"The clemency issue is the best proxy of our time to judge the essence of a political official." Governor Cuomo has issued only two clemencies to people who were incarerated at the time he issued them.
"[A] pragmatic politician," Cuomo shows he knows which way the wind is blowing!
He, like his father, is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
2
Rich, connected, corrupt and politically dead-center Mario Cuomo was not an icon of the left. He was (and is) a conservative's idea of an icon of the left.
5
I'm sorry - but while Mario Cuomo was by all known measures a gentleman - his policies were nothing to get nostalgic about. He and the two governors before him presided over the crumbling of the "empire" state's economy. While NYC has come roaring back (thanks in many ways to Guliani restoring order and Bloomberg outing his global business understanding to work) - upstate NY continues its decline. Doing things like boosting minimum wage so high will only cause more of those upstate jobs to flee to the south (and overseas) - while the low margin businesses up there will continue to close up shop. Liberalism is not what the state of NY needs... What it needs is real economic development and rationalization of the pension systems.
2
I'm gratified by Cuomo's generous, principled stand on refugees this week - and his ban on fracking. But he shares a blind spot with his father - one that goes almost unnoticed - he does not support pubic higher education in this state! Here his Catholic university prejudices come through. The legislature put a bill on his desk to restore money to CUNY, and even though he is working with a budget surplus he hasn't signed it. The result is CUNY and CCNY in particular are reeling under stringent cuts. This hasn't made its way into the press, but it's a very serious crisis. And it's a crisis totally gratuitously induced by our "progressive" Democratic governor, acting like a Republican in this area.
6
Does this mean he'll bring back the ethics committee and let them do their job without interference or influence?
6
I'm sure the private sector workers of New York, who will pay increased taxes for this move, thank the grandstanding governor.
4
Come on, Preet! One more to go. (And Cuomo's appointment of Schneiderman as Special Prosecutor was no favor. It was a set-up.)
6
You have got to be kidding!
Has the writer been to Rochester, Syracuse or Utica recently?
Worse than the south Bronx in the seventies.
Kodak and Xerox are long gone, Alcoa is closing the plant in Messina.
Kraft is closing three plants in the Southern Tier.
Fifteen Dollars an hour is great, but where are the jobs?
Has the writer been to Rochester, Syracuse or Utica recently?
Worse than the south Bronx in the seventies.
Kodak and Xerox are long gone, Alcoa is closing the plant in Messina.
Kraft is closing three plants in the Southern Tier.
Fifteen Dollars an hour is great, but where are the jobs?
10
Exactly...more of those jobs will leave the state. NYC and its suburbs are the only things holding NY state up (which is just the governor was smart not to let Debalsio destroy its economy).
What better way to make NY even more unattractive to businesses. But even I enjoy Cuomo's constant dismissal of Bill deBlasio.
2
Very small, "safe" steps--accompanied by a lot of free publicity and political fanfare--in a state that needs many giant steps. Cuomo is hardly on the cutting edge here. Other states have long been environmentally sensible, have long since embraced medical-use marijuana and raised their minimum wage a long time ago. Cuomo is hardly a maverick.
6
And in other news, the same NYT is or has reported that after 50 years of progressive politics, 50% of New York City residents are barely making it financially (vs. Obama and his UBER rich friends who have made all the money the last seven years) and 70% of their high school graduates require remedial courses in order to do basic college course work even though spending per student is up 23% since 2004 and they now waste an average of $15,400 PER student - like Bloomberg said, you could fire half the NYC teachers and get the same results....
7
Yup the state is in the crapper, literally. It's citizens paying THE highest taxes in the land and the pols and bff's of pols just keep getting richer and richer. Obama promised the moon and hope and change, Cuomo and his band of merry thieves pillaging the state, while the middle class disintegrates before our very eyes. Cuomo all his life in public service private security detail, public money being spent and for what? Mr. Cuomo you haven't done anything to help the middle class. You progressive democrats love to repeat your rhetoric of being the party of the oppressed and poor while you live the life of Riley on our dime. You are delusional if you think people are being helped by you being in office. We are worse off. So get off your high horses and do something actually meaningful for the hard working tax paying people who try to keep our collective heads above water. People are leaving Long Island in droves because they can't afford to live there any longer. People being forced out of the city because of the skyrocketing rents. You have failed us miserably, save the 1%. You have nothing to be proud of Cuomo, nothing.
4
Robert Caro somewhere reads this and nods in recognition. Cuomo, like Lyndon Johnson in Caro's telling, toggles between brutal-in-context application of power and aspiration toward using that power for legitimately noble ends. Here's hoping his better angels win out more often.
1
What is really not progressive about Cuomo and morally wrong is the ongoing patronage jobs handed out in this administration? How about the ongoing corruption of the operation of various authorities in the state?
How about Cuomo finally speaking up about the GW Bridge closing? His operations director at the time said, "it was a NJ problem". The safety of his NY residents ignored.
How about Cuomo finally speaking up about the GW Bridge closing? His operations director at the time said, "it was a NJ problem". The safety of his NY residents ignored.
8
I'm pleased to see a more "liberal" governor in Albany. But so far this shift hasn't extended to some key bread and butter issues that affect New Yorkers. The employees of the City University of New York, (CUNY) are going into their sixth year without a labor contract. There are approximately 25,000 workers and their families that are affected by this. The responsibility for a fair contract lies directly on the governor's desk.
When inflation for these last six years is factored in, CUNY employees have basically endured a 15% pay cut. Our faculty salaries now lag way behind neighboring Connecticut and New Jersey while our housing costs and other expenses in the city have soared. We are loosing quality teachers everyday precisely because of these economic issues.
But CUNY employees are not just bargaining for themselves. The union representing the staff has always added issues to the negotiations that include resources to better the learning opportunities for its students, most of whom come from low income families and many of whom are immigrants.
Sadly, neither of these facts has moved the powers in Albany to respond. Many of us remember a similar economic slump during Mario Cuomo's administration. But the governor's father, true to his own working class roots found the means for a fair labor settlement. A fitting tribute to his legacy would be for Governor Andrew Cuomo to do the same.
When inflation for these last six years is factored in, CUNY employees have basically endured a 15% pay cut. Our faculty salaries now lag way behind neighboring Connecticut and New Jersey while our housing costs and other expenses in the city have soared. We are loosing quality teachers everyday precisely because of these economic issues.
But CUNY employees are not just bargaining for themselves. The union representing the staff has always added issues to the negotiations that include resources to better the learning opportunities for its students, most of whom come from low income families and many of whom are immigrants.
Sadly, neither of these facts has moved the powers in Albany to respond. Many of us remember a similar economic slump during Mario Cuomo's administration. But the governor's father, true to his own working class roots found the means for a fair labor settlement. A fitting tribute to his legacy would be for Governor Andrew Cuomo to do the same.
11
A lot of sniping here, and Andrew Cuomo is the epitome of a corporate liberal with feet planted in the concrete of big development real estate. But, still, it's nice to have him emphasizing a bare minimum wage rather than advocating detention camps for all believers of a major world religion or closing New York off to all immigrants. A whirl around the U.S. to see what the average governor believes will resonate with their population and fear is the beer that they pour freely. A lot of the NY legislature and upstate New York Representatives are getting their cues from the Republican debates and encouraging xenophobia, gun-toting, and getting the 'bad muslims' - you know there's an app for that, right? So let's acknowledge that Andrew Cuomo is trying to be a Governor who on a scale of such things is a lot better than the motley crew of pandering opportunists pitching fear of the other as their principal policy.
2
as to hereditary similarities and differences: his dad would also compromise; but not his principles....
5
Chronic underfunding of CUNY and SUNY is not a liberal agenda.
9
Unless Gov Cuomo funds CUNY, he cannot be considered a progressive.
That was noted last night at Copper Union's Great Hall at mass meeting
of CUNY faculty who are likely to authorize a strike vote. CUNY faculty &
staff have worked for 6 year without a raise and we think Cuomo is to blame. Cuomo would rather the tuition gets raised, even though most CUNY students come from poor/working class families. Glad I did not vote for
him.
That was noted last night at Copper Union's Great Hall at mass meeting
of CUNY faculty who are likely to authorize a strike vote. CUNY faculty &
staff have worked for 6 year without a raise and we think Cuomo is to blame. Cuomo would rather the tuition gets raised, even though most CUNY students come from poor/working class families. Glad I did not vote for
him.
8
Andrew Cuomo has been a political insider since his days of working for his father. He is as complicit as Skelos, Silver and others in the venal culture that has been part of Albany for decades. Worse, his eye is always on what is best for Andrew and his career advancement - if it happens to help the people, well that's just an added bonus.
7
This piece reads in part like a Cuomo press release. Remember that Gov Christie vetoed the liquefied gas port when it was originally introduced. Yes, this is an important move but together with the other moves mentioned do not in any way negate the governor's stance on public education funding, educational testing, unions, the Moreland Comm, rivalry with the NYC mayor which produces disfunction, etc. Do not repaint the governor in the image of his late father; he will never reach that level because he wants to be in total control.
6
Sorry… but anyone who champions for profit charter schools while cutting funds for public education is no "progressive".
16
Cuomo is a loathesome fraud. He shut down the Moreland Commission as he realised he was going to get entangled in the political corruption his own commission was investigating. How morally bankrupt are you that you don't even realise how corrupt you've become?
8
As I recall, Mario Cuomo didn't treat state employees well, and neither has Andrew Cuomo.
4
I believe Andrew smells the whiff of change that is coming to America and is starting to scramble to be in position to lead the progressive blue wave. US voters are sick and tired of small-minded loud boorish white men wrecking our government for the pleasure of their plutocratic handlers. We are coming for you, two-headed Koch monster.
Cuomo is just mirroring Obama's moves to try to square with Democrats before he leaves office after years of give-aways to GOP to try to win them over, even though they have become openly fascist and will never do anything that doesn't involve payola to the GOP, so finally both Cuomo and Obama are giving up their slick style and deciding to ride with the cogent instead of the fascists.
Cuomo is just mirroring Obama's moves to try to square with Democrats before he leaves office after years of give-aways to GOP to try to win them over, even though they have become openly fascist and will never do anything that doesn't involve payola to the GOP, so finally both Cuomo and Obama are giving up their slick style and deciding to ride with the cogent instead of the fascists.
3
While Cuomo has done a handful of good things, his belligerence towards the people who teach our children is shameful and absolutely antithetical to everything any true progressive believes.
Cuomo borrowed a phrase and a characterization from the extremist far-right when he described our public schools as a "monopoly." Not only is this wrong, it is deeply offensive to parents, students and teachers. Monopoly has a precise, clear economic definition; it pertains to private enterprise---not public education.
Andrew Cuomo: There is a word to describe the public schools I grew up in, and educate my children in today. That word is Community---not "monopoly!" Do you even understand the difference, or are you just pretending to be so callous and clueless?
Cuomo borrowed a phrase and a characterization from the extremist far-right when he described our public schools as a "monopoly." Not only is this wrong, it is deeply offensive to parents, students and teachers. Monopoly has a precise, clear economic definition; it pertains to private enterprise---not public education.
Andrew Cuomo: There is a word to describe the public schools I grew up in, and educate my children in today. That word is Community---not "monopoly!" Do you even understand the difference, or are you just pretending to be so callous and clueless?
12
Too late Cuomo.
We've had it with you.
You did all you could do to stop the truly Progressive agenda of Di Blasio.
You deserve no more chances.
Go back to East Hampton.
We've had it with you.
You did all you could do to stop the truly Progressive agenda of Di Blasio.
You deserve no more chances.
Go back to East Hampton.
10
Cuomo appears to be just as pro-corporate and anti-people with regards to the healthcare system as he is for public education. He can label himself however he wants (neoliberal might be the right tag) but "he's no Mario!"
11
I like the way he supported Sandra Lee's surgery for mastectomies and he invited the journalists to discretely follow him in the hospital- he set a good example of how to support a close friends surgery. He showed he is a real human. I also like Chris Cuomo , his brother at CNN-- the family is a good one - Mario was known for being articulate, human and spiritual and his children are too. He is a very sympathetic person for governor.
Supporting your girlfriend by 'discreetly' allowing journalist to gawk after her recent surgery?! Sorry, just more pandering to the media.
6
Good. We need to understand that we have a lot herding-resistant cats on the Left (see many comments to this article for examples.) It's time to realize that discipline action that benefits everybody is what gets respect.
Andy is such a blessing...to himself and big money. To democracy, not so much. (Moreland Commission, or the lack thereof; the 3-man troika he heads, which runs the state; charter schools, as a few points.)
18
You forgot to include the SAFE Act. Or is the sort of anti-democracy that you can get behind?
Remember when Cuomo said he was going to "clean up Albany". Well, that didn't happen. Remember when Cuomo was going to knock down the Javits Center and build a new convention center in Queens. Well, that didn't happen.
How about Cuomo's donation from Extell & Glenwood Management? How about that closed down Moreland Commission?
How about Cuomo's donation from Extell & Glenwood Management? How about that closed down Moreland Commission?
22
Just don't ask Cuomo to support unions and all will be well with his version of liberalism.
16
totally true. Cuomo is the main reason CUNY faculty have worked 6 years without a raise! Some adjuncts are living on food stamps. That is shameful.
7
It's disturbing to see a slightly giddy article about unilateral executive action. Is there no respect or desire to improve the democratic institutions of our state and federal government?
15
Cuomo is no progressive. He is anti-public education and pro-corporate ownership of schools. He is trying his best to ruin schools in NYC and kill the love of learning, not to mention make teaching such a horrific job that no one will want to do it.
24
Who exactly is going to pay for Mr. Cuomo's liberal agenda? The taxpayer, of course, who gets stuck with the bill. On the other hand, they voted for the guy so TOUGH LUCK!!!
6
Cuomo a progressive?! I'll believe it when he stops waging war on public higher education in NY. It's long past time for him to invest properly in CUNY. In recent years, CUNY has been starving and literally crumbling as a result of Cuomo's senseless austerity politics. CUNY students and faculty are needlessly suffering. As it stands, Cuomo's is anything but a progressive vision -- and I have to wonder why the NYT isn't calling him out on his despicable betrayal of public higher ed.
35
I attended a banquet in the mid-80's where his dad gave a speech. He described himself as a "pragmatic progressive." That phrase stuck with me. It seems to be embodied in his son.
Cuomo's "Liberal Agenda"?
Does that so-called agenda include gutting his own anti-corruption (Moreland) commission, selling out public schools to the charter schools industry (who, surprise, surprise, also get heavy financial support from supporters of Cuomo himself!), constantly under-funding NYC mass transit, trashing unions in NYS whenever possible, ignoring affordable housing in NYC, etc, etc, etc?
Does that so-called agenda include gutting his own anti-corruption (Moreland) commission, selling out public schools to the charter schools industry (who, surprise, surprise, also get heavy financial support from supporters of Cuomo himself!), constantly under-funding NYC mass transit, trashing unions in NYS whenever possible, ignoring affordable housing in NYC, etc, etc, etc?
47
Governor Cuomo's not so liberal Regents Reform Agenda (via Race to the Top) is in the process of dismantling what was once the preeminent public school system in the country. What "liberal" politician would choose to wage war on teachers and subsequently on children and their parents as well? His promise to "break the monopoly" of our public schools and turn them over to unregulated, for-profit charters smacks of neo-liberalism. His anti-union, anti-teacher stance is the antithesis of everything his father stood for.
34
I am a life-long progressive democrat who did not vote for Cuomo because of his attacks on public education and his clear preference to promote his rich friends' charter schools.
52
Funny, I voted for him specifically because of that stance. Also because he believes in a woman's right to choose, gun control, and a litany of other issues. He is a Democratic, but refuses to be a political lackey to the unions.
4
So he is a lackey for the billionaires who promote a militaristic and compliance driven education for children of color that they would never permit for their own children. And why do you hate unions? They are responsible for the great middle class we once had. The decline of unions has been accompanied by the decline of the middle class.
18
you mean charter schools? the final hope of families of color to get proper education instead of the defunct public schools?
for the life of me , I do not understand how so called "progressives" can be against something - anything - that is helping black and brown kids get a decent education. unless the so called pogressive is a hypocrite who has sold thier soul to the teachers union who have proven time and again to only care about their members and not the children
for the life of me , I do not understand how so called "progressives" can be against something - anything - that is helping black and brown kids get a decent education. unless the so called pogressive is a hypocrite who has sold thier soul to the teachers union who have proven time and again to only care about their members and not the children
This is ridiculous - what about him unilaterally pulling back millions allocated to building affordable housing in the City of New York today!?!? Is that a part of his liberal agenda??
39
he's an arch conservative, leaving in place the draconian Rockefeller drug laws, and, of course, his total deafness to legalizing Marijuana. wake up and smell the weed, and the tons of tax money going up in smoke.
18
Education is the cornerstone of our democracy. How sad, that the Governor's so called liberal agenda does not address his starvation diet that masquerades as a real funding formula for CUNY and SUNY..."nothwithstanding!"
32
CUNY and SUNY?, what about school districts. You have to educate the kids to get them to college. The typical underfunding of the Yonkers Public Schools is an example of the dismantling of the system. Public education should be an area fully funded at all ends of the spectrum.
SGC, you say "education is the cornerstone of our democracy" I say
PUBLIC EDUCATION IS THE CORNERSTONE OF OUR DEMOCRACY and if we hope to compete in the global economy, etc, we better start educating ALL OF OUR STUDENTS, not just the well off ones. Think back to the post WWII era when the GI bill sent many Americans to college who would have never had a chance to attend college otherwise. My father studied music in college and was a jazz musician (on the side). He never would have been able to achieve that without the GI Bill. But first, he got an excellent education at Yonkers High School before he shipped out into the Navy. We need to embrace this type of education again. And the Middle Class and lower classes will rise and prosper because of it.
SGC, you say "education is the cornerstone of our democracy" I say
PUBLIC EDUCATION IS THE CORNERSTONE OF OUR DEMOCRACY and if we hope to compete in the global economy, etc, we better start educating ALL OF OUR STUDENTS, not just the well off ones. Think back to the post WWII era when the GI bill sent many Americans to college who would have never had a chance to attend college otherwise. My father studied music in college and was a jazz musician (on the side). He never would have been able to achieve that without the GI Bill. But first, he got an excellent education at Yonkers High School before he shipped out into the Navy. We need to embrace this type of education again. And the Middle Class and lower classes will rise and prosper because of it.
12
Yonkers spends more than $22,000 per student! (City of Yonkers 2015 Budget). That is more than 90% of US school districts! How much is enough?
1
It's not either/or, Linda: school districts vs. CUNY and SUNY. My mother graduated from public schools throughout NYC from first grade to M.A. CUNY was free back then. The public schools were excellent. She went regents all the way, and throughout her entire life everyone commented on her intelligence. Yes, she was intelligent, but more important, she was very well educated and she was an immigrant daughter of parents who had very little formal schooling. And she gave back; she became a public school teacher herself in the NYC school system. Instead of the mess NYC schools are in due to starvation, they should be the envy of the world, as they once were.
Beginning with Cuomo's refusing to add a small tax to the very wealthiest of NYC to permanently fund pre-K to his most recent refusal to fund a contract for CUNY, so far as education is concerned, Cuomo is no progressive.
Beginning with Cuomo's refusing to add a small tax to the very wealthiest of NYC to permanently fund pre-K to his most recent refusal to fund a contract for CUNY, so far as education is concerned, Cuomo is no progressive.
3
The Governor's next logical step should be to step up and fund CUNY and SUNY at levels that would support students, faculty, and staff. CUNY faculty and staff are still without a fair contract, even though the state has a surplus? Isn't higher education worth state support and investment? The chronic and persistent underfunding and devaluing of public higher education is a disgrace and the Governor has the power to change this. Tuition cannot be the main funding source for higher education in New York.
42
I am glad to see the governor getting back to his progressive side but but he is still conservative when it comes to education and city workers at the City University of New York. Inadequate funding for CUNY has led to six years without a contract and five years without salary increases for CUNY’s 25,000 faculty and professional staff. But our fight is not just about salary increases. Our students, who are mostly people of color with household incomes of $30,000 or less, have a right to a good education. They are paying a heavy price for the systematic underfunding of our university. Tuition-hike revenue meant to provide CUNY students with smaller classes, more counselors and better support services is being used to cover basic operating costs while the Governor proposes austerity budgets for CUNY. It’s not right.
33
I lost all respect for Cuomo when he raised the GWB tolls to pay for building the Freedom Tower. The WTC site has nothing to do with the GWB, but Cuomo saw it as a cash cow. That's why I call One World Trade Center the $12 Toll Tower.
12
Let's hope he stays the course when it comes to the public health issues surrounding the proposed construction of the Constitution and NED pipelines and compressor stations.
The pipelines are pure Big Government because they are using eminent domain, not for the public good, but for private corporate gain while subjecting upstate NY communities to public health dangers from compressor emissions of benzene and formaldehyde among other carcinogens. He can stop them by having the DEC withhold a clean water permit.
The pipelines are pure Big Government because they are using eminent domain, not for the public good, but for private corporate gain while subjecting upstate NY communities to public health dangers from compressor emissions of benzene and formaldehyde among other carcinogens. He can stop them by having the DEC withhold a clean water permit.
6
It will be interesting to see whether Christie makes amends once he also snaps out of his Presidential fever dream.
2
Andrew is discovering his father's legacy and trying, belatedly, to live up to it. Christie is an ignorant, bullying near to do-well. He is representative of that punitive, selfish, egotistic working class and lower middle class Republicanism found in New Jersey and New York (I grew up in Queens; I know it first-hand). It is anti-union and anti-public education while blissfully ignoring that it was union jobs and great public schools that lifted your family out of poverty and out of the tenements. But Christie and his ilk are for pulling up the ladder behind them, letting others less fortunate struggle without the resources that aided them and their families. They justify their callousness by using the dog-whistle vocabulary of "handouts", "lazy", "fraudulent", etc., which attempts to screen their racism.
16
I can't tell you much about Christie being a lifetime NYer, but I find your description of him to be totally unrealistic ("representative of that punitive, selfish, egotistic working class and lower middle class Republicanism found in New Jersey and New York").
How can working class and lower class be punitive, selfish, or egotistic? They don't enough clout to act that way.
If you want to bash Christie, don't let me stop you. But stop your foolishness of putting down so many decent and hard working average folks. They're too busy just trying to survive.
How can working class and lower class be punitive, selfish, or egotistic? They don't enough clout to act that way.
If you want to bash Christie, don't let me stop you. But stop your foolishness of putting down so many decent and hard working average folks. They're too busy just trying to survive.
2
"Liberals" aren't obsessed with transgender rights. This is a fantasy view of The New York Times, which has a fixation on transgenderism that defies explanation.
21
We should be, the fight for Transgender rights and legal protections is the next wave of civil rights battles for our generation.
When two of the three men in the room are on trial it is not difficult nor a wonder that Cuomo's acting unilaterally. No better tactic to avoid the taint of unimpeded corruption.
17
That $15/hr wage is in the distance, folks. When does it take full effect? So far away that it will be meaningless. It is not going into effect tomorrow.
8