Peter Goodman here tells the sorry story of how Governor Cuomo won the endorsement of the Working Families Party by promising to act like a Democrat. For example, he promised to help Democrats gain control of the State Senate and to let localities raise the minimum wage, which are not big concessions from a Democratic governor.
On education, where Cuomo has governed as a conservative Republican, he promised nothing of substance. Districts are still stuck with a 2% tax cap, which requires a 60% supermajority to overturn; New York City still has the most charter-friendly legislation in the nation; the state will still have highly inequitable funding.
In his first appearance after the WFP victory, at a parade in Manhattan, Cuomo began hedging on the commitments he had made to the WFP.
He said, “Cuomo, who indicated he’d back the party’s goals of helping Democrats take back the State Senate and allowing localities to raise the minimum wage, downplayed the boos and heckling he received in absentia this weekend at the convention of the Working Families Party, whose union and progressive members have long grumbled about Cuomo’s fiscally conservative policies and working relationship with Republicans.
“It’s very simple at these political conventions: you either win or you lose. Uh, and I won, and I’m very happy to have their support,” he said.
In other words, the promises were strategic. He won. That’s all that matters.
To many progressives, Cuomo is Governor 1%. As Peter Goodman suggests, they have a choice: Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones of the Green Party.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Who cares what the W FP does? These are fringe lunatics left over from the 60s. They have no concrete platform. If they did, they would have nominated Diane or Weird Zephyr Rain.
Yeah, they’re so far out on the fringe they endorsed the mainstream, “centrist”, Republican-lite candidate. That’s pretty radical of them.
I think that anyone who believes a politician’s campaign promises is a fool twice over. Instead, ignore the promises and look at their track record.
NYSUT needs to endorse the Green Party!
Sad, but not surprising. I hope that New York’s voters go Green.
We face the same situation in Pennsylvania http://www.facebook.com/glover4governor
Paul, over the other two, is an easy choice. He doesn’t weigh and measure every single word and action, like a politician (yeah, I get the irony).
in a recent election in I believe, Syracuse, the Green candidate for city council stood a very good chance of winning. Until the Working Families Party got involved, muddied things up and the Democrat was elected.
I think that is their real reason for being. To protect Dems from candidates to left of them.
http://correntewire.com/democratic_implosion_in_new_york#comments
Yes Richard and, that City Council candidate is the very same Howie Hawkins who is now running for Gov. Howie In 2011 Hawkins received 48% of the vote, just 96 votes shy of winning. So when he ran again in 2013, WFP came in and worked against him so he received 40% of the vote.
WFP OPPOSES progressive candidates in favor of “machine” Democrats. Cuomo now makes that bald proof.
For future reference: Be on the lookout for UFT to abstain on the AFL-CIO of endorsement for Cuomo as endorsed Dem pres candidate.
UFT won’t vote against Cuomo. They will play Unity politics and abstain, making a way for Cuomo while being able to say, “We didn’t endorse him.” All a game.
By UFT I mean NYSUT. It’s all the same now. All Unity.
Haha! Howie’s running with Brain Jones; who is also a member of Unity’s opposition caucus in the union; MORE.
A major unity blogger just introduced his readers to a MOREista. I do so love New York politics.
AFT leadership are vultures picking the bones of their membership.
I hope every teacher, parent and concerned citizen in New York votes Green. Send a message to the two party system that humanity still matters.
We do have an alternative to endorsing a party that is not a faux democrat, who enjoys the tactics of the republicans, nor a 1%er-loving republican. The citizens of NYS can finally make political history.
It’s time to go GREEN!
Democrats are running on “public schools suck! privatize them all” and “wage stagnation is the fault of you mediocre and lazy middle class workers, so try harder”.
It’s awesome. I’m excited just thinking about voting for them.
They pay consultants millions of dollars to come up with these compelling messages.
Definitely vote 3rd party, preferably GREEN, and get your family and friends to do so, too. (Democrats tend to forget that for every teacher they trash, there are the teacher’s spouses, parents, grown children and friends who are also voters.)
But what is the deal with WFP? Are they taking money now from big business or their foundations, like the unions have?
WFP sold out all NY state progressives! WFP lost my support by either selling out to Governor 1%er or by being naive enough to believe Cuomo will actually in good faith carry out his “promises”! For the first time ever, I am voting GREEN
I’ve BEEN voting for the GREEN candidates, including the last Presidential election.
It’s NOT a “waste of your vote” . At the very least, if a substantial amount of voters vote Green, it will send a huge message to the Democrat and Republican party machines that we’re fed up with their politics as usual, designed to benefit only the politicians, and their respective political party.
WFP sold out all NY state progressives by putting Governor 1%er at the top of the ticket! WFP has now lost me as a supporter. The WFP is either corrupt by being bought off by a Koch supported puppet (Cuomo) or naive enough to believe Cuomo will keep his “promises”! So for the first time ever I am voting Green. And if they don’t have a candidate, I will vote the Dem line. I won’t vote on the WFP line until the WFP stands up for a true candidate for NY state, and not a plutocrat!
Green Party certainly does have a candidate. Howie Hawkins Gov and Brian Jones for Lt Gov who is part of the union’s opposition MORE caucus. Yes the Green Party is running a teacher.
I was referencing down ballot candidates. I know the Greens have a candidate for governor that is NOT that Koch puppet Cuomo!
It’s sad, in my book. The WFP was supposed to stand for something. Now, like the Liberal Party before it, it’s demonstrated it stands for nothing at all.
According to a number of commenters on this thread, the WFP now does worse than stand for nothing; like the Liberal Party – which it bumped off the ballot years ago – in its degenerate, Giuliani phase, it is being used to divert votes away from actual progressive candidates, and toward captive Democrats. And, sad to say, it’s the captive union leadership which forced that upon the party’s rank and file.
Worst if all, in the case of Cuomo, the WFP endorsed, not a closet Republican, but a Reptilian.
Not only the tax cap, but Cuomo has kept his Gap elimination on suburban districts lie my own, enpven when the state has a surplus. Because of The 2% cap & Gap elimination our working/middle class district has lost 30. No librarians, no computer teachers!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx What a bummer. I’m not a New Yorker, but I’ll have some choice words the next time “Working Families Party [NOT] shows up in my in-box.
I don’t care who my union endorses. I will not vote for Cuomo. I voted Green in the last presidential election bc of Arne Duncan. Obama wasn’t getting my vote bc of his educ secretary.
I just wrote a piece on why the WFP’s endorsement was a bad political move for progressives: http://34justice.com/2014/06/03/political-pragmatism-undermines-progressive-goals/. I’d love to hear the thoughts of anyone interested.
Ben, I read your critique of WFP and while I agree that it’s a bad move for progressives, WFP has always acted in this fashion. After they got the ballot line by endorsing Peter Vallone, a corporate conservative “machine” Democrat. You mention Kshama Sawant as a good example of someone who challenges the concept of electability. I’d agree as note in my comment on your blog. Sawant spoke in support of Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidates for Governor at a recent fundraiser.
The Green Party can also maintain its ballot line this election and has done so by running progressives on a ballot line that also runs local progressives and activists.
Kshama Sawant speaking in support of Hawkins.
Great post.