Knock Knock. Who's There? Sore Winners

Sore winners who?

Sore winners who apparently take offense to people who don't toe the line.

For most of us here in NY, the election season is over. The ads are gone (and good riddance to them); the debates are over; even most of the campaign signs have been picked up and set aside perhaps for another campaign, or maybe for a bonfire.

Many folks are probably celebrating the victory of New York's Sonofa Gov, Andrew Cuomo, who won re-election by a comfortable margin over his Republican challenger, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro.

But Cuomo's victory was not enough for some, including Dani Lever, his campaign's Communications Director. She apparently is not happy with media outlets like my local paper, The Post-Standard and its web outlet, Syracuse.com, which failed to hop on board the Third Term Express.

The Editorial Board did not to endorse Cuomo this time, for a number of reasons. Take a look:

Cuomo is polished and forceful, a builder and a doer. He's in the conversation as a presidential contender. But under his leadership, New York's progress has been uneven.

A million New Yorkers have left the state since 2010. Upstate's economic recovery from the 2009 recession has lagged behind the nation's, and Central New York's recovery has lagged behind even more. Some of those billions the state spent on economic development went to poorly planned, corrupt or underperforming projects. While property taxes haven't gone up dramatically from year to year, they certainly haven't gone down, and New York's taxation ranking against other states has barely budged. Cuomo's fight for ethics reform has been half-hearted, at best, obstructionist, at worst. He's blind to corruption right under his nose.

If Cuomo really wanted it, New York already would have comprehensive ethics reform and real property tax relief. He won't take that on. So elect someone who will. 

And (emphasis added), 

We endorsed Cuomo in 2010 to clean up Albany, and again in 2014 despite his failure to do so. Not again. Not this time. Change in Albany starts at the top.

While Cuomo has been good for New York, many New Yorkers in Upstate aren't feeling it. New York can do better. Molinaro deserves a chance to try.

You're reading that correctly: the paper endorsed the Republican gubernatorial candidate, noting among other things.

Voters have four alternatives: Republican Marc Molinaro, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, independent candidate Stephanie Miner and Libertarian Larry Sharpe. We endorse Molinaro to refocus state government's attention from the national stage - the Trump resistance, Puerto Rico hurricane relief -- to the places we live, work and go to school.  

Enter the response from one of the sore loses affiliated with Cuomo's campaign:

To the Editor: 

Your Editorial Board was a steadfast supporter of Mayor Stephanie Miner throughout her term and supported Marc Molinaro against Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The election results for the city of Syracuse, the heart of your circulation area, had Cuomo winning with close to 67 percent, Marc Molinaro at 21.9 percent, Howie Hawkins at 5.3 percent and Stephanie Miner at 3.8 percent. There is clearly a significant disconnect between the positions of the editorial board and those of your readers, and considering these different realities, perhaps the Board needs to gain a better perspective. We believe performance matters in government and citizens value results and progress.

Dani Lever, Former Communications Director, Cuomo 2018

I'm not sure how much time Lever has spent here in my neck of the woods, but I wonder if she's aware of how things work around here?  

• There are over 287,261 registered voters in Onondaga County, but only 108,079, or around 37%, are Democrats.
• Syracuse residents opted for an Independent mayor last year, rejecting both the major parties and going our own way.
• Onondaga County has always had a Republican County Executive, and the Legislature has always had a Republican majority. 

Cuomo may have won 67% of the vote within the city limits, but he only won Onondaga County by about 8,500 votes, and he lost all of the surrounding counties save one, Tompkins County - demonstrating that the endorsement of Molinaro was pretty much in line with what the voters in the paper's subscription area felt.

Perhaps Lever (and her boss) are the ones in need of a better perspective?