Mixed messages
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
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Talking Point
Cuomo sends a message
Polling shows that President Donald Trump’s harsh family-separation policy has made almost all New Yorkers crazy, an anger Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo hopes will motivate party activists to vote for him in September’s Democratic primary against Cynthia Nixon.
His campaign recently dropped a statewide mailer to registered Democrats, a number in the hundreds of thousands, according to the state’s Board of Elections. It features the now-iconic photo of a young Honduran girl crying while her mother is patted down by U.S. Border Patrol agents. It turned out that Sandra Sanchez and her daughter Yanela, the toddler in the red sweater, were not separated. Instead, they were taken into custody together. Still, the photo went viral — readily evoking Trump Derangement Syndrome — and Cuomo is layering on it.
“New York will not remain silent,” the mailer reads. Beneath that line is a caption that says, “Experienced Leader. Fighting Trump.”
Cuomo is attempting a tricky double play, simultaneously trying to portray a softer side that appeals to women voters but also making it clear he’s the tough guy you’d want carrying a knife into a fight with Trump.
Rita Ciolli
Quick Points
Uncertain times
- After Sen. John McCain announced Friday that he was stopping treatment for brain cancer, Arizona politician Kelli Ward, who lost the 2016 Senate primary to McCain and was starting a statewide bus tour Friday for the seat now held by the retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, said McCain’s family timed the announcement to hurt her campaign. No, Ward did that all by herself.
- Catholics in Ireland gave Pope Francis a lukewarm reception on his visit there despite his promise to rid the church of the “scourge” of sexual abuse. Actually doing something to rid the church of sexual abuse might have led to a warmer reception.
- A study by three economists from Sweden and the United States found that lottery winners are substantially happier than lottery losers. They needed to do a study to figure that out?
- President Donald Trump nixed a plan by White House officials to release a statement calling John McCain a “hero” after the Arizona senator died. That would not have been fake news.
- Russia has offered to host peace talks to end the war in Afghanistan. On the subject of credentials, Russia can offer its deep experience — its invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the estimated 562,000 to 2 million civilians killed in the ensuing war, the millions of Afghans who fled as refugees, its withdrawal nine years later, and the fall three years after that of the government it had backed.
- Here’s Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Our nation is indeed at a crossroads. Will we pursue the search for truth or will we dodge, weave and evade the truth? I am of course referring to the investigation into serious allegations of illegal conduct by the president of the United States that the president has engaged in a persistent pattern and practice of obstruction of justice. The allegations are grave, the investigation is legitimate and ascertaining the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the unqualified, unevasive truth is absolutely critical.” The year was 1998, and McConnell spoke about the Whitewater investigation of President Bill Clinton. It’d be nice to hear McConnell speak the same words today.
Michael Dobie
Daily Point
Testing the waters
Last week, the New York Republican Party sent out an email with this message: “Tell Us — Is Governor Cuomo Dishonest? Make sure to fill out our survey and let us know! Your answers will help us knock Governor Cuomo and his corrupt crew out of office.”
Clicking on the link leads to a Survey Monkey list of eight questions. The purpose is most likely not to find out whether the vast preponderance of the GOP’s mailing list opposes Andrew M. Cuomo (that’s kind of a gimme), but to determine which Cuomo-related scandals play best.
The first two questions are scene setters, asking whether respondents have “heard about the corruption convictions of Governor Cuomo’s top aides and associates?” and whether they “think corruption is a problem in New York State government?”
Then come the nitty-gritty test phrasings:
- “. . . corrupt deals inside Cuomo’s Administration has cost billions that could have gone to fund our schools, fix our roads and bridges or cut taxes.”
- Should “Cuomo’s top adviser and self-described brother Joe Percoco” have to disclose who is funding his high-priced legal talent?
- “Do you think Cuomo and Percoco should be investigated and prosecuted for” allegations that Percoco did campaign work from the administration’s state offices?
- “Do you think he [Cuomo)] should refund taxpayers the $200,000 from his more than $30 million campaign account” used to fight a lawsuit over a blocked Freedom of Information request of emails from The New York Times?
Tasked with an uphill battle against Cuomo, the state GOP has to find the best possible path up the mountain. Part of that strategy includes the choice of Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro to run, based on the idea that while neighboring former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino lost to Cuomo by 14 percentage points in 2014, that’s a lot better than upstate hard-line conservative Carl Paladino’s 30-point drubbing in 2010.
Lane Filler
