State budget battle fought in ads

ALBANY -- As Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo takes his case for deep spending cuts directly to the people, his surrogates have begun pressing his case on the air as the annual budget ad blitz unfolds.

Meanwhile, the state's biggest union was out in opposition with a $1.4-million ad buy criticizing school cuts.

Even Cuomo, who has given speeches touting his plan across the state, hit the airwaves, urging residents to contact lawmakers.

The ad wars show how Cuomo has made allies of previous governors' enemies, while isolating lingering opponents, political observers said.

"In these difficult economic times, there's real reform in the works," says a joint television ad supporting Cuomo's budget by the Greater New York Hospital Association and 1199/SEIU, the health care union; both have vehemently opposed past cuts. Cuomo's Medicaid plan includes items the hospitals and union wanted: limits on medical malpractice lawsuit damages and a living wage for home care workers.

TV ads by a prominent business group, the Committee to Save New York, promoted Cuomo's austere spending, saying it "closes the budget gap without raising taxes, protecting vital programs while creating jobs."

The only group on the air opposing Cuomo, the New York State Teachers Union, has an ad with teens talking about school programs disappearing and calls for extending higher income taxes on the wealthy. "Don't sacrifice their future for tax breaks for millionaires," it says.

Douglas Muzzio, a political-science professor at Baruch College, said the advertising war had a different tenor than those in years past. "Certainly it's not the all-out, ad hominem, massive types of ads that you had," Muzzio said. "Cuomo is a different foe."