Cuomo Drafts Communications Director From Attorney General’s Staff

Filling a key vacancy in his inner circle, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Friday named one of Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman’s top aides to serve as his new communications director.

The aide, Melissa DeRosa, is Mr. Schneiderman’s acting chief of staff. She will start her new position on April 1 and succeed Allison Gollust, who recently left the governor’s office after only a few months to reunite with her former boss, the television executive Jeffrey Zucker, at CNN.

Ms. DeRosa, 30, is well known in Albany. She first worked in politics as an intern for the political director of the New York State A.F.L.-C.I.O. when she was 16; before joining Mr. Schneiderman’s office in 2011 as deputy chief of staff, she was the New York State director for Organizing for America, a group formed by President Obama’s election campaign to build grass-roots support. She was also the director of communications and legislation for Cordo and Company, an Albany lobbying firm.

“I have known and respected Melissa for many years,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement, “and believe her experience, character and intellect will be an invaluable asset as she leads our communications effort.”

In a memorandum to his staff, Mr. Schneiderman, who like Mr. Cuomo is a Democrat, described Ms. DeRosa as “a critical member of a talented team leading our office’s intergovernmental affairs, legislative agenda and communication efforts.” He said, “With her talent, insight and energy, Melissa will be missed.”

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Cuomo Endorses Rangel in Democratic Primary Race

Mr. Cuomo cited Mr. Rangel’s decades of service in Washington in arguing for his election to a 22nd term.

“He has seniority, he knows the system,” the governor, a fellow Democrat, said in an interview on “Capital Tonight,” a political program on the upstate cable network YNN.

Mr. Cuomo also said: “He’s been very good at bringing things back to the state of New York, which is a big part of what the Congress does.”

“And,” he added, “I think he is best suited not just for the district, but for his state. His seniority is a major asset for this state.”

For months, Mr. Cuomo told reporters that he would not talk about political subjects until after the conclusion of the legislative session. It ended on Thursday; the governor offered his endorsement of Mr. Rangel on Friday.

Mr. Cuomo also endorsed Assemblyman Hakeem S. Jeffries, who is running for the seat currently held by Representative Edolphus Towns of Brooklyn. Mr. Towns is retiring.

The governor has worked with Mr. Jeffries, most recently on a proposal to cut down on low-level marijuana arrests in New York City. The proposal died in the recently concluded legislative session, but Mr. Cuomo has said he will continue to pursue it.

Mr. Jeffries’s opponent, Councilman Charles Barron, ran for governor in 2010 to protest what he called a lack of diversity in state politics, and he heckled Mr. Cuomo at a dinner for minority lawmakers last year.

Mr. Cuomo also urged the re-election of Representative Nydia M. Velázquez of Brooklyn, who was a co-chairwoman of both his campaign for governor in 2010 and his transition team.

Ms. Velázquez is being challenged by Councilman Erik M. Dilan, who is backed by the Brooklyn Democratic chairman, Vito J. Lopez, and two others.

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Cuomo Says His Record Will Help Elect New York Democrats

Addressing a meeting of the State Democratic Committee, the governor said his time in office amounted to “a beautiful story to tell.”

“The greatest accomplishment of all, my friends, is not about the individual issues,” Mr. Cuomo said. “At the end of the day, after 18 months, people believe in state government once again.”

But he conspicuously did not mention if his support for Democrats extended to those running for the State Senate, which is currently controlled by a Republican majority that has generally been supportive of his agenda. Speaking to reporters after the speech, Mr. Cuomo refused to discuss control of the Senate — or any other political subject.

“We’ll discuss political decisions in the political season, but we’re now in the government season and we’re trying to get government bills passed,” he said. “So let’s keep the conversation about government.”

Asked why he had come to a party event if he did not want to discuss politics, Mr. Cuomo responded, “We had a political speech; I’m now stopping the political speech and we’re going to talk about government.”

During his 19-minute address to party officials, in a hotel ballroom down the street from the Capitol, Mr. Cuomo spent much of his time describing his legislative achievements, including the creation of a property tax cap and an overhaul of the state’s personal income tax code. He talked only briefly about politics, a subject that he avoids discussing in news conferences and other public events.

In his speech, Mr. Cuomo described re-electing President Obama as the party’s “first order of business.”

Promising that New York would “give him the best mandate in the United States of America,” Mr. Cuomo said the economy had improved during the Obama administration, and he noted the difficult economic circumstances the president faced when he took office.

“They were talking about the banks on Wall Street toppling like dominoes, one after the other,” he said, “and the firm hand of President Barack Obama came in and took this nation and this nation’s economy and it stabilized.”

Mr. Cuomo also offered a discussion of political philosophy, describing what he saw as the key differences between Democrats and Republicans in New York.

“The difference between us, as progressives, and the conservatives,” he said, “is that we believe that government can work and that we can come together and make this place a better place for all of us.”

“What the conservatives are saying is that doesn’t work — government doesn’t work,” he added. “What the conservatives are saying is, government is a fool’s errand, it’s too expensive, it’s counterproductive, it’s corrupt — you can’t make it work. And that leads the conservatives to their philosophy of this extreme individualism: do for yourself because there is no collective, and there is no ability to come together for the common good.”

The meeting included appearances by the two officials whom Mr. Cuomo chose this week to serve as leaders of the state party, Mayor Stephanie A. Miner of Syracuse and Assemblyman Keith L. T. Wright of Manhattan. Ms. Miner and Mr. Wright will be formally installed at a meeting early next month.

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Cuomo Picks Syracuse Mayor Miner and Assemblyman Wright to Lead N.Y. Democratic Party

Mr. Cuomo’s nominees are Mayor Stephanie A. Miner of Syracuse and Assemblyman Keith L. T. Wright of Manhattan, who is also chairman of the Manhattan Democratic Party. They are expected to be approved by the State Democratic Committee early next month.

“Mayor Miner and Assemblyman Wright are outstanding leaders both for our party and our state,” the governor said in a statement. “They have been dedicated community leaders and champions of the key missions of the Democratic Party.”

Ms. Miner and Mr. Wright would succeed Jay S. Jacobs, who was installed as party chairman in 2009 by Gov. David A. Paterson. Mr. Jacobs announced his plans to resign last week, a few months ahead of the scheduled end of his term in September.

At a meeting in Albany this week, the state party planned to propose an amendment to its bylaws to allow the party chairmanship to be split between two people. The party would then consider the nominations of Ms. Miner and Mr. Wright on June 5.

In a phone interview, Mr. Wright said he intended to stay on as Manhattan chairman. “The only plan that I have is to elect as many Democrats as possible and to make sure that the state goes in the Barack Obama column, and with Senator Gillibrand carrying on for six more years,” he said, referring to Kirsten E. Gillibrand, who is running this year for a full term.

Mr. Wright added that he had never met Ms. Miner, but said, “I’m told she’s an absolutely dynamic woman.”

Ms. Miner, who once worked as a regional representative for Mr. Cuomo’s father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, said that having two leaders would help ensure that the perspectives of Democrats from all corners of the state were represented.

“I think it’s important for upstate voices to be represented,” Ms. Miner said in a phone interview, adding, “The more voices we have represented, the better off we’re going to be.”

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Democrats Are All Cuomosexuals Now: Gay Marriage Puts Cuomo on 2016 Map (The Atlantic Wire)

The race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination "just began" with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's successful shepherding of a law to legalize gay marriage through the New York state legislature this weekend, Politico's Edward-Isaac Dovere and Maggie Haberman report. Cuomo's support for marriage equality puts him at the sweet spot in the arc of history, Democratic strategist Jim Jordan told Politico. His work on gay marriage could be as crucial to his political future as opposing the Iraq war was to then-state Sen. Barack Obama. Cuomo is the first national figure  enthusiastically to push same-sex marriage at the exact moment a majority of Americans began to support the issue.

Related: New York GOP Ready to Delay Gay Marriage Vote for Days

New York's LGBT Pride parade on Sunday took on the trappings of a Cuomo campaign rally--or at least a victory lap for the governor. He marched behind a massive banner with his name, while crowds waved "Thank You Governor Cuomo" signs. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza writes that sure, 2016 is far, far away, but "political strategists are forever looking toward the future and the next big thing--and Cuomo made a claim to that title by finessing passage of the gay marriage bill through the Republican-controlled state Senate." Cillizza spoke to Democratic consultant Jason Ralston, who said that with this huge civil rights victory and his famous liberal name, Cuomo now leads the 2016 pack.

Related: New York Senate Punts Gay Marriage to Next Week

Cuomo even earned praise from combative Republican Gov. Chris Christie of neighboring New Jersey. Christie said on MSNBC Monday morning that Cuomo is "doing great....He gets in the room, he gets his hands dirty and he gets it done...He sets the debate, he defines the debate and then he compromises on the things he needs to compromise on. He's done a great job." The Philadelphia Inquirer's Matt Katz says these will be words to remember if we get a Cuomo-Christie race in 2016.

The New York Times' Michael Powell says everyone should calm down. "First, 2016 is the political equivalent of a millennium off. Second, Andrew Cuomo knows well how quickly approval curdles, particularly if the national economy remains semi-comatose." Sure, he corralled various political factions and "harnessed great poll numbers and notable legislative successes to pursuit of an issue of high principle. ... But in politics, it remains a long way from here to there."

Related: A Fundraiser's Timing Puts Scrutiny on Obama's Gay Marriage Stance

Manhattan financier and social gadfly Euan Rellie tweets, "We're all Cuomosexuals today." Cuomosexuals? Yes, Rellie says: Chris Cuomo--brother of Andrew and an ABC News reporter--"quietly used the term" at a dinner at novelist Jay McInerney's house on Friday ahead of the vote. Rellie says he is "aggressivley promoting/publicising it." Perhaps we'll hear more of it, if not this presidential campaign, then the next one.

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