The American labor movement faces even harder times if the United States Supreme Court, as expected, rules in the Janus case that public employees who work in unionized positions do not have to pay union dues. “Nasty Andy” Cuomo, a Democrat running for reelection as New York Governor, and a man with Presidential ambitions, is using union fears to undercut progressive political opposition in the state.
As word leaked that the state’s Working Families Party (WFP), a progressive coalition with union backing that gave Cuomo its ballot line in gubernatorial elections in 2010 and 2014 was considering endorsing Cynthia Nixon, his opponent in the 2018 Democratic primary, “Nasty Andy” went on the offensive. Cuomo-aligned labor leaders who supported WFP in the past announced they were withdrawing their support and funding. United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew denounced the prospective endorsement, which was later confirmed, as “reckless” and the party’s state director as “delusional.” Cuomo’s allies apparently also threatened to withdraw financial support from any progressive groups in the state that remained connected to WFP, including groups that have championed a progressive agenda Cuomo claims to endorse.
“Nasty Andy” knows how to wheel-and-deal with the worst of them. Originally elected with a promise to clean up corruption in the state capital, he established an investigatory commission in July 2013, and then shut it down less than a year later. Cuomo’s actions became the subject of a federal investigation and a major issue in the 2014 gubernatorial election, which he won anyway. However, suspicions about the governor’s tolerance of corruption resurfaced when his former top aide was convicted of soliciting bribes in exchange for political favors.
Cuomo seems to be at his nastiest in a feud with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is close to Cynthia Nixon. The New York Times calls it America’s ugliest political feud. But of course this is not “Nasty Andy’s” first vendetta. In the past he has fought with former Governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson, both Democrats. Cuomo is known around the state is known for his “sharp elbows.”
Politically, Cuomo is two-faced. When he looks left he seems to be a progressive. He has supported calls to raise the minimum wage, ban fracking, bar assault weapons, waive college tuition for students from low-income families, protect Roe v. Wade, and legalize same-sex marriage. He even recently joined students in anti-gun protests. And after almost two terms in office, Cuomo decided the state infrastructure needs rebuilding and that “hate speech” is “un-American.”
But when he looks right, Cuomo’s a Trump Republican, just as nasty but with a longer attention span. While in office he empowered a block of “independent Democrats” who handed control over the State Senate to the Republican Party, creating a political stalemate that blocked progressive legislation he claimed to support. Cuomo’s budgets cut public spending and taxes on the wealthy and blacklisted groups that disagree with his policies. His upstate New York development plan fueled by tax write-offs for wealthy corporations, and promoted with tens of millions of state taxpayer dollars, produced only 408 jobs in two years. While “Nasty Andy” presents himself as a champion of public housing residents and subway riders, state funds allocated to improve conditions there often went undelivered.
The teachers’ unions’ backing off from the Working Families Party, which it originally supported, appears to be directly connected to the Janus case and a deal the union struck with Cuomo. In exchange for union support, Cuomo signed legislation that potentially will make it easier for public employee unions to recruit and retain members. Cuomo actually signed the legislation at a ceremony at the UFT’s Manhattan headquarters. The UFT is now considering supporting a new pro-Cuomo “party” to give “Nasty Andy” an additional ballot line in the November election and drive the knife deeper into Working Families.
The UFT deal with “Nasty Andy” is particularly puzzling because as Governor, Cuomo has strongly championed policies that unionized teachers strongly oppose. Cuomo, in alliance with wealthy hedge fund managers and Charter Queen Eva Moskowitz, has pushed for an increase in non-union, barely, regulated charter schools in the state and for the use of student scores on high-stakes standardized tests to evaluate teacher performance. Meanwhile his appointees on the SUNY Board of Trustees want to allow charter schools it accredits to hire uncertified teachers. It seems the UFT leadership sold out to Cuomo for very little.
“Nasty Andy” has presidential ambitions. That does not mean he has to act like Donald Trump.
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