Cuomo Ad Strategy Criticizing James a Desperate Attempt to Protect Relevancy and Future Opportunities

New York State Attorney General, Letitia James and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and State Attorney General, Letitia James are really unhappy with one another and doing some aggressive talking.

Cuomo, fallen from power due to multiple allegations of misconduct in the form of sexual harassment, is laying responsibility for it on James.

He and his team released a video — “Politics vs. the Law” — criticizing an investigation led by James' office that determined that while Cuomo was serving as governor, he harassed 11 women. The ad mocked the validity of the work and James’ professional ethics, saying, “the rejection of the Attorney General's findings by five separate District Attorneys, as well as expose revelations of the prosecutorial misconduct behind her report.”

The video communicated a slew of allegations, saying of James, her office and the investigation that in digging into Cuomo, the research “may have turned a blind eye to crucial details,” involved “witness tampering and perjury,” and “created more questions about the politicization of the process,” and in the end, damaged the reputation of an “innocent man,” meaning clearly that, “Political attacks won. And New Yorkers lost a proven leader.”

James is not having any of it, saying she'd be “more than happy to expose” Cuomo's record if he decides to run against her as an independent in 2022. James has pointedly said, “The bottom line is he wants redemption. But I can't give him redemption. Only God can give him redemption.”

The very public, ugly fight is typical in politics yet it might not be for the reason many believe.

“Up front, let me state that I do not believe Cuomo will run for AG,” says Elie Jacobs, a partner at Purposeful Communications, a political partner with the Truman National Security Project and an advisor to candidates and elected officials.

“The ad running online is about as good an ad and message as possible for someone in his position, but I do not expect him to run for AG, for two primary reasons: 1) he’d likely lose and 2) even if he did win, there’s no ‘win’ there. He’d be AG, not governor and it would not position him for a next job,” Jacobs says.

The reason for flooding the public with ads is about something much different.

“This is about trying to clear his name so he’s no longer a pariah and can regain access to the c-suites he needs to be in to make a living.”

Elie Jacobs, an advisor and partner at Purposeful Communications

James is not showing she’s intimidated by Cuomo and his team, in spite of the ads questioning her and her office’s ethics and professionalism, and Cuomo and his team believing the findings of the investigation are disinformation or malinformation.

The back-and-forth allegations, unbecoming maybe, yet there could be value in communicating in such a manner.

“It certainly has the feel of a gun fight at the O.K. Corral,” Jacobs says. “The motivation from both sides is about credibility more than reputation. Cuomo wants to emerge as a credible figure: credible leader, credible executive, credible to not have harassed anyone. James wants to establish her credibility as a law enforcer and future candidate for higher office. She needs to be credible to take on former President Trump and any and all other high-profile investigations to come during the remainder or her term and next term.”

Jacobs says the former governor is between a rock and a hard place, in desperate straits, trying to find answers to the obstacles standing between where he is and where he wants to be, needs to be.

“Cuomo really has no choice but to attempt a move like this. He has nothing to fall back on; no office to run for, no high-profile job, no wife or partner. His entire life is politics and that’s been taken away, so he’ll play politics from the side in the hope people pay attention to him,” Jacobs says.

There is ego of course as an element in all this too for Cuomo.

“If he doesn’t actually run for office, people will quickly forget about him, much as they did with Eliot Spitzer, a fate Cuomo will do everything he can do avoid,” Jacobs says. “One big part Cuomo has never done and I see no way forward for him if he doesn’t do it, is making a mea culpa. Admitting he was wrong, recognizing what he did and vowing to never do it again. This campaign to castigate his accusers is the opposite of what he should be doing to re-emerge.”

New York Times reporters Nicholas Fandos and Katie Glueck addressed this issue in their piece, “Cuomo Portrays Himself as a Victim in Six-Figure TV Ad Blitz.”

For being in the unenviable and painful position he is however, resorting to defending himself in the court of public opinion through advertising, Jacobs sees the effort helping in at least a little way.

“Cuomo’s message is about as strong as a message as anyone in his position could be in,” he says, quickly adding, “While he may have supporters in New York State still, there aren’t enough, nor will they be vocal and active enough to resuscitate his political career.”

In the end, what Cuomo doesn’t want to do, what is difficult for any successful person of high ego, to do, which leads to resistance, is what is expected by media, victims and the general public.

“He’s got to apologize,” Jacobs says point blank. “He has to do what he can’t imagine doing — admitting fault, apologizing and making amends.”

Flandos and Glueck agree, as they wrote, “Women’s rights organizations and an array of New York politicians across the political spectrum immediately denounced Mr. Cuomo’s public relations campaign, as records of his ad buys began surfacing.”

Nine women’s rights organizations came together, strengthened by what they see as responsibility evasion and ongoing spin, to issue a joint statement.

“Instead of accepting responsibility, serial sexual harasser Andrew Cuomo continues to challenge the accounts of victims. This attempt to claim exoneration won’t work.”

The ad so upset Representative Elise Stefanik of North Carolina, to the point she called it, “desperately deranged,” Flandos and Glueck reported.

As for James, she responded to Cuomo’s ad and strategy with no fear, throwing a punch of her own and dared the Cuomo team to take her on, if desired. While that is an understandable reaction or calculated response, and certainly debatable as to the importance for it perception-wise, Jacobs sees a better strategy available.

“James should seek to stay above the fray. She shouldn’t respond to the attacks,” he says. “Should an attack come, have a staffer respond. Her response should be ‘I’m doing the job New Yorkers elected me to do. I’m not going to engage in anyone’s comeback tour.’”

Seeking to discredit each other is political normalcy. It can work, damn the ethics. It might be worth an attempt and might not. It depends. In this conflict, Jacobs explains what is political reality.

“Cuomo has to discredit James in order to move on and reemerge,” he says, adding his forecast and and analysis, “He’s unlikely to be successful in this. The hole he’s digging out of is just too deep.”

As for James, she is better served, best served even, not rising and taking Cuomo’s bait.

“She shouldn’t get caught up in it and she shouldn’t expend energy, money, staff on it. She's already exposed him,” Jacobs says, quick to mention, “but that doesn't mean she, her staff and outside groups can't continue a steady deluge of leaks.”