Cuomo seeks to keep momentum going
If Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo sounded in his second annual address as if he were building the verbal triumphal arch, the strategy behind it was clear enough.
He sought to keep up the momentum that enabled him and the State Legislature to lay claim to last year's convincing string of major deals, including a property tax cap, income-tax changes and legalization of same-sex marriage.
"This isn't the end. This is the beginning. Last year we learned to walk, next year we're going to run," he declared Wednesday.
Minutes later, as his audience dispersed, a lobbyist who didn't want his name used, joked, "Yeah, you learn to run, then you fall down the stairs."
But Cuomo already had sought to pre-empt such pessimism during his hourlong speech. "The cynics don't know us," he said.
Many warm words were exchanged from the stage of the drafty auditorium of Albany's Center for the Performing Arts. As they did last year, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos spoke first and emphasized their own priorities. Silver (D-Manhattan) hailed Cuomo as "the most effective chief executive" in any state. Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) said: "Governor, you've been a leader, an innovator and a friend, and we thank you for that."
In previous years, under different governors, it would have been common for the leaders to react afterward, away from the wider audience, and pretty much tell you which proposals would be dead on arrival because their houses would not take them up.
But even in the absence of that ritual, some of the governor's requests clearly face longer odds than others.
Cuomo urged campaign finance reform. In the text of his message, he urged lower campaign contribution limits, the use of New York City's strict public campaign-finance apparatus as a model and a new enforcement unit in the state Board of Elections.
"New York currently ranks 48th in voter turnout in the nation," Cuomo notes.
But this issue has persisted for decades, and its rapid resolution would be a surprise.
Cuomo, as expected, also called for expanding legalized gambling to include Atlantic City-style casinos off Indian reservations. This requires a constitutional amendment approved by two consecutive legislatures and by voters in a referendum. The typically controversial question of where casinos would go also makes it a long shot.
The governor also argued for a new, cheaper pension tier for future public workers. He emphasized it would not affect the benefits of current employees. "I understand the politics, and I understand the political opposition," he said. But "no one ever said a pension system was a legacy or an inheritance. Taxpayers need help today, and let's respond to them."
Dan Donohue, president of the state Civil Service Employees Association, promptly blasted the proposal, saying he was "surprised" Cuomo gave it "such high priority." Even a new tier enacted two years ago "will not provide the state and localities with any significant savings for many years."
