ATOP Assembly Democrat is the first victim of the bitter, behind-the-scenes struggle between Comptroller Carl McCall and HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, in an unprecedented move, has made Assembly Majority Leader Michael Bragman of Syracuse “persona non grata” because of his efforts to help McCall win their party’s nomination for governor, Democratic sources told The Post.
Silver, officially neutral in the ongoing scramble between McCall and Cuomo to line up support for the 2002 election, was described as furious when Bragman, officially his No. 1 assistant, began aggressively supporting McCall without checking with him first — at a time when more important elections are on the horizon.
Bragman’s efforts have put him in the penalty box with Speaker Silver and with Democrats from Washington to Albany to Buffalo to New York City.
Bragman’s “ill-advised effort for a campaign that is 2½ years away is dividing the Democratic Party, pitting Democrat against Democrat, at a time when he should be focusing as a leader of the Assembly on electing Assembly members in November, on getting Hillary elected, and on making sure the White House remains in Democratic hands,” a powerful party official said.
Bragman, who is widely seen as the most powerful upstate Democrat, has long harbored hopes of succeeding Silver as speaker.
But he will now find it difficult, if not impossible, to win Silver’s backing for major political favors –including program initiatives and patronage hirings.
He’s also likely to be shunned from political events that are under Silver’s control.
Silver’s action comes at a time when many leading Democrats, including Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) and City Comptroller Alan Hevesi, are lining up behind McCall.
But Cuomo has also begun to gather support. And while Silver and many of his allies, including Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chairman Herman “Denny” Farrell — the Manhattan Democratic chairman — remain officially neutral, many close to them are known to favor Cuomo.
Meanwhile, senior Democrats believe that Cuomo will face some stiff party resistance if he decides to run for governor in 2002 because of continuing resentment over what they call former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s heavy-handed treatment of Democratic activists.
“If no one runs against Andrew Cuomo in 2002, I’ll primary him myself,” Mayor Joseph DeStefano of upstate Middletown told The Post.
“The Cuomo people have damaged the whole party. The Cuomos are only for the Cuomos.”
Many state Republicans privately concede that Gov. Pataki had his worst week ever last week.
He was hammered nationally for his support of New York’s exclusionary election laws, and was embarrassed locally for his bitter and damaging feud with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.)
Pataki also contributed to his problems by refusing all week to explain his positions to the press — a decision that insiders blamed on the governor’s own “fury” over his deteriorating public image.
“It’s like Pataki made a mess of everything,” said one of the state’s most influential Republicans.
“He undermined George W. Bush by turning John McCain into a sympathetic figure, and he’s fighting with — and working to undermine — Bruno, who is as loyal a Republican as anyone can find.
“Maybe Pataki really is a secret Democrat.”
While there are signs of growing tensions between Pataki and state GOP Chairman William Powers, Powers enjoys ever-stronger relations with Mayor Giuliani.
Giuliani told GOP leaders in recent days that he wants Powers to pick the team to run the upstate portion of his Senate campaign.
Fredric U. Dicker’s radio show,“Inside the State Capitol,” can beheard weekdays from 10:05 a.m.to 11 a.m., and Saturdays from4:05 p.m. to 7 p.m., on the Web,at http://www.wrow.com.