Cuomo Shrugs Off Teachout, Insists He’s Been Progressive

Nick Reisman

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday shrugged off the primary challenge from Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout, who is launching her gubernatorial campaign and petitioning process.

“You have people on the extreme left… and you have people on the extreme right,” Cuomo said on The Capitol Pressroom this morning. “That’s what you call a politcal contest.”

Cuomo added it’s “inaccurate” to suggest he hasn’t bee sufficiently liberal, pointing to changes to the state’s tax code — which he has alternatively referred to as a tax cut even though it generated $1.9 billion in extra revenue — as well as the legalization of same-sex marriage and a gun control package.

Cuomo at the Working Families Party convention last month gained the labor-backed organization’s endorsement after agreeing to help pass a host of liberal-sought legislation including a new minimum wage increase and the DREAM Act.

http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/06/cuomo-shrugs-off-teachout-insists-hes-been-progressive/