This article by Ross Barkan reminds us of why Andrew Cuomo never won the hearts of progressives and never will. He really is not a progressive, and he has many tricks up his sleeve to prevent unified Democratic control of the Legislature. He is now playing urban Democrats against suburban Democrats. He will pull any trick to foil his arch-enemy Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City. He persuaded suburban Democrats to pledge unity, based on the phony claim that the Big City doesn’t pay its “fair share” of the costs of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. As the article shows, NYC does pay a fair share, and Cuomo likes to pretend he is not in charge of the agency, which is currently struggling with an aging infrastructure and poor service. Fixing it is Cuomo’s job, but he is a shirker.
Correction: New York State teachers’ union did not endorse Cuomo or anyone else on the Democratic primary. However, it remains a fact that Cuomo has repeatedly insulted teachers and imposed a draconian (and failed) teacher evaluation plan. Cuomo still loves charter schools because they are the hobby of Wall Street, and their billionaire backers support Cuomo.
He periodically reminds us who he is and what he cares about.
Off topic- Koch-funded ALEC must be so proud of its Indiana Speaker of the House. He spent $40,000 to get dirt on (and, silence from?), a former intern with whom he allegedly had consensual sex. So, of course, he was the Republican’s selection for the guy to write the sexual harassment policy for the House.
Source: widely reported in media including the IndyStar
Cuomo has always been “Republican lite.” He’s a favorite of hedge fund managers everywhere.
looking to his own profits: always the surest sign of poor public policy judgement
This last paragraph describing Cuomo :
Cuomo has insulted teachers. Cuomo still loves charter schools because they are the hobby of Wall Street, and their billionaire backers support Cuomo–
also describes the RI Wall St equity capitalist anti-retiree/pensioner anti-teacher gina raimondo who also got a NEA teacher endorsement recently. She, too, is a charter supporter closeted Republican multi- millionaire who spent 10 years in NY prior to financially raping the RI pension system with her draconian pension reform of 2011 and whose campaign funds (70% are from out of state sources) come from Wall St…She like Cuomo is a favorite of hedge fund investors….Ask John Arnold who gave her a half billion for her campaigns…
I don’t like Cuomo and supported Nixon.
He is a pure fraud. But while he is a fraud, let’s clarify something about NYC taxes.
New York City does not pay its fair share of taxes in general: Wall Street is not better regulated by NYS (that is partially Albany’s fault) and folks buying tiny one bedroom apartments for $1.7 million or townhouses for $29 million don’t pay property taxes equivalent to the suburbs. Their NYC income taxes are a joke because individuals and companies find all sorts of loopholes and write-offs, many of whom are entrepreneurs and mid-size companies, to lower that as well.
Developers have had a feast with tax credits to build more luxury housing and force middle income people out of the city.
No, NYC does NOT pay its fair share of taxes . . . .
And I won’t say that there isn’t any bad fat in the MTA that needs to be cut out as a result of price gouging and corruption, but in Europe one says, “That’s how much it costs . . . ” while in the USA, we say, “That COSTS so much!”, which is why the French public transportation system al over is vastly superior to that in America.