By Dan Murphy
Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a surprise visit to Westchester, and Yonkers last week, to speak out against President Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and to sign an executive order protecting women’s access to contraception and calling on the Republican-led State Senate to come back into session this summer and pass the Reproductive Health Act, which would update the state’s current statutes protecting the right to abortion.
Joined by Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, State Sen. Shelley Mayer and County Executive George Latimer at the Yonkers Will Library, the governor also used the occasion to tout the recent victories in Westchester for Democrats and to differentiate between the visions of the extreme conservative Trump Republican Party and the progressive Democratic Party.
Cuomo delivered a speech that inspired his base of progressive Democratic, pro-choice supporters, but it was also a speech that succinctly laid out the differences between a Trump administration and a Cuomo administration here in New York. This could have been a speech for Cuomo’s re-election as governor, or for a future run for president; it was well delivered, calm and effective.
“This is a pro-life justice who I believe, there’s no question, will overturn Roe v. Wade,” Cuomo said of Judge Cavanaugh. “We do everything we can to resist the rollback… Elections do have consequences and we lost. And they’re trying to change this nation. New York has to pass a law that codifies Roe v. Wade before they overrule it. The Republican Senate wouldn’t pass it and you know what they said for years? ‘Oh, it’s wholly unnecessary because we have Roe v. Wade, and nobody would overturn Roe v. Wade. That could never happen.”
“We do not have a New York State law that provides the protections of Roe v. Wade. Roe v. Wade goes further than the New York State law. That’s why we desperately need a New York State law that codifies the Roe v. Wade rights in this state and takes it out of the criminal code.
Republicans “want to have it both ways,” said Cuomo. “They want to be able to say, ‘I support a woman’s right to choose,’ but then when they go to a different audience, the conservative audience, they want to be able to say, ‘I never voted pro-choice.’ That’s exactly what they’re doing, and they got away with it for years. And what we have to say is, no more. No more. No more. Pass that bill because a woman’s right to choose is in jeopardy.
“It’s yes or no. It’s black or white. It’s binary. There’s no middle. There’s no maybe. And we have to get it done this year. I call on every Senate Republican to come back to Albany. Do it tomorrow. The Assembly will support codification of Roe v. Wade, I will sign the bill, the Senate Democrats will vote 100 percent in favor of it. Come back and pass Roe v. Wade for New York. There are no excuses. And if you do not come back and vote, you are telling the women and men of this state you are anti-choice. No one gets a pass.
“And in the words of Mr. Trump – in the words of President Trump – if you are against a woman’s right to choose, you’re fired,” said Cuomo, who also used the opportunity to recognize County Executive and former State Senator George Latimer.
“We miss George Latimer in Albany, but I’ll tell you the truth, living in Mount Kisco, I’m much more happy with George Latimer as the County executive,” and to proclaim, after victories by Latimer, and Mayer for State Senate, and other Democratic victories across the county over the past year, “to my colleagues in the Senate and the Assembly, and to all the advocates and the people who work so hard to make Westchester the progressive county that it is once again. Isn’t it nice to say, ‘Westchester, the progressive county?’”
Senator Stewart-Cousins, who represents Westchester but also serves as the Democratic Senate Conference leader, made an important historical reference in her comments before the governor.
“In 1970, the State Legislature, before Roe v. Wade, passed women’s health laws that predated the federal government. In 1970, a Republican governor and a Republican State Senate passed these laws. In 1970, protecting women’s health was not a bipartisan issue; 12 Republican state senators joined their Democratic colleagues to make that happen. Today, I don’t have one Republican colleague in the State Senate who will raise their hand and say we have to protect women’s rights and codify Roe v. Wade.”
Stewart-Cousins also reminded the public that she has been trying to pass the Reproductive Health Act in the State Senate since 2007. “Each time I was told we were OK, it wasn’t necessary. But since the election of 2016, we are no longer OK. But this has awakened a sleeping giant and redoubled our efforts to make sure our voices are heard. We are not going to back down – we are going to stand up.”
Cuomo’s visit, and Stewart-Cousins comments, bode well for the future of democratic -progressive politics in Westchester, and New York State, and bad news for the republicans’ county and statewide.
“Every issue that Trump comes forward with NY democrats use to further fuel their campaign against Trump—immigration, children separated from families, supreme court pick, etc. If the dems can keep this coalition together, there is nothing republicans can do. It will be a hard November,” said one Westchester republican.
Other’s viewed Stewart-Cousins comments about the old NY GOP and the new NY GOP as another reason why republicans statewide have not won a statewide election since 2002, and are likely to lose control of the state senate this November. “Jacob Javits, Nelson Rockefeller, even Al D’Amato and Nick Spano, were moderate to liberal republicans. If that part of the party is dead, then forget it, it’s over for republicans in New York,” said a former Westchester republican, now an independent.
“Throw in the voting rights issues and the federal primary that is costing the state $25 Million and what it shows is that Flanagan (Majority State Senate leader John Flanagan) and the republicans have been running scared for years, but the Governor always had their back in secret. That’s over now. President Trump hurts the NY GOP a lot but its not all Trump. Where has the republican party been in NY since Pataki’s third term which ended in 2006? Astorino helped comb over the weakness of the GOP here in Westchester during his 8 years. What’s left? Not much,” said that same county independent.
The ‘do nothing’ Republican state senate in Albany is a narrative that has been repeated year after year, by State news reporter and radio host Fred Dicker. His show can be heard most weekdays at 4pm on WVOX 1460 AM.
