Times Union
Andrew Cuomo on legislating through 'scandal mania'
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has tried to use the recent rash of corruption arrests to pass a new reform package for state elections, but he said on Monday morning that he doesn't want "scandal mania" to overwhelming his agenda for the legislative session. More
Is this the part where Andrew Cuomo really tackles public corruption?
A conversation with Albany Times Union political reporter Jimmy Vielkind about the governor's plan to clean up Albany. More
(1)What I learned in the archives, before the governor found out
ALBANY — Andrew Cuomo is a governor of ends, not means, and has changed public perception of the state’s notoriously dysfunctional government by pushing legislators into harmonic action and minimizing scandals. More
(4)Everybody wins: Andrew Cuomo and the art of the effortless-looking budget negotiation
ALBANY—On Wednesday, as the Capitol yawned its way through passage of the state’s $132.6 billion spending plan, Gov. Andrew Cuomo went on an insider radio show to explain why it was actually a big deal.
“It has not been easy, Fred,” Cuomo told New York Post state editor Fred Dicker, who frequently has him on as a guest. More
(1)After the speech, focus turns to how Cuomo will deliver what was in it
After Governor Andrew Cuomo's state of the State speech, there's been a fair amount of probing into the specific details about what the governor proposed.
James Odato of the Times Union said Cuomo may have circumvented the state's franchise board, in getting an agreement with a firm to develop Aqueduct. Cuomo's office released paperwork showing the agreement is "not binding." More
Cuomo counts out the last days of the millionaire's tax
Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a clock that shows how long it is until the state's surcharge on high-income earners expires.
"Countdown to the lowest tax rate in 58 years," the governor's website says above the clock. Below the clock, in smaller letters, the statement goes on to say it's "for middle class New Yorkers." More
The Cuomo administration is precisely as transparent as it appears to be
"We have a governor who is absolutely transparent in everything he does," Lt. Governor Bob Duffy said in a May 11, 2011 radio interview.
This turns out to have been a bit of a stretch, even back then.
Cuomo did open up the once-closed second floor of the the Capitol building, and proactively released a batch of his daily schedules online, albeit ones that accounted selectively for the governor's activity. More
F.A.Q.: How did Andrew Cuomo hike tax revenues by cutting taxes?
Jimmy Vielkind: They couldn't play their hand too hard because they need two things from Cuomo that are only tacitly promisable: cover during redistricting, which Cuomo wants to wrest from their hands, and a non-aggression pact in next year's election. I think that's why they didn't go for straight extortion, as they might have in the past. More
Cuomo the 'mesmerizer' says state lawmakers had no time to waste before passing his bills
Yesterday, the State Senate passed the 33-page bill 34 minutes after it was posted online, according to the Times Union. The paper's bureau chief questioned whether anyone read it before it was passed.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said the swiftness of state lawmakers actions showed how serious the state's problems were. Cuomo's rush for action was also noted in not one, but two pieces in The New York Times, by an Albany reporter and a news columnist (who dubbed Cuomo "Governor Mesmerizer").
F.A.Q.: How well did Cuomo do selling the new budget 'savings?'
Jimmy: It's tougher this year [for Silver]. His normal tactic is Entish objection to undue haste. But he knows that Cuomo watched David Paterson's little trick of ramming through the substance of his budget in emergency extender bills with interest. And he knows that Cuomo could do the same thing, much earlier than Paterson did. He also knows that he's got a lot of members who are angry and who see no need to cut so drastically when you can add in revenue items, like extending that millionaires tax. So I think the Assembly will effectively buy back some of the pain, so to speak, and take the heat for "raising taxes." More
