Silver: W.F.P. has ‘no alternative’ to Cuomo

[hrmjustin]

Jimmy Vielkind

ALBANY—Add Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to the list of pro-labor liberals who think the Working Families Party should endorse Andrew Cuomo's re-election bid.

“I don't think there's an alternative,” Silver told Capital this week. “I don't think they want Rob Astorino to be the governor, and that's all they'd be accomplishing: helping him by diverting what would otherwise be a Democratic vote.”

Cuomo, a Democrat seeking his second term, has run into resistance from the W.F.P., an amalgamation of labor unions and progressive activists that offers a crucial second ballot line for (usually) Democratic candidates in both state and local elections. Despite a platform of fiscal austerity, Cuomo took the party's line in 2010.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/05/8544694/silver-wfp-has-no-alternative-cuomo?top-featured-3