State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs has called a press conference for noon at City Hall. He’s expected to announce the appointment of Charlie King as the state party’s executive director, essentially the top strategist for the New York Dems’ fall campaigns. It’s an interesting move for two reasons: The state party has been largely adrift since Eliot Spitzer resigned as governor two years ago, a dangerous thing especially now, with the State Senate up for grabs. But the larger significance is that it signals Andrew Cuomo’s takeover of the state party apparatus, and the beginning of his attempt to set the table more favorably for himself should he be elected governor — pardon me, if he runs for governor. King has been close to Cuomo for years, working with Cuomo at HUD, running for lieutenant governor in tandem with Cuomo’s brief 2002 bid for the statehouse, then running against Cuomo, unsuccessfully, in the 2006 primary for state attorney general. “The way I’d describe our relationship is we’re like family, like brothers,” King told me last year. “You don’t always love your family members, but you realize you’re somehow connected forever.” They’ll be even tighter now.
