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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, May 7, 2014, 2:30 AM

The progressive wing of the state Democratic Party doesn't want Gov. Cuomo to run for re-election on the Independence Party line and plans to tell him so at their upcoming convention.

"You cannot be for ethics and good government and then turn a blind eye to the corrupt practices of [the Independence] party. Those two things just do not go together," Jay Jacobs, head of the Nassau Democrats, told the Daily News.

If the Independence Party doesn't garner 50,000 votes for whichever candidate it backs for governor, it will lose its right to an automatic spot on the ballot.

If Cuomo is on the partys ballot line, it would almost certainly reach that number.

Cuomo has not yet said whether he'll accept Independence Party backing, but Jacobs, a former chair of the state party, has been running a dogged campaign to convince him to forgo it.

Repeated attempts to contact Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay were unsuccessful, but he's dismissed Jacobs quest as a temper tantrum in the past.

Cuomo's Republican challenger, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, has already sworn off the Independence line, calling the party "corrupt," and urged Cuomo to do the same.

Read more:
EXCLUSIVE: Progressives do not want Gov. Cuomo running on Independence Party