Transcript: Governor Cuomo Delivers Remarks, Accepts Endorsement of Queens Democratic Party
Because yes, it's great for the Democratic Party to pursue the ideal world, but the Democratic Party has to live in the real world.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, candidate for Mayor of New York City, today proudly received the endorsement of the Democratic Organization of Queens County and Chairman Rep. Gregory W. Meeks.
Cuomo was on hand at Queens Democratic Party Headquarters in Forest Hills for the endorsement rally where he addressed more than 100 elected officials, community leaders, and grassroots supporters that came together to pledge their support and rally behind the Queens native’s candidacy.
A transcript of his remarks appears below:
Let's hear it for a really great chairman, a great congressman Gregory Meeks. I'll tell you, I'm so proud of Congressman Meeks. I've known him a long time. I don't want to tell you how long we're going to go. I have not. We look a lot younger than we are, but I've watched his whole career and he's always been extraordinary. But this is a special moment and to have Congressman Meeks, not just on the Foreign Affairs Committee, but Congressman Meeks in the House of Representative today when democracy is on the line, he is a freedom fighter for democracy and no one is better than great Meeks and no one, no one could represent us better than great Meeks and Congressman Meeks is the brains and the strategy and the foreign affairs of the operation. Then assembly member Vivian Cook is the heart of the operation, and she has been so kind to me, not always by the way she had that one comment. I was going to let it go, but we need someone we can talk to. She yells pretty good too when she needs to. But she's always there with a warm heart. She's always there with a hug, and she's always there to tell you that you love and that my friends is a special quality assemblywoman.
I'm a Queens Boy and I'm damn proud of it. I worked in the Clinton administration to travel all over the country and they'd be listening to me speak in some state, Kansas, somewhere in the middle of the country, and they say, is that a New York accent? I said, no, no, no. That's a queen's accent. Accent. I'm proud of it.But the Cuomo’s are all Queens,, Andrea Cuomo, my grandfather, my father's father, us in Jamaica, Queens, has a little grocery store. My father's born there, lives in the back of the grocery store, and then they retire and they move up to Hollis Queens. This was the big move, maybe a mile and a half, a big movement to Hollis Queens where my grandfather bought a single family home and he used to see it like it was the Taj Mahal. I bought a single family home. It was the first time in his life he wasn't in an apartment building or an attached home, so single family home. And then my father buys a house about four blocks from my grandfather in the house. So the entire trajectory was only about a couple of miles. I get married, I moved Douglaston, Queens. That was about five miles away, so that was the big move. But Queens is, as the congressman said, Queens represents, just think about it, the most diverse county in the country, the most diverse county in the country, when that is really the question that everyone in this country is talking about today.
And this election is serious as a heart attack. And there are two things that are going on. Number one, we have to fix New York City. New York City's in trouble. It is in serious trouble. And people talk about, well, we have ups and downs, we have economic cycles. I was HUD Secretary. Sometimes there is no cycle. Sometimes it's just a downward trajectory because what happens is people start to leave. We've lost 500,000 people in New York City, 500,000, not just rich people who left the taxes, middle class working families, black, white homeowners here in Queens who said, I can now sell my house for four, $500,000. Move to South Carolina, pay half that amount. We are losing people and we're losing people quickly. And what happens is a city starts to lose tax base. Then what do they do? They have two choices. Either they increase taxes, lose more people, or they decrease services, lose more people. So it is a very precarious time. The good news is there is nothing here that we can't fix. What do we have to do? Public safety. We know how to do that. We've done that time and time again.
We know how to make New York City safe. Clean up the subways. Make the subways safe. We've done that before. Help them mentally Ill homeless on the streets. Why would you leave them on the streets in the first place? That's not compassion. That's not civil rights, that's not progressive policy to leave people who can't care for themselves on the street, they're a danger to themselves or others. Give them the professional help they need. That's what has to be done. Make the city work. Have people, me, you got this e-bike mania out there. You can't figure out how to cross the street. They come from the left. They come from the right. They come from behind you. They drop down from the heaven. I don't know where they come, but the city feels like it's out of control and people are nervous and people are anxious. Fix it, make it happen. Government is about delivering and getting results. Government is not about talking. It's not about, I have a plan. I have a press release. I'm proposing this bill. People out there are tired. They want to see progress. Make a difference in my life. Make a difference in my life. Can you literally say the best sounds like Donald Trump. The best government is the best politics. There's a lesson towards, in this last election, Donald Trump did not win the election. Democrats lost the election.
Democrats lost the election right here in New York City, 500,000 fewer Democrats came out the vote. 500,000 fewer Democrats. Why? Because they're not excited, because they're not believing in the Democratic Party. Why? Because yes, it's great for the Democratic Party to pursue the ideal world, but the Democratic Party has to live in the real world. And the Democratic Party left its seat at the kitchen table. That's what happened. And people are saying, help me now. Help me today. Help me with my mortgage. Help me with my taxes. Keep me safe. Help me with my commute. Do something that helps me in my life. And this tangible. And that's why when the Congressman talks about what we did, all of it was about helping working families, getting it done, and making it tangible and real. Raise the minimum wage to the highest in the United States. Put more money in people's pocket and they know it. Pass the best paid family leave program. Give them the decency to spend time with their family when they need it. The best gun safety law in the United States of America saved lives, saved lives. And yes, new LaGuardia Airport, JFK on the way. New Second Avenue Subway, new Kosciuszko Bridge. New Mario Cuomo Bridge.
But get it done. Let me see it. Let me feel it. Let me know that in my life, government is working. That's what we have to get back to in New York City. Delivering for people.Well delivering is hard. I'd rather just talk about it. I know, I know delivering is all. You see this gray hair, it wasn't always in there. Vivian gave you a little bit of it, but other than that, you see these wrinkles. They weren't always there. Getting it done is hard. Why? Because it's New York. It's New York. Whatever you go to do, somebody's against it. You never have consensus. A hundred percent. You going to change a light bulb. You could sue the next day by the committee to preserve all the light bulb. Or if you do that, that poor light bulb has been there for 30 years. I know, but it's not working. Try a candle. We believe in candle. Whatever you do, there's going to be opposition. So I understand why politicians don't like to do it. Why? Because politicians don't like to generate opposition. But for me, the alternative is worse because if you don't do it, then you get nothing done. And if you get nothing done, then you fail. And we have to get back to a democratic party that produces, produces quickly, shows people real results so that their optimism and confidence in New York goes up. That's job one. We can do that job. We've done it before. We're going to do it again, and we're going to make that happen.
The second job is also exactly what the Congressman spoke about. The existential threat is a man named Donald Trump. Now we all know this man says he came from Queens. I dealt with him for four years. I fought with him for four years. I know him. He in many ways has learned from his first administration to his second. And he is more diabolical in this administration. What he's doing on immigration, what he's doing on Department of Education, what he's doing with the lawyers, what he's doing with the judges, what he's doing with the federal workers. You ain't seen nothing yet. He's just warming up. The next move he's going to follow the money. He's going to follow the money. He's going to want to do a budget. He's going to want to do a tax cut. And they say, you need money to do a tax cut. We'll take it from the military. No, we'll take it from Title one. No, we're taking it from Medicare. No, that's senior citizen. How about Medicaid? Oh, we can take it from Medicaid. That's healthcare for four people. Oh, a hundred billion for the state of New York Medicaid. He's going to cut funding for the blue cities and the blue states just like he did last time. That is what he's going to do, I guarantee you. And what he's going to do is he's going to come and he's going to bully because that's what he does. He bullies. And we know how to deal with a bully queen, right? He puts his finger in your chest. He thinks you're going to step backward. I was the Queens Boy.
I dealt with Mr. Trump, and he huffed and he puffed, but he didn't blow our door and he's not going to do anything. And with all these issues, and even with the funding, there's something even more treacherous about what President Trump did because at his core, his appeal to the people of this country says that we should fear people who are different than us. That's what he uses. He sells fear. He doesn't require the and subliminally. But what he winds up saying is, be afraid of people who don't look like you. People with a different race, people with of color, different cream, people with a different sexual orientation. Be afraid of them because they're different. They're different. They're different than you. And my friends. That is a social cancer that he is spreading throughout this country because the country's all about the opposite. The country is all about diversity.
He says that he sits there at the White House desk. He says it, if you look at the flag behind his desk, there's a seal on it, the presidential seal. It says E Pluribus Unum, out of many one. The concept of the country's the exact opposite. Nobody was here originally except the Native Americans. Everybody else came. And the concept was, you come. You'll join our family. You'll join our community. You'll become an American. We all agreed to the same basic credo, but we don't care. Your color, your skin, your sexual orientation. Join our community. Join our family E pl. And that diversity is a strength because you take people from all across the world. You have an all-star team. You take the best from everywhere. And you put those talents together. That's America. And America started here. That's where that diversity started, concentrated 8 million people, 300 square miles on top of each other, on top of you.
We couldn't move without bumping into someone who was different. And that proximity grew a bond and an understanding. And we celebrated each other. And let me understand your culture. And I want to understand your culture, and I want to celebrate your culture. And that's our strength. That is our strength. And that strength is represented in Queens, New York. That is what Queens is all about. That is the story. You go from neighborhood to neighborhood. Each neighborhood like a pearl and the pearls string together bring, it's a necklace. And that is Queens, that beautiful diversity, celebrating that diversity. And this place has to be the place to stand up to Mr. Trump and say, no now, No way. The counter force starts here. The counter revolution starts here. The home of the opposition is New York City. And we're going to push back and we're going to win. And thank you so much.
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