Minor-party leaders change tune on Cuomo

Gov.Andrew M. Cuomo and the State Legislature shifted the tax landscape last week in a flurry of action. In turn, a couple of minor-party leaders shifted their public rhetoric about Cuomo and the legislature, in opposite directions.

Dan Cantor, executive director of the union-backed Working Families Party, had differed for most of the year with Democrat Cuomo, whom his party endorsed last year. Cantor urged extending a "millionaires" tax surcharge, called for a different approach to a property-tax cap, and supported Occupy Albany, which at times jeered Cuomo.

Last week, however, Cantor called the three-way legislative deal "a principled and historic accomplishment as it establishes again the importance of progressive taxation, fairness to the middle-class, working-class and poor, and economic growth."

Cuomo, meanwhile, said the "Occupy" movement had no role, saying at a news conference: "We didn't respond to protests last session . . . and we didn't this time."

To Cantor's right, Conservative Party chairman Michael Long said only last March of Cuomo: "My hope is that he continues to do exactly what he's doing when it comes to the economy, when it comes to the budget." Last week, however, Long blasted the deal hiking income-tax rates on some of the highest earners in the state while trimming rates for most others.

In an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), Long called any tax increase "a disservice" and wrote: "Job creation does not come to a state that continues to punish those who work hard to succeed."

Even omissions carry political meaning at times like this. In his praise of the deal, Cantor hailed Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), but didn't mention Skelos, who's seeking to defend a 32-30 majority next fall under new district lines -- a majority WFP activists will undoubtedly be working to help depose.

BACKING MITT: Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb (R-Geneva) on Friday declined to describe what GOP colleagues called a high-handed phone call he got from Cuomo pushing the tax deal last week. But Kolb did comment on the presidential race. He led a list of two dozen members of his Capitol caucus who endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, including Long Islanders Michael Montesano (R-Glen Head), Phil Boyle (R-Bay Shore), Al Graf (R-Holbrook), Dean Murray (R-East Patchogue), James Conte (R-Huntington Station) and Dan Losquadro (R-Shoreham).