EDITORIAL: Debate helps focus NY governor race
The glorious and raucous political diversity of New York was on full display last night at the gubernatorial debate at Hofstra University, sponsored by Newsday and News 12 Long Island. It produced no searing new insights or campaign-ending blunders. But it did show off New York as a cauldron of ideas, offered by candidates both polished and rough-hewn, from upstate and down, representing both rich and poor.
If nothing else, the 90 minutes of rapid-fire answers from seven candidates underlined the seriousness of the state's many problems in a state election year so pivotal that strong voter turnout is imperative. As Libertarian Party candidate Warren Redlich put it: "Please get out and vote so that we can change things, not just in Albany but Washington as well."
For weeks, the campaign had been largely an exercise in asymmetrical political warfare: On one side, the well-funded Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, holding the high ground and issuing volume after volume of plans for the state. On the other, the angry challenger, Carl Paladino, hurling verbal hand grenades so outrageous that they alienated many of his fellow Republicans. But there had been little real discourse between them on the real issues facing New Yorkers.
A wide spectrum of views
On a stage with five-minor party candidates, neither Cuomo nor Paladino really addressed each other directly. But they - and the public - got to hear some views that a two-person debate would not have produced. One example: In answer to a video question from a small-business owner who can't get capital, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins suggested a state-owned bank like one in North Dakota.
The format forced the candidates at least to address questions on taxes, the environment, state spending, education and dysfunction in Albany. They all agreed that taxes and Medicaid costs are too high, that schools are underperforming, that the MTA is an inefficient collection of overpaid bureaucrats, and that a series of indictments of public officials has made New York a national scandal. On cutting the size of government, Cuomo sounded almost as zealous as Paladino, while Charles Barron of the Freedom Party argued: "We cannot continue to cut our way out of this."
One of the better exchanges focused on the MTA. The solutions ranged from giving the governor control (Cuomo, Paladino and Rent Is 2 Damn High party candidate Jimmy McMillan) to privatizing it (Redlich) and electing the MTA board (Hawkins). And Anti-Prohibition Party candidate Kristin Davis lightened the mood with a boast that her escort agency only had one set of books and provided "on-time and reliable service."
The past four years have been an extraordinarily turbulent period: The landslide election of a forceful new governor, Eliot Spitzer; his resignation in disgrace; the stumbling efforts of his successor, David A. Paterson, to pick up the pieces, the improbable victory of Paladino in the Republican primary.
Now, in two weeks, voters must choose someone to lead us out of this morass. As the two front-runners sharpen their engagement on issues, they shouldn't forget what they heard from the minor-party candidates. And voters need to focus ever more tightly on their pivotal Election Day decision. hN
