Guv steering clear of birth control issue

As with last fall's national debt crisis, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo seeks to steer clear of another Washington issue -- whether to mandate that religiously affiliated employers provide health insurance coverage for contraception.

"The issues that pose government policy against the church are especially difficult for all of us, especially for those of us who happen to be Catholic," Cuomo said last week in a radio interview. "I've dealt with it on a number of issues, and watched it almost all my life . . . This is a federal issue, so I'll leave it to the federal government."

Cuomo has largely punted on federal controversies, although he's used Washington as a punching bag when comparing it to Albany.

-- Yancey Roy