Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: Good morning, as we speak with Andrew Cormo. He was
Speaker 2: a governor of the Empire State. He's running for mayor
Speaker 2: here in a contested primary to get to the election
Speaker 2: November fourth as well.
Speaker 3: I'm going to begin with my family. I'm a Kodak.
Speaker 2: Brat from western New York, and I remember it was
Speaker 2: like in Mary Poppins when the weather vane changed their
Speaker 2: I remember this is years ago, and a guy who
Speaker 2: was in the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball organization. It was a
Speaker 2: fractured New York City, a fractured Empire State, and your
Speaker 2: father in the middle.
Speaker 3: Eighties pieced it together again.
Speaker 2: I give the clearest memory of Republicans and Democrats and
Speaker 2: West Junior going, who is this guy?
Speaker 3: How are you going to piece together a fractured New
Speaker 3: York City.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a very good question. When my father took
Speaker 1: over at that time, the big fracture was upstate versus downstairs.
Speaker 4: Right, you lived it, Yes, we lived it.
Speaker 1: And Upstate for non New York is primarily Republican leaning conservative.
Speaker 1: New York City at that time very very liberal. So
Speaker 1: that was the big divide. Now it's basically within New
Speaker 1: York City, and it's really within the Democratic Party. I mean,
Speaker 1: we have the Democratic Republican schism obviously in New York City,
Speaker 1: but the Republican Party is relatively small in New York City.
Speaker 1: But we are working through this. What is the future
Speaker 1: of the Democratic Party post Trump? And that is playing
Speaker 1: out in New York City and cities across the country.
Speaker 2: I'm going to give you a vignette. My Bellley was
Speaker 2: in the garage today. I had to take hoover to
Speaker 2: come into work. My driver's Dominican republic barely speaks English.
Speaker 2: He was so pleased to talk to me about you.
Speaker 2: He said, I'm voting for Andrew Cromo, and this was
Speaker 2: his exact language. I am a Democrat, concernervative. I want
Speaker 2: to go back to javits at coach all of them.
Speaker 2: How does the Conservative Democratic Party, that Dominican Republican driver,
Speaker 2: how does it move forward out of this primary where
Speaker 2: the liberals the progressives have been so dominant in the verbiage.
Speaker 4: Well, this is what's interesting.
Speaker 1: I was a crazy liberal all my life, right, My
Speaker 1: father was the father used to tell me that, Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was the son of a crazy liberal and a
Speaker 1: crazy liberal. But the progressives have gone so far. First
Speaker 1: of all, I disagree with the word progressive right, like
Speaker 1: it's a new phrase that they coined. FDR was a progressive.
Speaker 1: My father was a progressive right, so it's not a
Speaker 1: new term. But they are so far to the left
Speaker 1: that they have eclipsed what were traditionally progressive. Liberal use
Speaker 1: your word ideology, and it is unrealistic and it is counterproductive.
Speaker 1: And that's what people are starting to find out, especially
Speaker 1: in this environment. You know, post COVID, cities are going
Speaker 1: through a crisis. Another had I was the former Hut
Speaker 1: Secretary Housing in Urban Development under Clinton, and cities have
Speaker 1: gone through transformations over time post COVID.
Speaker 4: This is going to be a major.
Speaker 1: Transformation for urban America. You don't have to be in
Speaker 1: a city anymore.
Speaker 4: Right, the old days you had to be here.
Speaker 1: The old days you had to show up, and cities
Speaker 1: took advantage of that.
Speaker 3: You didn't have an option. You have options. It's called mobility,
Speaker 3: it's called remote work.
Speaker 1: And cities now have to be more competitive economically. They
Speaker 1: have to be competitive. You can move to a better
Speaker 1: tax climate, a better weather climate, and cities are just
Speaker 1: now working through that. Adjustment.
Speaker 4: I believe.
Speaker 5: If you were to be elected governor a mayor of
Speaker 5: this great city, what would be job one on day
Speaker 5: one for you?
Speaker 3: Job one problems.
Speaker 4: Job one is like three jobs.
Speaker 1: It's public safety, because nothing works without public safety. It's
Speaker 1: getting the homeless mentally all off the streets, which plays
Speaker 1: into public safety, equality of life. People feel the city
Speaker 1: is out of control, right, there's a sense of chaos
Speaker 1: when you walk down the.
Speaker 3: Streets, that is correct.
Speaker 4: There's a fear.
Speaker 1: When you descend into the subway. Now that's relatively new, right,
Speaker 1: and that has to change. Before you get to the
Speaker 1: economics and taxes and are we chasing you out?
Speaker 4: Et cetera.
Speaker 1: The first thing that chases you out is you're just
Speaker 1: not safe here. You don't feel comfortable here. And I
Speaker 1: think that's the first crisis.
Speaker 2: Well, then to follow on from that talking to Laura
Speaker 2: Namius or lead on this, Jessica Tish gets high marks.
Speaker 2: Can you give Jessica Tish high marks in her early
Speaker 2: months of running NYPD.
Speaker 3: Oh, she's done a very good job. She has done
Speaker 3: a very good job.
Speaker 2: Who do you reappoint hers at? Or do you have
Speaker 2: someone else? We got to make some news here.
Speaker 4: We're gonna have to make some news.
Speaker 1: The I am not in the I don't believe in
Speaker 1: saying who you're going to appoint, who you're not going
Speaker 1: to appoint, this kind of arrogant until you get the job,
Speaker 1: I can tell you I think, uh Commissioner Tish is
Speaker 1: doing a very good job this stability. We went through
Speaker 1: a number of police commissioners. Each one brought their own
Speaker 1: tumult and their own transformation. Jessica Tish is steady. The
Speaker 1: NYPD feel steady. But the NYPD alone really is not
Speaker 1: going to be enough to restore to people the sense
Speaker 1: that I feel comfortable in.
Speaker 4: New York City.
Speaker 1: It's worth my paying the premium to live here. I
Speaker 1: pay a premium to live in New York City, right,
Speaker 1: I'm paying high taxes, but I get X y m P.
Speaker 3: We just heard that from Charles Cant exactly right.
Speaker 5: You mentioned the subway here, the MTA.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I've been riding this subway for thirty five years. Every
Speaker 5: day I tell people the only thing that's changed in
Speaker 5: thirty five years the cars are now air conditioned. Everything
Speaker 5: else is the same, which is a good thing. That's
Speaker 5: a compliment. It gets millions of people around the city
Speaker 5: every day. However, as governor, you said the city should
Speaker 5: pay more for the MTA. As mayor, how would you
Speaker 5: manage the MTA, because we've got congestion pricing, We've got.
Speaker 4: A big, big shortfall there.
Speaker 5: How do we keep this subway riding safely efficiently.
Speaker 1: The first step on the subways is safety, quality of life.
Speaker 1: Get the homeless mentally ill off the subways. That's what
Speaker 1: frightens people, not just homeless people. We've certain urban environments
Speaker 1: have homeless people. These are homeless mentally ill people that
Speaker 1: threaten individuals or their presence is threatening, and that has
Speaker 1: to change. Now, you're right, was it as bad as
Speaker 1: it was back in the early nineties. No, but a
Speaker 1: lot of people weren't here in the early nineties, right,
Speaker 1: And if you were here, really, Bloomberg mayor Bloomberg post,
Speaker 1: this city was much safer, much cleaner, felt much different.
Speaker 1: And this is a dramatic juxtaposition to that.
Speaker 2: Andercomo over the source who welcome all of you on
Speaker 2: Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio accrastination of course out on
Speaker 2: YouTube Good morning, and of course on the Nation Serious
Speaker 2: Extent Channel one twenty one, as well, we're trying to
Speaker 2: get them to say for two hours. He's saying, yeah,
Speaker 2: maybe I can't, but we're going to have a good
Speaker 2: conversation here with a former governor. I want to get
Speaker 2: this out of the way right now, and it's on
Speaker 2: all the allegations of this, that the other, the COVID stuff,
Speaker 2: the sex stuff, and that. Let's just get it out
Speaker 2: of the way so we can move on. The fact
Speaker 2: is it's reported you've gone after, not going after in
Speaker 2: a collegiate way.
Speaker 3: I'm going to.
Speaker 2: Say, you have your own litigation, your own lawsuits. These
Speaker 2: are all distractions if you become mayor. In the floating
Speaker 2: out there is the idea. Okay, now, Mike told me
Speaker 2: once mayor's a twenty eight hour week job. I don't
Speaker 2: know if that's sure or not, but let's say it's
Speaker 2: a full commitment to be mayor. Will you push aside
Speaker 2: all of the different things you're doing in litigation and
Speaker 2: lawsuits to focus solely on being mayor. Do you postpone
Speaker 2: them or just say enough that part is over, that
Speaker 2: past is over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, look in these jobs when I was a governor,
Speaker 1: saying this for mayor, if you don't get sued five
Speaker 1: times a day, you're not doing your job, you know.
Speaker 4: So you have to be very.
Speaker 1: Good at taking compartmentalizing, to use a word, but handing
Speaker 1: off pieces that are not currently relevant.
Speaker 4: And that has to be done no matter what.
Speaker 5: We saw some very disturbing images coming out of the
Speaker 5: city of Los Angeles over the weekend. How do you
Speaker 5: view kind of I guess, just kind of how we
Speaker 5: deal with immigrants, how we deal with the policing of
Speaker 5: our cities vis a vis the federal government sending in troops.
Speaker 5: When you look at the images this week of Los Angeles,
Speaker 5: how did you project that upon New York City?
Speaker 3: Ha.
Speaker 1: This gets into President Trump's strategy, I believe, and look,
Speaker 1: first of all, on the immigration issue, he's very clear
Speaker 1: in his campaign he believes it's an issue that works
Speaker 1: for him. During the campaign, he said he was going
Speaker 1: to deport criminals, dangerous criminals, dangerous criminals, and everybody support said, yes,
Speaker 1: support dangerous criminals. Of course, now we're deporting seven year
Speaker 1: olds and we're disrupting families. And by the way, we're
Speaker 1: deporting people who shouldn't be deported.
Speaker 3: So that's a change.
Speaker 1: But this issue works for the president politically. The President
Speaker 1: is also very good, and I worked with the president
Speaker 1: in the first Trump administration, worked with euphemism.
Speaker 4: We had a lot of.
Speaker 1: Controversy, but this is a different tempo for him. Wayne
Speaker 1: Gretzky skate to where the puck is going to be,
Speaker 1: not where it was. The Democrats have to adjust. They
Speaker 1: are skating to where the puck was. This immigration issue,
Speaker 1: in some ways is a distraction from what Trump is
Speaker 1: really doing with cities, which is cutting the budget in
Speaker 1: a way that is so dramatic that you might really
Speaker 1: cause major difficulties for urban areas.
Speaker 3: Kevin Cromo pro tip.
Speaker 2: When you're going to talk a hockey you're in a
Speaker 2: mayoral race, you pick Genre Tell or someone like that
Speaker 2: with the New York Rangers. You don't go with Gretzky
Speaker 2: Andrew Cromo with us here as we look at this
Speaker 2: mayle race. Okay, Robert Kuttner, no friend of yours, writing
Speaker 2: an American Prospect. He says to Cuomo, peak too soon.
Speaker 2: You've got the tensions of the primary. If you take
Speaker 2: the primary, the tensions of a general election with different
Speaker 2: independent candidates, and that is the present mayor in the
Speaker 2: back pocket of the president of the United States. And
Speaker 2: if we get LA, as Paul mentions, here, can you
Speaker 2: imagine this? I mean, I'll let you pick the geography,
Speaker 2: Governor Cromo, but the present mayor of New York, can
Speaker 2: he protect the citizens of this city given the relationship
Speaker 2: with the president, after what we've seen in LA.
Speaker 1: Short answer, no, And let's remember how extraordinary these issues.
Speaker 1: What's happening in LA. This is the exact reverse of
Speaker 1: what normally happens. Normally, it's the local government that makes
Speaker 1: the decision on how to handle an emergency and calls
Speaker 1: on the federal government. So a mayor, a governor would
Speaker 1: call on the federal government say I need help, Please
Speaker 1: send a National Guard, or please send an additional federal help.
Speaker 1: I don't believe there's been a time where the president
Speaker 1: has sent in federal troops. You'd have to go back
Speaker 1: to like the sixties and President Johnson and Wallace, Right,
Speaker 1: that's how far you have to go back. So this
Speaker 1: is Trump being Trump. This is Trump on this sensue
Speaker 1: of immigration. I'm muscled, it's law and order. These cities,
Speaker 1: these democrats, they're filled with illegals, and I'm gonna come in,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna come in hot and heavy.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: He started in LA. It will happen in New York.
Speaker 3: It will happen.
Speaker 1: He knows the formula, right, it happened in New Jersey.
Speaker 3: Is this formula to go after you?
Speaker 1: I mean this is his formula is to create chaos
Speaker 1: in the cities, and he is the voice of law
Speaker 1: and order. And you know cities, all those Democrats, that's
Speaker 1: where all those illegal immigrants are. And he's going to
Speaker 1: come in and he's going to clean up. The flip
Speaker 1: side is okay, create chaos in LA, create chaos in
Speaker 1: New York, create chaos in Chicago. Pretty soon you create
Speaker 1: chaos in the nation. And that's bad for the economy.
Speaker 5: So what it's the biggest chance n for you in
Speaker 5: this primary race here and then potentially in the general election.
Speaker 4: What do you have to get.
Speaker 1: Across in a Democratic primary? And you now have the
Speaker 1: tension between post Trump, what directions does the Democratic Party go?
Speaker 1: And some people believe we lost to Trump because we
Speaker 1: didn't go left enough. So I have a democratic socialist. Really,
Speaker 1: there's no such thing as a democratic socialist. It's just
Speaker 1: a socialist. They use democratic as a modifier because socialist.
Speaker 1: There's a shocking but it's a socialist who says, dismantle
Speaker 1: the police.
Speaker 4: The police state is oppressive.
Speaker 1: Everything free, free, transportation, free everything, Tax the rich, so
Speaker 1: there's class warfare in there. We'll tax the one percent.
Speaker 1: The one percent should pay because they're rich and fat
Speaker 1: and they made money on the rest of us, and
Speaker 1: everything is let's migrate there.
Speaker 2: The Financial Times there, that's summary article this week, and
Speaker 2: Andrew Cromo, where the folks, and we welcome all of
Speaker 2: you on Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio worldwide and of
Speaker 2: course here in the Tri State area Bloomberg eleven three
Speaker 2: to zero across the five boroughs. The ft lined up
Speaker 2: the halves who are supporting you. You're the guy a
Speaker 2: choice and he answers. Some of them really are behind
Speaker 2: Andrew Croomo, and others are betting this guy might win,
Speaker 2: so we better get behind with him.
Speaker 3: How do you say, take.
Speaker 2: The landlords and they gave you X number of million.
Speaker 2: I would say that's like almost normal politics. But then
Speaker 2: how do you protect tenants and renters in a city
Speaker 2: of horrific housing economics?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Well, first, if you.
Speaker 3: Are going to be in elected.
Speaker 1: Office, you cannot be influenced by who gives you money, right,
Speaker 1: that's rule number one. That's I think to a journalist, well,
Speaker 1: look at who's taking advertising in your newspaper and write
Speaker 1: favorable things about the advertisers.
Speaker 3: Then you're not a journalist.
Speaker 1: It's unethical if you and I've been in an elected
Speaker 1: office many times. I've raised hundreds of millions of dollars.
Speaker 1: It can't matter who gives you money. Now to the
Speaker 1: extent people are supporting me who are institutional interests because
Speaker 1: institutional interests need a city that works, right.
Speaker 4: They want a city with the future.
Speaker 1: What they're afraid of is you elect a socialist who
Speaker 1: tries to give everything away free, doubles the taxes on
Speaker 1: the wealthy, and the wealthy say that's it. I'm gone.
Speaker 1: By the way, we lost five hundred thousand people since
Speaker 1: COVID to begin with. You're now going to double taxes,
Speaker 1: and people will say, I'm going to Florida, I'm going
Speaker 1: to Texas, etc. It's not worth the premium, especially since
Speaker 1: the quality of life has deteriorated and I'm afraid to
Speaker 1: get on the subways. So why would I pay the
Speaker 1: premium to live here when I'm not getting the benefit
Speaker 1: of living here? I'll go to Texas, I'll go to Florida.
Speaker 1: I'll come back a few times a year.
Speaker 4: I'll see you play.
Speaker 1: I can hire a private jet with the tax savings.
Speaker 3: That's what we have to worry.
Speaker 5: About, governor, speaking of Trump's relationship with city mayor's President,
Speaker 5: Trump's Justice Department is investigating you or allegations you lied
Speaker 5: to Congress about COVID. You said that that's politically motivated.
Speaker 5: But how afraid of you are the possibility of getting indicted,
Speaker 5: perhaps even arrested by the Trump administration. That's got to
Speaker 5: be on the table.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know this is a joke, but this investigation
Speaker 1: is a joke. But there's no doubt that Donald Trump
Speaker 1: uses the Department of Justice and the justice system as
Speaker 1: one of the tools in the political arsenal. When I
Speaker 1: was governor, the governor the first When I was governor
Speaker 1: and dealt with Trump in the first administration, he investigated
Speaker 1: me twice with the Department of Justice. That sort of
Speaker 1: like is his left jab. Just keep throwing it out there.
Speaker 1: I want to go back here. I want to get
Speaker 1: back to the primary the election. At Hanne Lauri is saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: all this big picture stuff is great, you got to
Speaker 1: win the primary, you got to get onto the election.
Speaker 1: How about nineteen seventy seven, folks, this is New York
Speaker 1: City in the five boroughs. Bella Absick took Manhattan, a
Speaker 1: Beam took Brooklyn, but Dio took the Bronx. A guy
Speaker 1: named Cuomo took Queens and Staten Island, and Ed Koch won.
Speaker 3: That's how nuts New York City is.
Speaker 2: Which geography right now is most critical for you in
Speaker 2: the five boroughs for you to take this primary.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting it.
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen seventy seven, the borough were more homogeneous
Speaker 1: and sort of class oriented. That has changed over time.
Speaker 1: The basic division is you have younger, more activist, more progressive,
Speaker 1: if you will, voters who identify as socialists. They will
Speaker 1: say I am socialist, I say tax the rich, I
Speaker 1: say everything should be free. Palestine factors in there. And
Speaker 1: that's one demographic. And then you have a second demographic,
Speaker 1: which is a little bit older, more mainstream, if you will,
Speaker 1: and that's the democrat demographic that I appeal to.
Speaker 3: You brought up.
Speaker 2: Palestine, Let's go there right now. There's a unique relationship
Speaker 2: of this city with the Israel.
Speaker 3: Everyone knows this.
Speaker 2: We see nationwide, a new form, a new debate over
Speaker 2: anti Semitism.
Speaker 3: I think of Earth eleven.
Speaker 2: My household happened to worship his father a million years ago.
Speaker 3: Explain to me your relationship with Israel as mayor of
Speaker 3: New York City.
Speaker 2: How will that be distinctive given the horror that we
Speaker 2: see in the levant.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a great question, and it is unique to
Speaker 1: New York. I believe if you grow up in New
Speaker 1: York the way I have, the Jewish community is such
Speaker 1: an integral part of New York. Right, New York is
Speaker 1: not New York without the Jewish community. Jewish community started
Speaker 1: coming to New York in sixteen fifty, one hundred years
Speaker 1: before the other immigration groups, and they have been in
Speaker 1: major institutions, So you grow up with the Jewish community.
Speaker 1: I have two brothers in law who were Jewish, my
Speaker 1: son in law is Jewish. It's that close a connection.
Speaker 1: And I've been one hundred percent supportive of Israel. My
Speaker 1: father was before me. I've done numerous trips to Israel.
Speaker 1: I was very aggressive supporting Israel. This was the first
Speaker 1: state to go against boycott, discriminate, disinvestment, and sanctions for Israel.
Speaker 4: So it is a very pro Israel state.
Speaker 3: Paul, get one in here.
Speaker 5: Please, Governor No One presumably arguably takes the air out
Speaker 5: of the room more than President Trump. He just demands
Speaker 5: the media attention.
Speaker 6: In a way we've never seen before. Are you surprised
Speaker 6: that the Democratic Party no One has stepped up, no
Speaker 6: voice has emerged to at least counter some of the
Speaker 6: policies and some of the arguments coming out of the
Speaker 6: Trump administration.
Speaker 3: And would you relish that role at some point?
Speaker 1: Well, I'll go back to the Wayne Gretzki quote that
Speaker 1: I wasn't supposed to use a.
Speaker 4: Stranger in New York.
Speaker 3: Marks.
Speaker 1: First, the Democrats have to get the cadence of the game.
Speaker 1: They are coming up a day late, right. I don't
Speaker 1: believe this. I believe this uh immigration, uh and Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: and it's going to get worse, and it's going to
Speaker 1: be New York. I believe this works politically for Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: I also believe it masks the budget debate, which is
Speaker 1: really the consequential debate for urban America short term. And
Speaker 1: he's onto a new topic now, and the Democrats wind
Speaker 1: up a day late. Because if you're arguing about the
Speaker 1: budget today, you're missing Los Angeles and New Jersey and
Speaker 1: the immigration debate.
Speaker 2: We're going to wrap up here in a moment here
Speaker 2: for Bloomberg Television, of Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 3: Andrewcomo with Politico. There was a mayor from Chicago who
Speaker 3: can be a little spice.
Speaker 2: You name Emmanuel He's out this weekend, and Ramas all
Speaker 2: wound up about the week in the Democratic Party brand,
Speaker 2: and I would say he was basically, he is mayor
Speaker 2: of Chicago, and potentially you as mayor of New York.
Speaker 2: The one's fighting the fight to get the Democratic Party
Speaker 2: to get some backbone. Does that lead to a presidential
Speaker 2: effort in twenty twenty eight? I mean, is a Democratic
Speaker 2: Party going to shift back to that centrist tendency that
Speaker 2: we talked about in nineteen eighty five?
Speaker 4: Centrist?
Speaker 1: Forget the trying to define political at the ideology I
Speaker 1: worked with ram and the Clinton administration. It's sort of
Speaker 1: practical and common sense.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: The Democrats lost to Trump? Why did we lose to Trump?
Speaker 1: I don't believe Trump won. I believe the Democrats lost.
Speaker 1: I believe what happened is the Democrats became disconnected from
Speaker 1: their people. They became disconnected from the kitchen table issues.
Speaker 1: Talk to me about my more, talk to me about
Speaker 1: my job, talk to me about the economy, talk to
Speaker 1: me about public safety. I don't want to hear about
Speaker 1: these esoteric issues right now when I'm worried about my
Speaker 1: life today.
Speaker 3: And do something for me. You're the Democratic Party.
Speaker 1: The Democratic Party fundamentally believes in the functionality of government,
Speaker 1: and you haven't functioned. Show me something that you did
Speaker 1: for me that made a difference in my life. Joe Biden,
Speaker 1: you were president. What did you do that I can see, feel,
Speaker 1: or touch. That's where the Democrats belove Paul.
Speaker 3: This is so important.
Speaker 2: I want to get back to some of the basic
Speaker 2: stuff Paul was talking about. I mean, day one, the
Speaker 2: congestion text, day one, bike lanes.
Speaker 3: Day one, nobody can afford to live in the city.
Speaker 2: What's the day Paul as this earlier, what's your day
Speaker 2: one mandate to those kitchen table Democrats, independents and disaffected Republicans.
Speaker 1: What they're saying first is make me say I'm afraid
Speaker 1: to take the subways and I haven't felt that way
Speaker 1: in fifteen years. Make me safe, and that is public safety,
Speaker 1: that's mentally homeless, etc. Blending into quality of life. That's
Speaker 1: job one. And then affordability. I need to be able
Speaker 1: to pay the rent.
Speaker 2: I got forty five seconds because of all the fancy
Speaker 2: stuff here in the Bloomberg News organization. Your father stopped
Speaker 2: America with a convention speech.
Speaker 3: Are you going to be at a convention running for
Speaker 3: president in the future. I'm running for mayor and that's enough.
Speaker 3: Andrew Clmo, thank you so much, greatly appreciate it.