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Is Cuomo deal with Working Families Party good for upstate?

Ryan Delaney
/
WRVO
Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (file photo)

The fallout from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new alliance with the progressive Working Families Party continues at the state Capitol, with those who say they represent upstate interests dismayed at the development.

Brian Sampson, with the business friendly group Unshackle Upstate, had planned to begin his organization’s final push on several items they wanted to see passed in the legislature. But he arrived at the Capitol just after Cuomo struck a deal with the progressive Working Families Party to help Democrats take over the state Senate.

He says now he is not optimistic about any action in the final days of the session.  

“After the weekend, you would certainly think that there’s not a lot that’s going to get done,” Sampson said.

Sampson says if the Senate changes hands from the current coalition of Republicans and moderate Democrats, then it will be more difficult to achieve the passage of bills to repeal some state regulations. They include what’s known as the Scaffold Law, that Sampson says favors workers who claim injuries over businesses, and renewal of the state’s brownfields law, which governs clean up and reuse of polluted industrial sites.

He says his group is also against some measures that could be more likely to pass, including public campaign financing, and a higher minimum wage in some cities in New York.    

“It’s incredibly concerning,” Sampson said. “It’s a dramatic turn for this governor and I think it’s a dramatic turn for upstate New York."

He says the Working Families agenda does not align well with the Unshackle Upstate agenda.

“I think they’re diametrically opposed,” he said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman John DeFrancisco, a Republican from Syracuse, says there’s no question that the interests of moderate to conservative upstate residents will not be well represented if Cuomo follows through on his pledge to retake the Senate for Democrats. He gives as an example the last time the Democrats held the Senate earlier in this decade.

“In 2009 and 2010, everything was New York City,” DeFrancisco said. “We had $14 billion in new taxes in two years, and $14 billion in additional spending.”

DeFrancisco says the legislature in those years approved a bailout for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, but did not provide any funds to repair roads and bridges upstate.   
 

Credit Karen Dewitt / WRVO
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WRVO file photo
Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Democratic Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who was not in power during that era, says that’s not true and the composition of the Democrats is different now. She says there are a greater number of upstate Democrats now than when the party was in power the last time. She says, for example, Democrats would like to work with Cuomo to continue his regional economic development councils that receive grants for local job creation projects.

“There’s no one size fits all,” said Stewart-Cousins, who also said she wants to bolster all regions of the state.

It’s unlikely, though, that any priorities for business groups, upstate residents or progressives will get done in the next few weeks. The current GOP co-leader of the Senate, Dean Skelos, says it will be difficult to achieve any major agreements, now that the governor has begun the political season early.

In the meantime, Stewart-Cousins says she’s talked to Cuomo about his pledge to help Democrats retake the State Senate.

She says Cuomo reassured her of his dedication to ending the current Senate leadership of Republicans and breakaway Democrats, which Cuomo announced during a deal to win endorsement for reelection from the left-leaning Working Families Party.
 

Democratic Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins prepares for an interview with New York State Public Radio & Television
Credit Matt Ryan, New York Now

“I did not feel that I had to press him,” said Stewart-Cousins, during an interview with New York State Public Radio and Television. “He called to talk about his pledge and talk about how we’re going to govern.”

She says discussions focused on what might be accomplished during the final days of the legislative session. The governor has promised he’ll try to convince the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference to rejoin the rest of the Democrats. Stewart-Cousins does not think that will happen anytime soon, though.

She does not rule out allowing the IDC senators to play a role in running the Senate in the future if Democrats regain the majority.

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau Chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 public radio stations in New York State. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.