On paper, New York is a solidly blue state. Over 60 percent of voters chose Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the past three presidential elections, and the lower house of the state legislature has a solid Democratic majority. But a corrupt system of bipartisan collusion ensures Republican control of the upper chamber — and Cuomo encourages and benefits from this manufactured partisan split.
It’s an open secret in Albany that Cuomo is committed to maintaining Republican control of the state senate, where creative redistricting deliberately gives the upstate GOP minority an advantage. The governor could have used his veto power over districting maps in 2012, or used some of his vast campaign resources to elect a stronger Democratic majority in the upper chamber. Instead he has carefully maintained this structural barrier to the passage of progressive bills.
But gerrymandering alone isn’t enough to give the Republicans effective power over Albany’s agenda. For that, we can thank the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of eight Democratic senators who broke away from the Democratic caucus to forge a power-sharing agreement with Republicans. In 2012, after Democrats claimed a slim majority in the upper house, four of those Democrats — Jeffery Klein, Diane Savino, David Valesky, and David Carlucci — agreed to caucus with the Republicans, giving the GOP the majority. Since then, the IDC has doubled in size and remained loyal to the Republicans.
This arrangement benefits all the key political players — above all, Cuomo and his presidential ambitions.
Senate Republicans can control redistricting and enjoy the perks and resources of majority status, including the ability to control New York state’s over $150 billion budget. IDC members get pork for their districts, stipends for chairing committees, bigger budgets, expanded staff and access to big centrist Democratic donors (such as charter schools, real estate interests, and hedge funds). Cuomo continues to cut spending and prevent tax increases (particularly on high incomes and property taxes) to appease donors, and casts himself as a moderate progressive who gets things done. Meanwhile, Democrats in the Assembly and Senate can take strong left-liberal positions on a number of social-democratic bills, like single payer, knowing full well that the Senate majority leader will never allow it the leave committee for a floor vote.
The Assembly blames the Senate. Democratic senators blame the IDC. The IDC blames the Democrats and the Republicans. And Cuomo is spared the need to veto popular social-democratic bills like single payer, which would tarnish his image with Democratic primary voters. This carefully choreographed blame game stymies all attempts by progressive activists to pass reforms. Meanwhile, millions of New Yorkers, including women, people of color, school children, low-income families, and the uninsured and under-insured suffer under Trump’s policies.
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