Angry hecklers confront Cuomo in Harlem

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo went to Harlem Monday morning to decry what he called the "extremist" politics of Carl Paladino, but his own politicking in the neighborhood was cut short by hecklers who complained that Cuomo himself has been neglecting black voters.

Cuomo met with former state Comptroller H. Carl McCall, Rep. Charles Rangel and other black leaders three days after Elinor Tatum, publisher of the Amsterdam News, warned Cuomo in an open letter that he had been taking a crucial segment of his Democratic Party base for granted.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who had joined in that criticism, did not attend the meeting, at which the leaders cried foul over some of Paladino's more controversial policy proposals and racially offensive e-mails he had forwarded to friends. Those included one depicting President Barack Obama and his wife dressed as a pimp and a prostitute.

"I am insulted by the kind of gutter language coming out of Mr. Paladino's shop and out of his mouth," said Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP's New York chapter. "My issue for Mr. Cuomo was . . . what do you have to offer?"

The half-dozen campaign hecklers who converged on Cuomo at the 125th Street subway stop were partisans for City Councilman Charles Barron, who gathered some 43,000 signatures to run as a protest gubernatorial candidate on the Freedom line, out of frustration over an all-white statewide ticket he says has abandoned black voters.

Cuomo, said Barron, "better not come into the black community thinking you can put your little posters up and walk with a few black leaders and get the black vote - nor can you hide behind Paladino's racism. . . . I wouldn't give a vote to either one of these gentlemen," Barron told Newsday.

It's an unwelcome dynamic for Cuomo, who damaged his ties to New York's black establishment when he briefly challenged McCall for the Democratic nod in 2002. This week, with the departure of Rick Lazio from the race, Republicans and Conservatives are poised to unite behind Paladino. And though a Marist poll last week showed Cuomo 19 points ahead of Paladino, it also showed Republican voters are significantly more excited about voting in this election than Democrats are.

Dukes said she's determined to persuade her fellow black voters not to listen to Barron's advice this fall - but while she likes Cuomo's ideas, she needs his help selling them.

"What Ms. Tatum is saying is, 'Look, Andrew, come out of the Rose Garden, come back and tell the community what you're going to do,' " Dukes said. "Reach out to people and get moving."