When Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP White House nominee, said in an interview Monday that he wanted to fire Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and would consider replacing him with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (D), that came as a surprise — and unwelcome news — to Sandy Treadwell, the Republican nominee in the 20th district race.

Treadwell, a former state GOP chairman, put out a statement seeking to tie Cuomo, and the woman he is trying to unseat, freshman Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D), to the financial crises surrounding lending giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. He noted that Gillibrand worked for Cuomo at the Department of Housing and Urban Development when Cuomo served as HUD secretary under President Bill Clinton.

Treadwell said that under Cuomo, HUD “advanced a popular political agenda ahead of a sound fiscal agenda and contributed to the disaster we are facing today.”

“I strongly support Sen. McCain for president because he consistently puts principle ahead of politics and is capable of disagreeing with his party when he feels it is wrong,” Treadwell said. “However, I disagree with him on his recent statements about Andrew Cuomo. It would be a huge mistake to have Andrew Cuomo as SEC commissioner. As the Secretary of HUD, Andrew Cuomo was front and center in the policy decisions that pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to extend housing loans to millions of people who simply couldn’t afford to pay them.”