governor? No.
Has Dean Skelos, the Republican Senate Majority Leader - with whom Cuomo has forged four 'across the aisle' type budget deals rallied to Cuomo's support? No.
Has Sheldon Silver, the Democratic Speaker of the State Assembly spoken out for Cuomo? No.
Have NYS Comptroller di Napoli or NYC Attorney General Schneiderman commended Cuomo's handling of the Moreland Commission? No.
Of course Cuomo has a huge amount of money on hand. From the New York Times earlier this month:
He drew individual donations from a variety of real estate, financial and entertainment elites, including $40,000 from Michael Steinhardt, a hedge fund expert and philanthropist; $60,800, the maximum amount an individual could donate, from Ronald W. Burkle, the grocery store billionaire; and $25,000 from James L. Dolan, the chief executive of Cablevision.
He also got $60,800 from Stanley Druckenmiller, a charter school backer and former hedge manager, on March 4, the day the governor spoke at a pro-charter rally in Albany. By the end of the month, he had pushed through a bill giving charter schools in New York City some of the strongest protections in the country.
Who gives money to Cuomo? Businesses and business people.
Why do they give money to Cuomo? Because that is the cost of doing business.
Do they like Cuomo? There's no real evidence; they are just paying the freight.
He's the Governor of the one percent.
So while Cuomo registers good 'approvals' from NY voters, people aren't really enthusiastic about him. They won't give him a dime. Their inaction speaks louder than the polling. Nobody likes Andrew Cuomo.
Nobody really likes Andrew Cuomo. Not his fellow politicians, not the voters of New York State, not even his big donors. Maybe they fear him, maybe they respect him, maybe they do deals with him. But there's no enthusiasm.
The Moreland Commission scandal could cripple his candidacy. If he's the Democratic nominee (as seems likely, though less likely than two weeks ago) he could be in real trouble going into the general election.
Voters just kind of think he's not screwing up. So as news about this screw up spreads, his support will plummet.
Democrats have a choice, but they need to know. Zephyr Teachout is a longshot, but may turn out to be NY Democrats' best bet in November. I've seen her speak and she's good. Many will complain that she didn't come up through the machine, but Cuomo controls the machine right now, etc. etc.
Between Cuomo, herself and Republican Rob Astorino, Zephyr Teachout may be the smart choice.