GOP leader seeks to defuse Albany rhetoric

ALBANY -- Seeking to tamp down a simmering feud, the Legislature's top Republican said Wednesday he sat down with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to tell him that civility, not hostility, was the way to make progress on key issues at the Capitol.

Cuomo has castigated the Legislature on a statewide barnstorm, more or less saying it needs to clean up its corrupt reputation. Cuomo hasn't named anyone in particular and has taken pains to say most legislators are hardworking people. But a growing number of lawmakers have taken offense at the characterization and have warned that Cuomo is striking the same combative tone that sunk former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's agenda.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who has been among the critics, said he's now seeking to defuse things. Skelos and Cuomo got together for a 45-minute meeting Tuesday to discuss a range of issues as lawmakers near the final month of the legislative session, including tone.

"What I suggested to him was the model we used to get the budget done on time was one of civility," Skelos said Wednesday, "and one of working together, having frank discussions, understanding each other's position and we got an early budget. And if we're going to conclude in orderly fashion, I think that's the way the conversation should be held."

Cuomo kicked off a "People First" tour last week to promote his three-pronged, end-of-session agenda: enact a property-tax cap, tighten ethics laws and legalize same-sex marriage. Lacking any real deadline to force action, he's tried to use his bully pulpit -- and he's used harsh words to try to prod the Legislature.

At his first stop in Syracuse, Cuomo described a political body that was riddled with conflicts of interest. In a Power Point presentation, the first-term governor stopped at one point on a slide that listed about half-dozen convicted or indicted legislators and said New Yorkers had good reason not to trust state government.

As the Democratic governor continued his tour with stops in Buffalo and Hempstead, rank-and-file legislators began to get steamed.

Skelos said Cuomo was "moving in" the direction of Spitzer, whose harsh attacks on the Legislature sank his agenda before his personal foibles bounced him from office. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) also has been critical, saying the governor's tour was "irrelevant" to the outcome of his key issues.

Cuomo has since made an effort to say "there are many good people in the Legislature" during his stops. He took his campaign to Lake Placid Wednesday and, in a question-and-answer session later, the governor raved about the work of lawmakers this year.