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ALBANY – If Letitia James does, Zephyr Teachout is in the game.
Let me elaborate: if James, the state attorney general, decides to challenge Kathy Hochul and run for governor, then Teachout will run for James.
“If there is an opportunity and an opening with the GA office, I would take it,” Teachout told me in a phone conversation on Friday. “If she runs for governor, I will run.
Consider this part of the continuing fallout from Andrew M. Cuomo’s departure as governor, a seismic event that shocks New York politicians like passengers on a crowded subway car. James, for his part, seems increasingly likely to take on Hochul, setting up a compelling primary race.
“Stay tuned,” James told Ulster County Democrats Thursday night in Kingston, adding: “The question for me really comes down to this: What’s the best way for me to make transformational change in New York State? “
Yeah, she’s running. When politicians start to talk about “transformational change,” they always are.
But James is unlikely to be the only Democrat to enter the primary against Hochul, who has previously said she will run. Likewise, the field to replace James as attorney general would be crowded. The political junkies are gone for a ride.
Teachout, 49, would enter the race with relatively high name recognition statewide, resulting, in part, from his unsuccessful candidacies for governor in 2014 and attorney general in 2018. In both campaigns, Teachout targeted Cuomo’s corruption. The message has aged well, I would say.
“The emperor had no clothes,” Teachout said on Friday of the former governor. “The lie has been exposed. And the lesson we must learn from its downfall is that bullying is not an effective form of governance, cronyism is not economic development and secrecy is not acceptable. “
When I think of Teachout’s 2014 campaign, I think of an unforgettable Cuomo moment, a clip that foreshadowed much of what was to come.
This happened during the Labor Day parade in Manhattan, shortly before the September primary of that year. Teachout attempted to approach the governor to say hello, but the body was repeatedly blocked by Joe Percoco, Cuomo’s former aide later convicted of bribery and corruption.
When a determined Teacher still managed to keep away from the chatter, Cuomo pretended not to see her, then turned his back on her. Hochul, then lieutenant governor, did the same.
How small and petty they were, refusing to offer the grace of a hello and a handshake. Cuomo also declined to debate Teachout that year, calling the events “a disservice to democracy” and would not even say her name when forced to discuss the race. He ghosted her.
Looking back, Teachout spoke of this race with pride, noting that it raised many issues that would lead to Cuomo’s downfall seven years later. She thanked James, who beat her in 2018 for the Attorney General’s primary, for ultimately exposing the former governor’s bad behavior.
Teachout described the January James report, the one that denounced the undercoverage of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents, “a pivotal moment for New York,” and she said the subsequent investigation on the sexual harassment allegations “showed what professionalism and thoroughness can really do.”
That’s not exactly how the Cuomo team views the report, of course. Aide Rich Azzopardi maintains it was a political coup motivated by James’ desire to run for governor, a narrative that could gain traction if James enters the race so soon after leaving. Cuomo.
“I told you,” Azzopardi said on Friday, when I asked about James’ likely candidacy.
But back to Teachout, a law professor who now lives in Manhattan. What do we think of his chances?
Well, she is clearly part of the progressive wing of her party, and some Tories will shudder at the prospect of seeing her become attorney general. Yet her constant attention to government corruption and concentrated corporate power – she has written books on both subjects – can help Teachout attract moderates and Republicans concerned, for example, by the suffocating influence of Big Tech. .
In our Friday conversation, Teachout explained how crony capitalism stifles competition and stifles economic growth, how it fails taxpayers but works for politicians who reap campaign contributions from favored companies.
“It’s not a secondary issue,” Teachout said. “When you have concentrated corporate power, it leads to political power, and it makes it really tough for small businesses.”
Expect to hear more talk like this in the upcoming Teachout campaign – assuming, of course, James shows up as governor and opens the door.
[email protected] ■ 518-454-5442 ■ @chris_churchill
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