Ouch:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/...
The New York Times editorial board said Tuesday that it would not re-endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the upcoming Democratic primary.
The Times made clear that it was abstaining from extending Cuomo its endorsement for a second term because he had failed in his self-described primary goal of fighting corruption in the state.
An exhaustive Times investigation published in July found that Cuomo's office had interfered with the ethics commission that he set up in 2013 to ferret out corruption in the state legislature. At one point, according to the Times, a top Cuomo aide told the commission to back off as they probed a media firm that claimed Cuomo himself as his top client.
Cuomo's office has adamantly denied the allegations. But the commission was disbanded in March without any major legislation being passed, and a federal prosecutor is now investigating whether there was any misconduct by the Cuomo administration.
The Times endorsed Cuomo in both his 2006 run for attorney general and his first race in 2010 to become governor. In the 2010 endorsement, the newspaper highlighted Cuomo's pledge to focus on ethics. "Mr. Cuomo acknowledges that his foremost task is restoring trust and transparency to Albany, and the sections on ethics reform are the most impressive in his briefing books," it wrote at the time. - TPM, 8/26/14
Here's what the NYT editorial board had to say:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Mr. Cuomo became governor on that platform and recorded several impressive achievements, but he failed to perform Job 1. The state government remains as subservient to big money as ever, and Mr. Cuomo resisted and even shut down opportunities to fix it. Because he broke his most important promise, we have decided not to make an endorsement for the Democratic primary on Sept. 9.
His opponent in the primary is Zephyr Teachout, a professor at Fordham Law School who is a national expert on political corruption and an advocate of precisely the kind of transparency and political reform that Albany needs. Her description of Mr. Cuomo as part of a broken system “where public servants just end up serving the wealthy” is exactly on point, but we decline to endorse her because she has not shown the breadth of interests and experience needed to govern a big and diverse state.
Why endorse no candidate in a major state primary? Here’s how we see it: Realistically, Governor Cuomo is likely to win the primary, thanks to vastly greater resources and name recognition. And he’ll probably win a second term in November against a conservative Republican opponent. In part, that’s because issues like campaign finance rarely have been a strong motivator for most voters. Nonetheless, those who want to register their disappointment with Mr. Cuomo’s record on changing the culture of Albany may well decide that the best way to do that is to vote for Ms. Teachout. Despite our reservations about her, that impulse could send a powerful message to the governor and the many other entrenched incumbents in Albany that a shake-up is overdue. - New York Times, 8/26/14
If you would like to get involved with Zephyr Teachout's (D. NY) campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.teachoutwu.com/