Joseph Spector

Albany bureau chief http://rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/

ALBANY — In a new ad, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign touts his bipartisan relationship with the state Legisla­ture.

“When he took office he faced a bro­ken government and a state in crisis, then Andrew Cuomo went to work — getting Democrats and Republicans to work together,” the ad starts.

That may be changing.

The Democratic governor on May 31 vowed to push out a bipartisan coali­tion running the Senate in exchange for the nomination of the union­backed Working Families Party.

Cuomo has since softened the edict — but what direction he takes could have major implications on what hap­pens at the Capitol if he’s re-elected in November.

Already, Cuomo’s comments to the Working Families Party have led nego­tiations to be scrapped on public fi­nancing of campaigns, strengthening abortion rights and providing tuition assistance to illegal im­migrants. The legisla­tive session ends June 19 .

And Cuomo’s Repub­lican opponent Rob As­torino, the Westchester County Executive, has seized on the remarks, saying Cuomo wants to align himself with a fringe, left-wing party.

Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said he hopes Cuomo was sim­ply offering political rhetoric. Republicans share control of the Sen­ate with the five-mem­ber Independent Demo­cratic Conference.

“We’ve had a great working relationship,” said Libous, one of Cuo­mo’s closest Senate con­fidants. “He’s touting us in his ads, and I think at the end of the day, he’ll realize that working with a Republican/IDC coalition is much better than the 2009-2010 alter­native” when Democrats held the majority.

But Democrats are em­boldened by Cuomo’s comments. They are ea­ger to win back the Senate majority in November, and Democrats are ex­pected to force primaries against at least some of the IDC members.

Democrats won a ma­jority in the 2012 elec­tions, but were usurped by the IDC’s alliance with Republicans in January 2013.

“My expectation is that (Cuomo) will continue to do exactly what is he do­ing: pushing progressive initiatives as he works to make New York better,” said Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers. “And he knows he will have willing-and-able partners in a Senate Democratic majority.”

In his video address to the Working Families Par­ty, Cuomo expressed frus­tration that public financ­ing, the so-called Dream Act for illegal immi­grants and a stronger abortion-rights law as part of a Women’s Equal­ity Act has stalled in the Senate. He said none of those measures are expected to pass this year. The bills are top priorities for the small, but influential Working Families Party, along with a minimum wage increase. The Senate leaders “said none of the items would pass because the leadership of the Conser­vative Party forbid it,” Cuomo said. “Well, the simple truth is to make this agenda a reality, we must change the Senate leadership.”

But Cuomo since then has touted his relation­ship with Republicans.

“The lack of partisan­ship in Albany is some­thing I’m very proud of, and Democrats, Republi­cans – we’re New Yorkers first,” Cuomo said Wednesday in Rochester. “And that’s how I govern, and that’s what’s turning this state around, and I’m not going back.”

Republicans criticized Cuomo’s comments, say­ing he is flip-flopping.

“So which is it, gover­nor?” the state GOP said in a statement Thursday. “Andrew Cuomo is trying to have it both ways, play­ing to his liberal base downstate while feigning bipartisanship upstate.”

Some upstate Republi­cans senators said they are hopeful that Cuomo doesn’t embrace the New York City-based Working Families Party’s agenda. Cuomo has prided him­self on being fiscally moderate — such as lim­ited state spending and tax cuts — but socially lib­eral, such as passing same-sex marriage in 2011. “We’ve certainly tried to work in a bipartisan manner with the gover­nor, and I hope that con­tinues, but he apparently sold out in a big way to earn that line,” charged Sen. Thomas O’Mara, R-Big Flats, Chemung Coun­ty.

Libous said upstate would be hurt by the Working Families Party agenda. “Those policies would destroy what’s left of up­state New York. We need jobs in upstate New York,” Libous said. “Tax­es don’t create jobs, and that’s really contrary to where the governor has been.” Sen. David Valesky, D-Syracuse, an IDC mem­ber, said he doesn’t think Cuomo will lose his focus on the upstate economy, which has been a top pri­ority for the governor.

“We’ve worked very closely together. We have all worked in a bipartisan fashion extremely well,” Valesky said. “I think we’ll continue in one way, shape or form to do that.”

Proponents of the Working Families Party agenda said a Democrat­ic- led Senate would lead to a higher minimum wage, which won’t go to $9 an hour until the end of 2015; businesses oppose it. Party leaders argue that public financing sys­tem of campaigns would foster less corruption and more competitive elec­tions; critics disagree.

In the Working Fam­ilies Party deal, Cuomo committed to a $10.10 an hour minimum wage and to allow local govern­ments to increase it inde­pendently by up to anoth­er 30 percent.

Karen Scharff, a co­chair of the Working Fam­ilies Party and executive director of Citizen Action, said she’s confident that Cuomo will stick to his word. “He committed to ex­actly that and he hasn’t changed that in any of his comments,” Scharff said of Cuomo’s agenda. If Cuomo aggressively seeks to oust Republicans and IDC members in the elections, it could lead to a fierce battle in November for control of the Senate.

Cuomo in January had $33 million in his cam­paign coffers, and unions said they will work with the governor to build their own warchest. There has been specula­tion about a $10 million fund. Sen. David Carlucci, D-Clarktown, Rockland County, is expected to face a primary after he failed to win the county’s Democratic endorsement last month. Carlucci, an IDC member, said he’s prepared for a primary.

“My goal is to make sure that we continue to put policy above politics,” Carlucci said. “When the dust settles after the elec­tion, we’ve got to focus on governing.”

JSPECTOR www.twitter.com/gannettalbany