September 20, 2010

Mr. Andrew Cuomo
Office of the Democrat Party of New York
Albany, NY

Dear Andrew:

Please note in all previous correspondence that I have addessed you as Mr. Attorney General with the appropriate respect for the office that you hold. However, today I address you as the man the Democrats - the folks who gave us Spitzer, Paterson and Hevesi - have nominated for Governor
of New York.

It has been six days since I publically challenged you to a series of debates. You have not responded publically and have declined to comment, but news from reporters is that you insist on including Conservative nominee Rick Lazio. So in other words you want to cut out the Black candidate and the Woman candidate and I imagine you don't want the Green Party candidate their too. And the pro-tax Working Families Party, of course you are their nominee.

I guess what I find most offensive, other than the arrogance towards the public by your lack of a public answer, is the idea that this is somehow your decision as you have some sense of entitlement based on being the son of Mario Cuomo, a governor who left our state economy in a wreck. I know. I remember trying to make a living in Upstate New York while your father was governor.

I think former Govenor George Pataki set the correct precedent on this and debated all nine of his legal opponents who had a place on the ballot because he believed the people had the right to hear each candidate. Pataki put his own political best interests aside for the public good. It's difficult to understand why you, a polished veteran campaigner, scion of a political dynasty and king-designate, would fear a simple businessman from Buffalo, who candidly has never been in a debate in his life - except maybe in a bar.

Frankly, i dont think you have the cojones to face me and the other candidates in a open debate. I dont think you have the cojones to answer direct questions regarding the mistakes you made at HUD in pushing a sub-prime mortgage scheme that cost taxpayers $2.4 trillion dollars and cost most New Yorkers the value of their 401-Ks. I dont think you have the cojones to answer questions about why you embraced ethically-challenged Charlie Rangel while pledging to clean up corruption. I don't think you haved the cojones to defend why some were prosecuted in the Hevesi Pension scandal while others - including many of your key supporters - were not.

So Andrew, for the first time in your life be a man. Don't hide behind daddy's coattails even though he pulled strings to advance your career every step of your way. Come out and debate like a man.

Because no one inherits the New York Governorship - you have to earn it.

Sincerely