Recently Politico published an article indicating that President Gresham wants 1199 to endorse Andrew Cuomo for Mayor. While we, the undersigned, believe that a democratic process needs to take place to determine who our union should endorse for mayor, we also think that it would be a grave mistake for us to endorse Andrew Cuomo and that there are far better candidates in this race.
NY Attorney General Letitia James's 168-page report regarding the multiple allegations of sexual harassment makes it clear that Cuomo engaged in repeated wanton acts of sexual harassment including groping one assistant under her blouse.
Additionally, Governor Cuomo's actions led to a disastrous mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, he issued an executive order on March 25th 2020, that prohibited New York State nursing homes from denying readmission or admission based on a suspected or even confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. According to PolitiFact Cuomo then lied when he claimed he made this order to follow CDC guidelines. CDC guidelines in fact stated that a nursing home should only (re)admit an individual if it was able to implement all recommended infection control procedures.
The Politico article also notes that our union's political power has been on the decline. Endorsing a candidate whom we previously called on to resign is not the way to reverse course
Finally, Cuomo has a history of standing in opposition to Labor's priorities and then sweeping in to take credit once the tide clearly changed. For instance, regarding the Fight for $15 the Guardian reported "Cuomo called a $13 minimum wage a “non-starter” in February 2015. By July, he was racing California to get it into law." This turnaround was not a so called 'evolution' on the issues, but pure Machiavellian calculus.
The Nation reported:
"In Albany’s ethical cesspool, fast-food wages might be relatively low-hanging populist fruit for a governor saddled with record-low approval ratings, corruption scandals galore, and widespread bitterness from disillusioned progressive voters."
This election is not a question of voting for the "lesser of two evils" but rather presents the opportunity to endorse some truly great candidates.
Some of the bona fides for several of the candidates are listed below.
Zohran Mamdani
- Conducted a 15-day hunger strike in solidarity with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance
- Supports several progressive positions such as rent control, ending mass incarceration, and supporting single-payer health care
Jessica Ramos
- Chairs the NYS Committee On Labor
- Supports good cause eviction laws
- Opposed Governor Hochul's easing of housing construction because not all local labor unions supported it
Brad Lander
Thus we, the undersigned members and staff of 1199SEIU, oppose an endorsement of Andrew Cuomo. We encourage all members and staff to voice opposition to a Cuomo endorsement to our union's leadership.