Bill de Blasio
Will a de Blasio victory be the catalyst for progressive gubernatorial candidates to step forward?
How a BDB win could work against Cuomo
While some New York state Republicanos have deep concerns about the potential negative effect Trump will have on their ability to keep GOP seats in Congress, there’s a handful who feel that after the November New York City mayoral election, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be más vulnerable than ever. Bochincheros tell B&B that while they're hoping that Nicole Malliotakis gives Bill de Blasio an electoral susto, they're not betting on an upset victory. Ironically, they are counting on a de Blasio re-election to be the catalyst for inspiring opposition from Democrats who will give BDB’s arch nemesis Cuomo a primary in 2018. “We’ve got to make the best of the feud between these two,” one bochinchero said. Well, that’s not rocket science, I responded to the insider. “You don’t understand how disliked Cuomo is in the rest of the state,” the source said. “You’re measuring the governor from downstate.” Yup, I am, and that’s how he got re-elected in 2014. The bochinchero quipped back: “All I can tell you is that just as Cuomo has used the IDC to play with Republicans, we have some Democrats who want to get even.” Huh? I’m not sure how this all plays out. But as we say back home, “Cuando el río suena, es porque piedras trae.” In other words: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
RELATED: De Blasio vs. Cuomo is the gubernatorial primary we deserve
Dirt on Moya?
Hiram Monserrate is probably not the best person to throw stones at Francisco Moya. But B&B was told that Monserrate’s got “an arsenal of nasty stuff on Moya.” The Queens insider claims that Moya “knocked two female candidates off the ballot.” The two candidates are Erycka Montoya and Cristina Furlong. Not a good look – the bochinchero pointed out – when just a few weeks ago, Moya got the support of a group of female elected officials including Rep. Nydia Velázquez, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. All this while he’s preventing women from competing electorally. Fair point. So as far as I know, the only face-to-face debate between Moya and Monserrate is scheduled on NY1 in the next two weeks. Get your popcorn, amigos!
Nicole spinning on J.C.
It’s not B&B’s practice to update items in this column. But we’re making an exception in the case of last week’s item, “Not bueno between Nicole and J.C.,” on GOP New York City mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis and J.C. Polanco, the Republican running for city public advocate. Malliotakis tweeted, “Looks like Dems are using ‘divide & conquer’ strategy against most diverse Republican ticket in NYC history! @CityAndStateNY @GersonBorrero”
Neither of my two sources for that piece are Democrats. And one of them – a loyal Republican – said the following about Malliotakis’ response: “She’s such a phony. She had not included J.C. in anything related to her campaign until you wrote about it.” The bochinchero went on to say how revolting it was for her to say that this was such a diverse ticket. “The circumstances have pushed this on our party. Trump has forced locals to try to appear inclusive.” There was a telephone conversation with another bochinchero not cited in the original piece that added: “Nicole is not as bad as Trump. But, she’ll try to deflect attention from her and blame others as she did by saying that your source was a Democrat.”
Well, Assemblywoman Malliotakis did vote for Trump and the GOP isn’t raising dinero for Polanco ... enough said.