Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s failure to choose a new state Democratic chairman has undermined party unity, allowed his war with Mayor Bill de Blasio to worsen and left New York without a top cheerleader for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, party activists have told The Post.
The activists charge that Cuomo, the de facto head of the state Democratic Committee, appears more interested in continuing his war with de Blasio and what some call his “sweetheart’’ relationship with state Senate Republicans than in building the party by finding a strong replacement for former Gov. David Paterson, who quit as party chair in October.
A major problem for Cuomo in finding a new chairman, the activists charge, is the difficulty of working with Cuomo himself.
“Why would any senior Democrat who has spent years building up the party want to serve as party chairman under Cuomo when all he expects you to do is jump when he calls?” said a well-known Democrat.
“The Democratic Party is basically adrift, with no one trying to bring de Blasio and the governor together or out there cheerleading for Hillary — and Cuomo doesn’t seem to care,’’ said a second prominent activist.
“At the very least, when you lose the chairman, you should quickly name a replacement. There’s a custom that should be maintained — the party should have a leader.’’
Cuomo has had little contact with party committee members and has given no indication of when he will pick a new chair.
Cuomo’s past relations with party leaders haven’t gone well.
After just over a year in office, he ousted state party Chairman Jay Jacobs, the current Nassau County chair, who had originally been named by Paterson.
Cuomo named Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner as co-chair, only to see her abruptly resign after repeated disagreements.
Paterson, governor from 2008 to 2010, clashed with Cuomo aides and embarrassed the governor in 2014 when Paterson publicly repudiated a nasty press release issued in his name attacking GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, saying that he never authorized the wording of the attack.
Cuomo also infuriated many Democratic leaders when he created the Women’s Equality Party (WEP) in 2014 to boost his tally in the race against Astorino and to siphon votes from the sometimes anti-Cuomo Working Families Party (WFP).
Many angry activists noted that having Cuomo on both the WEP and WFP lines reduced the number of votes received by the Democratic Party itself.