Andrew’s half-step

Last Updated: 10:45 AM, June 4, 2010

Posted: 11:49 PM, June 3, 2010

Gubernatorial front-runner Andrew Cuomo yesterday made a tentative bid toward establishing himself as a genuine Albany reformer — serving notice that he will not accept the nomination of the union-controlled, ethically challenged, under-federal-investigation Working Families Party.

Yet.

“We will not be submitting Andrew Cuomo’s name for the nomination” at the WFP convention this weekend, a campaign adviser announced, citing an ongoing US attorney’s investigation into allegations that the party helped candidates circumvent campaign-finance law.

Good for Andrew: Seeking the WFP nod would’ve instantly put the lie to the attorney general’s promise to impose ethical standards on the state capital.

But, in that respect, we’re a bit puzzled that Cuomo left the door open to accepting the party’s endorsement in September — “at which time there will be more information available.”

Presumably, he’s hoping that the US attorney’s probe will be done — by rights, said inquiry really needs to be finished by then — and he’s waiting to see whether he might need the campaign muscle the WFP can provide.

But ethical concerns aren’t the only reason he needs to shun the party.

Cuomo, after all, has also vowed to bring taxes and spending under control. Yet the WFP is irreparably compromised on that front, being the exclusive agent of the public-employee unions that have all but bankrupted the state.

What would taking their coin say to the hard-pressed taxpayers Cuomo’s relying on to put him in the Executive Mansion?

Andrew needs to stand firm.

And he needs to stand tall.

http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/opinion/editorials/andrew_half_step_LDbFXBc6vJU6UcGLMqQBcJ