Metro

Cuomo slams Democrats for ‘governmental malpractice’ by trying to kill Amazon deal

Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused his fellow Democrats in the state Senate of committing “governmental malpractice” Friday by trying to kill the deal to bring Amazon to Queens.

The governor delivered the attack during a speech on economic development on Long Island in response to a Washington Post story that the company is considering abandoning New York because of stiff opposition from local politicians, including state Sen. Michael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader.

“The state Senate is trying to stop Amazon from coming,” Cuomo said.

“If Amazon doesn’t come to New York, it’s because of the political opposition.”

He didn’t mention them by name, but Cuomo clearly was referring to Gianaris and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers), who nominated Gianaris to the state Public Authority Control Board that must review the Amazon project.





At issue is the $3 billion in tax and other incentives that the state and city agreed to provide Amazon to build a new headquarters with 25,000 to 40,000 jobs.

“It is irresponsible to allow political opposition to stop sound governmental practice,” Cuomo said.

“There’s an ideolgical group that says `Corporate welfare, Bezos is rich … We shouldn’t offer them any incentives.’”

Cuomo said Amazon will bring at least 25,000 high-paying jobs, the most in state history for a single project.

“There is no business that brings 25,000 jobs,” the governor said.

Cuomo said there’s always not-in-my-back-yard opposition to projects and change — but admitted being taken aback by the ideological resistance to the Amazon deal in the Senate.

He said he understood residents in the area being concerned about the change Amazon’s presence would being to the neighborhood, but called the opposition based on the subsidy “absurd.”





“This was a national competition. They had hundreds of applications. People were courting them. We win! We win!,” Cuomo said.

“It’s a very small group of politicians who are pandering to the local politics. The problem is the state Senate that adopted that position. … I’ve never heard such an absurd situation where political pandering defeated a bona fide, sound economic development project,” he said.

Cuomo said he “wouldn’t want to be a senator running for re-election” after scuttling Amazon and its jobs.

Amazon put out a statement saying it’s still trying to win over the local community — but didn’t dispute Cuomo’s assertion that it’s considering backing out of the deal.





“We’re focused on engaging with our new neighbors — small business owners, educators, and community leaders. Whether it’s building a pipeline of local jobs through workforce training or funding computer science classes for thousands of New York City students, we are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbor we will be,” an Amazon spokeswoman said.

For his part, Gianaris stood his ground and accused Amazon of “extortion.”

“Jobs are good but we need to get them the right way and we shouldn’t be subsidizing to the tune of $3 billion-plus. Google is bringing 20,000 jobs to New York for the minimal possible subsidy involved. Now if I am Google and see that Amazon is extorting $3 billion from this state, then I am on the phone the next day saying, ‘Where is my money?'” Gianaris told Bloomberg TV.

“This is the type of extortion by Amazon that’s got us into this mess in the first place. They think they can sit there in Seattle and dictate terms and hope that governments bend to their will. Well, it’s not going to work.”





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