By Joe Vitale
In what is shaping up to be a stiff New York governor’s race, a small group of Fordham students is looking to add some fuel to the fire by hosting a debate at Rose Hill in September.
The effort, led by students Tom Samuelson, GSB ’16, and Evan Swager, FCRH ’16 , is hoping to make Fordham itself — a linking point among all of the candidates — the debate’s main selling point.
“We just happen to believe that the best place to discuss those policies would be at the most neutral site in all of New York, Fordham,” said the group, which also includes Thomas Roemer, GSB ’16, via email. “Fordham is the former home/ current home for all the candidates thus it is the prime neutral ground.”
Despite differences in political paths, Fordham serves as a bullet point on the biographies of each of the major candidates.
Incumbent Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, received his B.A. from the university in 1979. Rob Astorino, a Republican challenger and current Westchester County executive, graduated with his B.A. a decade later. Zephyr Teachout, a Democrat who is challenging Cuomo in the September primary, has the most recent connection to Fordham: She is an associate professor of law there.
With the dots connected, Samuelson and Swager considered an on-campus debate — Rose Hill gym or the field house would be suitable venues, they say — to be a “natural step” in the governor’s election.
“This debate must happen for the sake of the democratic process in this state and by extension the nation,” the team of students said collectively.
While many members of the Fordham community enjoy the final days of their summer vacations, the team is using social media to mobilize students and attract the attention of larger media outlets — and the candidates themselves.
As election day nears, their social media presence is growing, albeit slowly. The campaign’s Facebook page has attracted close to 500 likes, half of what they say is necessary to be considered reputable by larger media outlets. The campaign’s Twitter account has a little more than 100 followers, though notable followers include Teachout and Astorino, both of whom are on board with a Fordham debate, according to the group of students.
According to a report by Fordham Daily in July, the university would “fully support” an on-campus debate.
While the grassroots effort has gained the attention of some of his challengers, Cuomo has paid little attention to the possibility, a move perhaps unsurprising to many given that the current governor has not done a great deal of traditional campaigning for the November race — though he sits on nearly $32 million in such funds.
His most brazen move, his critics say, was challenging Teachout’s New York residency, of which five years is required to compete in the governor’s race. In recent days, however, a State Supreme Court in Brooklyn ruled that Teachout had supplied necessary evidence to prove she has been a resident for as long as she has been teaching law at Fordham: five years. Following the judge’s verdict, Cuomo said his lawyers would appeal the ruling.
Even so, if early polls are any indication, Cuomo has little reason to worry.
In a recent Siena College survey, for example, he was viewed favorably by 57 percent of likely voters. As for those who would vote in support of Cuomo, 58 percent responded affirmatively, while 26 percent said the same about Astorino.
A more-than-comfortable lead early on, say Samuelson and Swager, may explain his failure to respond to any requests for a debate.
“My best guess as to why Governor Cuomo and his campaign have not responded is that he believes that he has nothing to gain politically from a debate,” said Swager. “In fact, Cuomo has more to lose from a debate than he has to gain.”
But the team of students remains faithful in the transparency of the political process. Cuomo, they say, “has a duty as a governor in the 21st century to present and discuss his policies and his plans for the future.”
The team is yet to reach out to other little-known candidates who are running in the upcoming primaries, but said it is open to the idea as it may lead to putting additional pressure on Cuomo to concede to a debate.
