The Empire State’s politics have gone haywire as Andrew Cuomo joined New York City’s mayoral race. He is portraying himself as a tough on crime pragmatist — the type of centrist Democrats need to save New York City from its peril. Ironically, Cuomo himself is the architect of the city’s misery. Further, his salacious moral failures make his leadership credentials questionable.
Cuomo’s opponents bemoan his resurrection, but they should not despair — rather they must defeat him by quickly ending the public’s political amnesia and reminding them of Cuomo’s numerous egregious breaches of public trust.
Cuomo has made inroads in key Democratic constituencies like the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn and the Asian-American community in Queens. Further, organized labor is already endorsing him, representative of his historic strength with working-class voters.
On top of his support within key constituencies, Cuomo has name recognition few other candidates in the field possesses, allowing him to raise more funds than his opponents via New York City’s matching funds program. Further, he is backed by a dark-money super PAC. Thanks to Cuomo’s shrewd maneuvering, recent polling marks him as the clear favorite to win the Democratic primary, likely to make him the de facto mayor-elect. Cuomo is prepared to ride a wave of Democratic “pragmatism” back to Gracie Mansion.
On paper Cuomo is inevitable. But this doesn’t have to be so: The electorate just has to remember Cuomo’s many mis-steps.
Cuomo may be telling the public that he is tough on crime, but his record suggests otherwise. Cuomo supported the widely controversial bail-reform, allowing progressive district attorneys like Alvin Bragg to stop prosecuting criminals. Cuomo also supported the lesser known Discovery for Justice Reform Act in 2019.
This law has overburdened D.A. offices by requiring prosecutors disclose evidence to be used at trial within 20 days of an arraignment. If prosecutors fail to meet the deadline, the case is dismissed and the criminal walks free. This discovery reform has caused criminal case dismissals to increase from 44% to 69% across the city. Consequently, both reforms have resulted in rising crime, unsafe streets, and dangerous subways. Cuomo may claim to be “tough on crime” now, but he is directly responsible for New York City’s crime wave.
Cuomo left the governor’s office in disgrace after a series of scandals showed he was an inept executive. First, Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during COVID resulted in the needless deaths of thousands from COVID-19. His handling of COVID-19 was so poor that he altered reports to hide the death toll from the public.
Second, he used the COVID-19 vaccination sites to punish political opponents. Specifically, Cuomo’s vaccine czar called county executives to assess their loyalty to him before setting up vaccination sites in their counties. Counties with Republican executives were punished by receiving no vaccination site for months.
Finally, he rushed the construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge which resulted in broken bolts. Despite numerous warnings, Cuomo ignored engineers’ concerns, went ahead with construction, and attempted to cover it up by secretly replacing the defective bolts in a covert night operation akin to military action. Cuomo mismanaged the state as governor. Why should he be trusted to manage the city as mayor?
Cuomo didn’t just mismanage the state. He abused his office for personal gain. In 2021 it was revealed that Cuomo had aides work on his pandemic memoir. His abuse was so egregious that the state ethics board ordered him to forfeit his $5.1 million profit from the book deal. Cuomo is still being investigated for his abuse of office by the ethics commission — a commission that he recently tried to dismantle.
On top of Cuomo’s ethics fiasco, he also abused his office to sexually harass women. His misconduct included lewd comments, inappropriate grabbing of private areas, and non-consensual kissing. Cuomo only uses political office for personal gain instead of serving the public.
Fortunately for Cuomo, voters have short memories as they’re more concerned with current problems than past grievances. Because their lives are unaffordable, streets unsafe, and taxes are at record highs, New York City’s residents have forgotten Cuomo’s numerous misdeeds. Holding Cuomo accountable for his misconduct is the key to victory for any Cuomo opponent. Cuomo’s opponents must quickly remind voters of his political baggage and make him respond to the public’s concerns before it’s too late.
Silverstein is a J.D. candidate at Villanova University and a fellow with Villanova’s McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy.
