Zephyr Teachout
[Editorial]
Thanks Zephyr Teachout for having the courage of conviction and running against an incumbent, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who enjoyed a $30 million war chest and yet was afraid to even debate.
Cuomo even claimed a debate, in this instance, would have been a “disservice” to voters.
Next time humble voters should get the opportunity to make that determination after hearing a debate.
And someone should remind the governor that even though he enjoys princely-like name recognition on account of his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, and his association with the Clintons and other political heavyweights, this is still the United States of America. He’s no monarch.
Without any money to speak of Teachout garnered nearly 35% of the vote.
She proved that words do matter and that politics isn’t just about paid advertisements on television, radio and newspaper. People want to hear the candidates’ ideas. The 182,024 people who voted for Teachout responded to her messages.
And what were some of these messages?
Teachout has been a corruption foe and had criticized the governor’s decision to scrap the Moreland Commission to investigate corruption in New York State politics.
She also argued that the governor is too beholden to his big money campaign contributors and calls for financing reform.
Teachout says because the governor favors tax breaks for corporations New York State can’t pump enough resources into public schools to reduce class sizes.
She’s also been a consistent opponent of hydro-fracking.
Teachout denounced New York’s so called “broken windows” policing and correctly called it for what it is — a discriminatory approach that disproportionately affects Black and Latino males.
The Black Star News calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to expand Eric Holder’s current investigation of police departments nationwide to include New York’s as well. DOJ need look into policies such as “broken windows” which pre-assigns criminality on Black and Latino males and is no different than stop-and-frisk which is of course unconstitutional absent probable cause.
Teachout joined the recent protest march on Staten Island against the chokehold killing of Eric Garner by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo.
Teachout has a career in politics.
She has proven that underfunded candidates can make a serious run. Next time around she will likely have more people willing to open their pockets to back her bid for office.
Teachout’s progressive positions and boldness on police abuse were some of the reasons that won her endorsement from The Black Star News.
Her Lt. Governor running mate Tim Wu also made a serious bid, winning 203,713 votes, or 40%.
Teachout has nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of.
The biggest lesson she and other potential candidates can take is this — If your messages are the right ones never be afraid of candidates with princely name recognition and deep pockets.
