Gov. Andrew Cuomo has turned his attention to repairing his relationship with liberals as the legislative session nears its end. Cuomo stands to see his lead over Republican gubernatorial challenger Rob Astorino significantly impacted if The Working Families Party (WFP) backs their own candidate to the left of Cuomo. The governor does not seem to be in jeopardy of losing his reelection bid, but he surely wants to secure an impressive victory. To that end Cuomo is focused on delivering a deal on campaign finance reform before the mid-June end of the session. Reform-minded Democrats and advocates want to see an expanded public campaign financing system from the pilot program included in the state budget agreement that only includes this year's comptroller race. Backroom negotiations over the issue are expected to heat up starting today, Monday, and play out over the next few weeks before the WFP's May 31 convention.
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