Molinaro for Governor

Molinaro has served as the executive of Dutchess County since 2012.

Hours before Marc Molinaro, the Republican-Conservative-Reform nominee for governor, appeared WBAI’s Max & Murphy program, he tweeted about Gov. Cuomo’s campaign operation and the controversy over who was aware of the flyer sent to Jewish voters that smeared Cynthia Nixon as soft on anti-Semitism.

“Make no mistake,” the the Dutchess County executive and former Assemblymember wrote, “they are incapable of telling the truth & there is no line they won’t cross.”

On the show, I asked Molinaro about that claim: Did he mean that literally, that there was no line the Cuomo people wouldn’t cross? Does Molinaro feel his opponent is depraved or merely wrong on the issues?

“Honestly, I believe it’s both,” he answered. “I believe this governor has not learned the less of the 1970s when he participated in despicable campaign tactics against Ed Koch. I don’t think he’s learned from the corruption trials that have brought to justice members of his administration that have defrauded taxpayers.”

The first reference was to the contentious 1977 Democratic mayoral primary runoff race between Mario Cuomo, advised by his son Andrew, and Koch. Late in the campaign someone began circulating a poster that urged voters to “vote for Cuomo, not the homo,” a nod to rumors about Koch’s sexual orientation, which he kept private throughout his life. For many years, Koch blamed the Cuomos personally for the tactic but toward the end of the former mayor’s life he appeared to accept that neither man was personally involved. The second reference was to the convictions of top Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco and Alain Kaloyeros, a leader of the administration’s upstate revitalization efforts, in separate trials this year.

Molinaro spoke with Ben Max and me mere hours after the Cuomo campaign dropped an ad that referred to Molinaro as a puppet of President Trump. Barely a week old, the general election campaign has already moved into questions of character and personality.

On the show, however, Molinaro discussed his plans to save the MTA, his objections to the SAFE Act and the pending release of his tax-relief plan.

And we took a call. About sewage.

Hear the segment with Molinaro here:

And the full program, including excerpts from our talk with Rebecca Katz, chief strategist of the Cynthia Nixon campaign, here: