Skip to main content

To: Governor Cuomo

Tell Gov. Cuomo: Return Racist Donor's Money

We are outraged and distressed to learn that one of your biggest campaign donors, Dan Loeb, has compared one the highest ranking elected officials in the state, Senator Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, to the Ku Klux Klan.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins is a highly respected elected official and the highest-ranking African-American female elected official in the history of the state. Loeb’s extremely offensive and racist attack on Senator Stewart-Cousins requires swift and dramatic action.

We demand that you immediately break all ties with Loeb, and refund every dollar you have ever received from him and from political action committees that he finances. It is imperative that you disassociate yourself entirely from Dan Loeb and send a clear message that he has no place in public policy in New York State.

Why is this important?

"The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman,” Malcolm X once stated. Fifty-five years later, women leaders of color are still under attack, from Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Senator Kamala Harris, to the racism and Islamophobia launched at the women of color that co-chaired the Women’s March. As a Black Muslim woman, mother of 7 daughters and 2 granddaughters, I will not sit idly by and allow attacks on Black and Brown women to continue.

And now a hedge fund billionaire has accused the highest ranking African American elected official — the highest-ranking African-American woman to hold elected office in the history of New York State — of being worse than the Ku Klux Klan.

As reported in the New York Times on August 10, Dan Loeb, one of the wealthiest men in America, launched a viciously racist attack against New York State Democratic Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, saying she has done “more damage to people of color than anyone who has ever donned a hood.”

Loeb is a hedge fund billionaire who has contributed over $170,000 to Governor Cuomo’s campaign accounts, according to The New York Times, and this does not even include pass-through donations from political action committees. This attack on Senator Stewart-Cousins is nothing new for him. From public education to the economy, Loeb has repeatedly used his wealth to promote an agenda that has devastated communities of color and working families.

Governor Andrew Cuomo positioning himself to run for President in 2020. If Cuomo wants us to believe he has what it takes to challenge Donald Trump and his racist worldview, he needs to have the political courage to break ranks with Loeb now! If he wants have Democratic Party support, he needs to stand with the most important and dedicated bloc of Dem voters: Black women!

There is no place for Cuomo’s alliance with Dan Loeb in American politics. From the State House to the White House, from Main Street to Wall Street, NO MORE!

Join me in demanding that Governor Cuomo immediately break all ties with Loeb, and refund every dollar he has ever received from Loeb and from political action committees that Loeb finances.

New York, United States

Maps © Stamen; Data © OSM and contributors, ODbL

Updates

2017-08-16 10:05:07 -0700

1,000 signatures reached

2017-08-16 07:52:46 -0700

500 signatures reached

2017-08-11 17:35:00 -0700

100 signatures reached

2017-08-11 16:15:40 -0700

50 signatures reached

2017-08-11 15:52:59 -0700

25 signatures reached

2017-08-11 15:43:05 -0700

10 signatures reached