Andrew Cuomo isn’t an asshole who gets things done, he’s just an asshole
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Bill Clinton’s regrettable endorsement of Andrew Cuomo makes a familiar claim:
Mr. Clinton will use the robocall to tell voters that he hired Mr. Cuomo “because he knows how to get things done” and that they had worked together on homelessness and on improving “communities that had been left behind.”
“He’s a fighter who knows how to make government work, and at a time when our basic rights are under assault, I know he’ll stand up and protect the people of this city,” Mr. Clinton says in the recording.
This is typically the defense of politicians with no principles who have also committed personal offenses that should be in themselves disqualifying in a Democratic primary — “whatever you think of him, he gets things done.” The only problem is that Cuomo has a track record, and it’s not true. He even wants to roll back New York City’s entry into the 20th century by limiting its containment of garbage!
The bill of particulars against him is much larger:
Last but not least, you should rank Zohran because he’s not Andrew Cuomo. While Andrew Cuomo’s campaign is centered around this image of stability and competence that he is trying to build, that reputation is simply not aligned with reality. I know people who worked in Albany during Cuomo’s tenure who say he is the worst manager they have ever dealt with, as he had zero understanding of policy and simply sought the limelight at all times. Moreover, I have friends in City Hall who are expecting a mass exodus of talented bureaucrats if Cuomo wins, precisely due to his “intolerable” management style, as former MTA subway chief Andy Byford described it. Here are all of the specific reasons I am not ranking Andrew Cuomo:
Attorney General Tish James conducted an independent investigation finding that Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women while Governor, including his own assistants, state troopers, and private citizens at various events….
- Despite his reputation of “getting stuff done”, most of Cuomo’s big projects have been boondoggles, specifically:
- The Second Avenue Subway, which was the most expensive subway project in the world and took resources away from day-to-day maintenance, contributing to the subway Summer of Hell.
- Cuomo pushed the “Worst Transit Project in the US”, a backwards Airtrain to LGA that was thankfully cancelled by Governor Hochul.
- Cuomo forced the NY Power Authority to spend over $100 million on decorative bridge lights that were rarely used and auctioned off for pennies.
- Cuomo forced the MTA to spend $30 million on re-tiling the East River tunnels because he thought blue and yellow stripes looked cool (I wish I was making this up).
- More broadly, Cuomo mismanaged the MTA. He secretly pulled millions in MTA funding to bail out upstate ski resorts, he asked Elon Musk for help fixing the system, and negotiated wasteful contracts with the unions, resulting in the MTA’s highest-in-the-world labor costs.
- Cuomo is an awful manager. He forced out the hugely successful MTA subways head, Andy Byford, because he was jealous that Byford was getting positive press. His micromanaging of Moynihan Train Hall was so intolerable that the project manager, Michael Evans, tragically committed suicide. Even his own campaign has been full of management struggles, including illegal coordination with his superPAC, paperwork errors, and using ChatGPT to write his housing policy.
- In his decade as Governor, NYC’s housing crisis spiraled out of control, and yet, Cuomo did not pass or even propose a single major zoning reform bill. This is in contrast with Governor Hochul proposed an ambitious pro-housing reform package and was able to pass significant elements of it such as eliminating the FAR cap, a state law that artificially limited the density of housing built in NYC. Furthermore, Cuomo has opposed building more housing in many rich, low-density parts of New York City.
- Despite claiming to be the “best candidate to take Trump on”, Cuomo’s history as governor is one of empowering Republicans. Cuomo supported the “Independent Democratic Conference”, a splinter group of conservative Democrats who handed control of the state Senate over to Republicans. Additionally, Cuomo appointed Republicans to New York’s highest court, where they issued rulings aligning with the conservative majority on the Supreme Court in D.C. Finally, one of Cuomo’s biggest backers is hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, well known for his constant support of Donald Trump.
Any one of these subcategories should be disqualifying in a primary with numerous acceptable or better candidates.And in particular the idea that he’ll stand up to Trump is absurd — if there’s anything that defines his political career it’s his intense desire to collaborate with and empower Republicans. If you have a vote in NYC, however you want to rank Lander/Mandami/Myrie/Adams, the most important thing is to not rank Cuomo under any circumstances.