Mario’s Boy

IN THE BEGINNING…

there was a cement-tough, Queens born, Sicilian baseball player, a minor leaguer who gave it up after a severe injury and became a neighborhood lawyer. He worked hard, had a lovely wife and five children and possessed a Golden tongue.

And there was a German-Yugoslavian Jewish immigrant boy who came to America on a renegade boat…running with his parents from the chaos after the Second World War. The boat was turned away at first until government leader Harold Ickes appealed directly to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and when that didn’t work, to his wife, Eleanor. That worked and the survivors came ashore in America as so many immigrant/survivors have before and since.

Mario M. Cuomo and Raymond B. Harding.

The Queens Democrat meets the Liberal Party of New York

It was a perfect match politically and personally. Cuomo had a magnificent speaking style…some would say eloquent. He told of the immigrant life, the hard work, the striving, the need to educate children…the necessity of making politics about something meaningful for humanity. Privately, he was known to be a tough SOB who fought hard and dirty and was used to getting what he wanted.

Harding, an attorney based in the Bronx, inherited the mantle of David Dubinsky and Alex Rose, the unionists, and Ben Davidson, the intellectual who ran the Liberal Party day to day. Harding was none of these but he was dedicated to making the Liberal Party valuable, influential and a home for those who believed that America could be the nation it proposed to be…free, just and able to provide opportunity to all.

The two men could have been brothers. Physically big and strong, they loved their reputations as being tough, direct, demanding and politically savvy. They had gotten to know each other when both worked in Governor Hugh Carey’s administration. Both easily understood the value of having the Liberal Party support Democrat Cuomo in his desire to be Mayor of New York replacing then Mayor Abraham Beame. Their chief opponent in the primary race was Congressman Edward Koch. Koch won the primary and then the general election when Cuomo ran against him on the Liberal Party line.

But the match of these two men and the Liberal Party held and was successful several years later when Cuomo opposed Koch in the primary for Governor in 1982. This time Cuomo won and became Governor of New York defeating Republican businessman, Lewis Lehrman.

Throughout his campaigns for Mayor, Lieutenant Governor and Governor and in his twelve years as Governor of New York, Cuomo was shadowed by his oldest son Andrew who clearly learned what he had to know about politics and leadership from his Father.

Most significantly, what Mario’s boy saw was how to demand what he wanted, how to conduct himself in the political arena and how to get what his way no matter what.

Mario was domineering, demanding, vicious, punishing…went after those who opposed him and got what he wanted or else.

Mario’s boy watched all this for years but what we now know is that he never learned nor did he possess the ability to show the best side of him in public and keep the dark side out of the public eye. Nor could his Queen’s tinged accent ever be called eloquent – that unique talent that made his Father special in people’s eyes.

There were five children in the Cuomo family, but it was no secret that Andrew was Mario’s boy.

THE END OF THE BEGINNING…

With no warning, the close political and personal relationship between Mario Cuomo and Ray Harding was shattered as Cuomo completed his first term as Governor.

The issue was not policy, politics or patronage. Many talented Liberal Party members got excellent jobs in the Cuomo administration and did well in them.

The issue was purely personal. They had a fight about their sons.

It is difficult to remember what they actually fought about. It was certainly about Andrew and Robert Harding, the oldest of Harding’s two sons. But the result of this fight was a personal break. They were no longer friends…their naturally combative personalities would not allow it.

They ignored each other. Cuomo no longer needed the Liberal Party endorsement to remain as Governor…the Liberal Party had all the patronage it needed and none of those people were threatened by the personal disagreement at the top.

But that would not last. Somewhere in the midst of his third term and perhaps dreaming of a fourth, Cuomo decided he might need the Liberal Party again and so moved to push Harding out and turn it over to others he knew in the Party.

He sent Andrew as his hitman to do the tough, undercover work of enlisting Liberal Party leaders throughout the State in support of the change. It worked. Harding had little to do with the Liberal Party’s activities out of New York City and so few knew him. Harding was voted out as First Vice President and spokesperson and others assumed leadership roles.

It took Harding five long years to regain the position. He never forgave Mario and Mario’s boy for what they did. Or so it seemed.

AMERICA’S HAMLET ON THE HUDSON

Mario Cuomo won national recognition in 1984 as he gave the major speech at the Democratic Party’s Presidential convention. As he described the immigrant experience, he was at his most eloquent with a national audience enthralled with this New York guy sounding like “everyman”.

When the Democratic candidate Walter Mondale lost, Cuomo became the man to beat in the Democratic Presidential primary in 1988. But he did not run. He said he had been thinking about it long and hard for months but could not come to a decision.

Instead he ran for a third term as Governor in 1990 and won easily.

In 1992 he again became the leading candidate for President in a Democratic primary contest with Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. But he let a budget fight in the New York State Legislature prevent him from flying to New Hampshire to personally register as a candidate…a “must” activity which took him out of the race.

Bill Clinton became the candidate and eventually the President of the United States. Clinton showed his appreciation by deciding to nominate Cuomo to the Supreme Court. Cuomo waited until fifteen minutes before the announcement and then declined. He gave no reason but he asked Clinton for a favor – he wanted a government position for his son, Andrew.

Despite Andrew’s plea that he not run for a fourth term as Governor because he had not established a legacy of accomplishments, Cuomo did indeed run in 1994 and lost to unknown State Legislator, George Pataki.

Mario left Albany to return to New York City and a lucrative law practice.

Mario’s boy, did not marry a woman much like his charming and admired Mom. Rather he married into the Kennedy family and he and Robert Kennedy’s daughter Kerry, began a life in Washington, DC.

Clinton had kept his promise to Mario Cuomo… Mario’s boy, became Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

THE RETURN

After almost eight years of Washington and Hyannisport, Mass, the Kennedy Summer home, Andrew Cuomo returned to New York in 2001. He wanted to become Governor of New York State.

Though he was an attorney, Andrew did not practice law. A family friend made him director of that family’s philanthropic foundation. And his marriage to Kerry Kennedy was on the rocks.

Yet he was determined to run for Governor. And without much ado was endorsed by the Liberal Party of New York.

The expected Democratic candidate for Governor was longtime State Comptroller Carl McCall, a Black man who had broken through the ‘whites only’ attitude on the State level with the enthusiastic support of the Liberal Party.

But there had been a break in the relationship between the Liberal Party and Harlem’s Black caucus…David Dinkins, Basil Patterson, Percy Sutton and Charles Rangel.

The Liberal Party had supported Rudolph Giuliani for Mayor against Dinkins, the first Black candidate for Mayor of New York. Dinkins won that contest by a 2% margin. Four years later in a repeat, Giuliani won by exactly 2%.

Dinkins who had little or no relationship with the Liberal Party during his years in politics, including those as Manhattan Borough President, was furious with Raymond Harding, again the leader of the Party and convinced Carl McCall not to accept the Liberal Party’s endorsement of his candidacy despite the good relationship between McCall and the Party.

Because much of politics is about a quid pro quo – one hand helping the other -Harding and Andrew Cuomo reached a quick and mutual arrangement. It was in literary terms a perfect ‘marriage of convenience’.

Andrew had been out of New York for almost eight years. Mario’s boy needed some high level, influential support.

The Liberal Party needed 50,000 votes on its line in the Governor’s race to remain an official ballot party (automatically on the ballot for every election) for the next four years.

If Andrew failed to win the primary against McCall, he would run for Governor on the Liberal Party line and get those 50,000 votes.

A marriage of convenience between a politician and Mario’s boy –overcoming serious past differences…just like that.

Or so it seemed.

PLAYING HARDBALL

There were two conversations with Harding about endorsing Andrew Cuomo.

The first came during a quiet drive during a weekend stay at Harding’s summer home.

‘You hate this guy. He did the dirty work against you. How can you even think of endorsing him for Governor? How do you even know he can do it?”

The answer was purely political. The Liberal Party needed the 50,000 votes. It was a challenge every four years. We had just supported Betsy McCaughey Ross for Governor…she the former Republican Lt. Governor of New York…and her genuine efforts produced almost 80,000 votes on the Liberal line…and did a great deal to make Charles Schumer a US Senator. We needed a candidate who could receive 50,000 votes.

The second conversation came several months before Primary Day. A trusted colleague in Harlem told us that Cuomo had made a deal with the Harlem caucus to drop out of the race so that Carl McCall would become the first Black to run for Governor of New York. In return the caucus promised undying devotion to him for the rest of his political career.

Harding would hear none of it. And so we presented just that story to the Liberal Party’s Policy Committee at a meeting which would officially endorse Cuomo. Cuomo vigorously objected. It was not true. He had made a promise and he would stay in the fight.

The Committee endorsed him for Governor.

Several weeks before the Primary, he quit the race leaving the Liberal Party without a viable candidate for Governor.

While the Party received more than enough votes for its nominees for Comptroller and Attorney General, it received only 17,000 votes for the absent Cuomo.

He had to wait but Andrew Cuomo did become Governor of New York after a term as Attorney General.

Years later while preparing to run for a second term, Mario’s boy learned that the Liberal Party was talking to a major businessman in New York, the son of a former Democratic candidate for Governor Howard Samuels (Mario Cuomo had been his selection for Lt. Governor) about running against Cuomo on the Liberal Party line.

Andrew told a mutual friend to ask us not to do so and that he would be contacting us about helping the Liberal Party regain its permanent ballot status. Several days later we were treated to breakfast at the Yale Club by Mario Cuomo’s “third son” Joseph Percoco. Percoco had been loyal to the Father and was now a loyal comrade of his son and genuinely close to the family.

Percoco made a series of promises which we frankly never believed. On the way out of the Club, walking behind us, he said “Now remember this meeting of ours must be kept secret because the Governor plays hardball.” We laughed and told Joe it felt as if we’d just been hit in the head by that hardball.

The Governor did nothing for the Liberal Party.

Mr. Percoco found out what working for Mario’s boy could be like. He is now serving a prison term for bribery and other felonies after working for the Governor’s attempt to rebuild Buffalo, NY.

Mr. Cuomo said only that Mr. Percoco did things he shouldn’t have done.

Recently in an attempt to rid the pressure of New York’s “third “ parties on his plans to run for a fourth term, Cuomo formed a special committee to change the rules and now a political party must get 130,000 votes on its line for Governor and 130,000 votes on its line for President…pressure on the parties every two years to fight for a permanent place on the ballot.

Hardball? You bet.

THE TROUBLE

Will Andrew Cuomo survive the pressure on him to quit or be impeached?

Will the He said-She said, #Me Too movement succeed in getting rid of him.

Is all of this about women who hated the atmosphere of the Imperial Governor wanting to get even?

Is Cuomo’s relationship with many of these State Legislators such that he can convince them to let him finish his term and then not run for another term in 2022?

Or will he resign saying “all of this makes governing impossible especially with Covid on the rise” and then run in 2022 against a large field of wannabes?

We will know soon enough.

Mario’s boy never did learn something from his Father’s defeat so many years ago. No matter who you are or who you think you are, in politics you have to learn when enough is enough.

Mario’s boy had big plans…especially following his meritorious introduction to America during daily Covid pandemic telecasts. He was almost eloquent. Something like his Father’s own eloquence in a speech so long ago.

A golden opportunity.

Or so it seemed.