There are not many political insiders like former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s long-time friend and election lawyer Martin Connor who are still active in the tumult of New York City politics.

At 80, Connor, the former state senate minority leader, has been battling over ballot access for at least 54 years. The breadth of his experience makes him a specialized resource within the city’s small bar of election lawyers. It also means he has been around long enough to have witnessed the start of Cuomo’s career when he took a pro-bono role in his father Governor Mario Cuomo’s administration.

“Andrew spent maybe a year or two on the second floor [of the governor’s office], as a dollar-a-year advisor to his father and I think Mario told him, ‘No, go out and make a living.’ And he went out, got a lega

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