N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's primary challenger stays on ballot

ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 21 (UPI) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's campaign says it will not appeal a ruling allows law professor Zephyr Teachout to remain in the Democratic primary.

A state appeals court, in a ruling Wednesday, rejected the campaign's argument that Teachout has spent part of the past five years in Vermont. A lower court had already ruled Teachout could stay on the ballot for the Sept. 9 primary.

A spokesman said only that the Cuomo campaign is dropping its effort to get Teachout off the ballot.

"With this frivolous lawsuit behind us, I'm hopeful the governor will now agree to debate," Teachout said in a statement. "We have very different visions for where we want to take the state."

The court found that Teachout has close ties to Vermont where she has acted in summer theater.

"That is nothing more than an ambiguity in the residency calculus," the judges said.

Teachout, who teaches at Fordham University Law School in New York City, is an expert on antitrust law and has written about government corruption. She was involved with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign and with Occupy Wall Street.

Cuomo is expected to win the primary easily. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 85 percent of New York Democrats said they know too little about Teachout to have any opinion of her.