New Year’s marks the beginning of Andrew Cuomo’s third term as governor — and, many expect, the start of his long-awaited bid for the White House.
The question is: Will he be working to improve conditions in the state — or to boost his own national prospects for 2020?
This year, New York’s new political climate will see the return of one-party control of Albany for the first time in nearly a decade. That will present Cuomo with both opportunities and challenges.
His performance could position him well for a national spotlight. Or erect an insurmountable roadblock to his ambitions.
With the Legislature securely in Democratic hands, you might think Cuomo will have an easy time seeing his policy agenda sail through. One problem, though: No one knows just what that agenda is (maybe not even him).
During the just-concluded campaign, he outlined few substantive proposals to address the state’s woes, devoting most of his time instead to lambasting President Trump.
Yes, he listed some steps he wants to pursue this year — legalizing pot, for example — in his “Justice Agenda” speech, which he gave last month.
But that speech seemed aimed more at a national audience than New Yorkers.
And some of his goals, like his sketchy plan to reorganize the MTA, only served to underscore the eight years during which he all but neglected the transit system and allowed it to decay.
By contrast, Democratic lawmakers, especially those recently elected, have big plans of their own. And if the governor won’t lead, they’re making clear they will.
And they couldn’t care less whether their activist legislation fits with Cuomo’s local and national plans. (Few people really believe his assertions that he won’t run for president in 2020.)
Yes, he wants to move left, keeping up with the national Democratic base, as he did all year. But then again, not too far left.
Meanwhile, the radicals will be champing at the bit to shell out new cash (single-payer health care, anyone?), even as Albany is facing multibillion-dollar budget gaps in the coming years.
Cuomo’s only hope — and, frankly, the only thing that can protect New York — is that more moderate Democrats from suburban and upstate areas rein in their party mates’ reckless far-left impulses.
Consider, too: Albany’s newly empowered Dems have already begun beefing up their investigative staffs. Care to guess whom they’ll be targeting? (Hint: There’s really no one else to probe besides Cuomo & Co.)
Nor will there be any shortage of Cuomo material worth poring over, given some of the governor’s shady practices and those of his team.
Meanwhile, upstate remains in economic freefall, despite the billions spent on Cuomo’s economic development programs — which, alas, have produced few jobs but many corruption scandals. This past year alone saw a number of Cuomo intimates convicted and sentenced to prison for bribery, bid-rigging and other corruption linked to the governor’s signature Buffalo Billion program.
And again, there’s the transit system. It’s a mess — in need of repairs that could total $60 billion and facing fiscal deficits of more than $600 million by 2022.
Cuomo continues to disclaim any responsibility for the transit woes that triggered 2017’s Summer of Hell, to use his words — a nightmare that has yet to end for New York commuters. Expect him to be working to kick the can down the road for his successors without having it hung around his neck like an albatross.
Fact is, avoiding responsibility has been a Cuomo trademark for years, even when projects for which he’s grabbed credit (like the Tappan Zee — er, Mario Cuomo — Bridge and the Second Avenue subway) faced unexpected problems.
Nor will Cuomo’s problems be confined to the hard left’s push for drastically greater state spending, not just on health care, but schools, housing, various new handouts for the poor; he’ll also face heat from fellow Dems over his past support for charter schools.
Those Democrats, in thrall as always to the teachers unions, are now in a position to thwart any pro-charter moves. Will Cuomo stand with charters, which have offered hope to kids trapped in failing New York public schools?
His decision will have national implications, as well.
All of which pretty much sums up Cuomo’s dilemma: He can court an increasingly hard-left Democratic national base, even if that doesn’t address New York’s urgent needs.
Or he can focus his full attention on New York, on its many urgent problems and on holding the line against an activist, spendthrift Legislature.
Going national may appeal to his ego and his personal ambition. But governing New York is the job to which he was elected.
It’s up to you, Governor. Here’s hoping you do the right thing.
Happy New Year.