For New York Democratic Politicians, Blue Money Matters
Andrew Cuomo, New York's state Democratic Party, and the state's legislative leaders have refused to enact a bill proponents say would deter police violence. They have also raked in more than $1 million from police unions.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference in 2017. Spencer Platt / Getty Images
New York is a blue state. Democrats control the governorship, every statewide constitutional office, and both chambers of the legislature. And yet for all their talk of civil rights, New York legislators have still not passed a package of bills designed to bring accountability to local police departments — and New York’s governor is now insisting that police violence has not been happening, when clearly it has.
Maybe that has something to do with a flood of money that has made New York politics another shade of blue — police blue.
In all, police unions and associations have delivered more than $7 million to current New York state elected officials, according to campaign finance data from the National Institute on Money In Politics. That includes $600,000 to Cuomo during his gubernatorial campaigns.
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