Andrew Cuomo’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

For a governor who is routinely described as a calculating tactician and careful in his rhetoric, Andrew Cuomo’s “America was never that great” gaffe surprised and disappointed all those who follow him closely. Even the folks in his own handpicked audience let out a mixed groan of horror and cheers. 

Locally, this caused the governor’s Republican opponent, who had struggled a bit to get national attention this summer, to be thrown into the spotlight. You can bet that some of the out-of-state money that poured in will soon be converted into TV and web ads that marry Cuomo’s outrageous statement with video clips of Rosie the Riveter, the Marines on Iwo Jima, and the moon landing, etc.

{mosads}His opponent in the Democratic primary landed a punch as well. Cynthia Nixon quipped that it was “just another example of Andrew Cuomo trying to figure out what a progressive sounds like and missing by a mile.” Others reminded Cuomo that it was his father, after all, who gave one of the country’s most memorable political speeches at the 1984 Democratic Convention, in which he called to invoked America’s greatness from the perspective of a true liberal.

Believe it or not, his self-described “inartful” denunciation of the United States and the accompanying media storm during the most important election in his life was just one of three bad stories to emerge about Cuomo over the past seven days. In a way, he is lucky that the public’s distaste for his #GreatGate sucked up all the air time and news ink.

For New Yorkers, the Cuomo headline that perhaps caused the most outrage broke in The New York Times over the weekend, and involves the publication of emails that demonstrate the depth of corruption surrounding the governor’s highest echelons.  They were only released after the paper sued and won; Cuomo’s administration spent $200,000 of taxpayer money trying to block the release.

The emails present — in undeniable detail — the level of involvement lobbyist Todd Howe had in granting access and doling out government funds, all while soliciting donations for Cuomo’s reelection efforts. The governor has expressed no remorse, despite this latest exposure unraveling in the wake of multiple corruption convictions of his associates, and in the midst of yet another federal investigation of pay-to-play.

His response has been nothing short of absurd: In Cuomo’s world, the conviction of his right-hand man and others in his orbit is proof-positive of his innocence. In reality, one would have to look back over 100 years to Tammany’s heyday to find a New York State governor embroiled in this many corruption scandals.

As the emails sparked some outrage, Cuomo hit a third snag when news broke that S&P Global Ratings lowered the MTA’s bond rating for the second time this year. Perhaps no other issue enrages workaday New Yorkers as much as the deterioration of their prized subways; so any news that it will add cost and difficultly to borrow the estimated $20 billion to $40 billion needed for repairs is unwelcome. This time, however, it was made exponentially worse by the fact that S&P blamed “political dysfunction” as the chief culprit.

Again, Cuomo tried unsuccessfully to deflect, shift blame, and pass the buck onto his favorite foil, Bill de Blasio. As in the past, the New York press corps pushed back and had to remind him that he does actually control the MTA. Its failures are his failures. 

You may recall, this is the same guy who patted himself on the back for building three new subway stops, after all. He’s the man who boasted that he hired the MTA’s new chairman; and he was the governor who autocratically, and without any hesitation, declared, “I am the government.” There isn’t a subway tunnel dark enough for him to hide from this issue.

Conventional wisdom dictates that Cuomo is a clear front-runner for reelection this year; but after a rough week facing a trifecta of bad press, he must be hoping November comes early. In a short stretch, voters were reminded of both the corruption and incompetence of his administration, all set to the nonstop sound bite of “America was never that great” in his native Queens drawl. 

Could this be the beginning of the end to Andrew Cuomo’s political career? The president certainly thinks so; and Donald Trump will not let this go — ever.

Another week like this would surely keep Cuomo on the defensive through the election. I’m willing to bet there are more people than we think on both sides of the aisle wishing for it.

Joseph Borelli is the minority whip of the New York City Council, Republican commentator, professor and Lindsay Fellow at the City University of New York’s Institute for State and Local Governance. He served as co-chair of Donald Trump’s New York campaign and has endorsed Republican Marc Molinaro against Andrew Cuomo. He has also been published in the NY Daily News and Washington Times and appears on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, BBC & HLN. He You can follow him on Twitter @JoeBorelliNYC.