Cuomo Attends Uptown IDC Fundraiser, Gets Bashed By Protesters

INWOOD, NY — Protesters shouted "shame" and "no fake Democrats" as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo attended an Uptown Manhattan fundraiser for the Independent Democratic Conference — a group of State Senators that were elected as Democrats but caucused with the body's Republican majority.

Cuomo's appearance at the fundraiser — held at New Leaf in Fort Tryon Park — came just a little more than one week after the governor announced a deal that would bring the IDC back in line with mainline Democrats in the State Senate.

In a video posted to Twitter by the group Rise and Resist, protesters can be heard berating Cuomo with chants such as "fake deal!" and one person yelled "you will never be president."

Cuomo's primary challenger, actress and activist Cynthia Nixon, took the opportunity to bash Cuomo.

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, this evening's video just says five: Andrew Cuomo cannot quit Republicans," Nixon said in a statement. "Gov. Cuomo looked New Yorkers in the eye last week and claimed he was finally stopping his support of the group that handed Republicans control of the senate. And then tonight, he was caught on camera going back on his word, and secretly attending a fundraiser for them."

The eight-member IDC has allied itself with Senate Republicans since 2011 to give the GOP control of the chamber and endow its own members with power and influence. Democrats nominally held a majority of state Senate seats until this year, when two of the party's senators left for other offices, but remained the minority party largely because of the IDC.

The governor's campaign told the New York Post that the event was not an IDC Fundraiser, but instead a fundraiser for "Democratic unity." The event was also attended by mainline Democrats Luis Sepulveda and Shelly Mayer, the governor's campaign told the Post.

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