Saturday, May 22, 2010
Governor Cuomo, II
Andrew Cuomo, currently serving as New York State Attorney General, announced his candidacy for governor today. Given his name recognition, and the significant advantage that Democrats hold in voter registration in the state, it will be a tough slog for any of the three Republicans in the race. Unless Cuomo has a Blumenthal moment, as just took place in neighboring Connecticut, the race is his to lose.
AP writers wasted no time in considering him to be a possible successor to Barack Obama:
If elected, Cuomo would almost certainly be viewed as a potential presidential contender in the future. Mario Cuomo also considered and ultimately rejected several entreaties to run during his years in office.The piece continues:
In his early days in the public eye, Andrew Cuomo was the ruthless 20-something "Prince of Darkness" campaign commando from his father's three runs for governor. He went on to run a nonprofit organization to combat homelessness, and his work won the notice of President Bill Clinton, who named him an assistant secretary and later secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In that role, critics have accused him of pushing questionable mortgages that some say contributed to the recent subprime mortgage crisis.(Emphasis added)
Indeed, before Andrew Cuomo can measure drapes in the Oval Office in 2017, he will at some point need to deal with the issues raised from his left by Wayne Barrett in the Village Voice nearly two years ago:
Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country's current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded "kickbacks" to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.In no way is Andrew Cuomo solely or even primarily responsible for the housing crash -- there is plenty of blame to go around in nearly every segment of the political spectrum. Nonetheless, it is worth reading all of Barrett's lengthy article, which provides a description of Cuomo's manner of making policy judgments and balancing political considerations.
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat May 22, 08:38:00 PM:
The VV article notes that the Bush successor to HUD supported what changes Cuomo had made. Which doesn't increase Dubya's stature.
By , at
Sun May 23, 01:52:00 AM:
Andrew Cummo was the HUD thug that tried to blackmail the gun industry he is no different then his father another liberal scoundel
By , at
Sun May 23, 11:35:00 AM:
Andy Cuomo has a nasty reputation, but will likely be the next governor of New York. Make no mistake, he wants to be President someday.
Andy's promising to fix New York by putting in hard caps on taxes first, spending cuts to follow. He's against Ravitch's plan to borrow a lot to bridge current deficits. Ravitch is the current Lt Governor and friend of the public unions.
If Andy does what Arnold failed to do in California ... and what Christie hopes to do in New Jersey ... he'll have street cred to run for the White House.
We'll know Andy's serious if he takes on Shelly Silver, New York's Speaker of the House ... and the real power broker in the State.
By , at
Sun May 23, 07:43:00 PM:
Follow-up
Has Andy Cuomo joined the Tea Party? Cuomo's platform could turn into a Holy Shit Development:
In today's NY Daily News: "No to raising state taxes. No to borrowing to close historic budget deficits. Yes to capping state spending. Yes to capping local property tax hikes. Yes to freezing the salaries of state workers. Yes to trimming "benefits and pensions that are out of line with economic reality." Yes to charter schools. Yes to slashing by 20% a state government that has, by Cuomo's count, 1,000 agencies. Yes to nonpartisan redistricting and full financial disclosure." ... Thus, Cuomo has declared war with New York's public unions.
This is key too: Cuomo says he's going to "ask legislative candidates in this fall's election to declare where they stand on his programs, with the intent of endorsing those who side with him." ... Thus, implicitly, Cuomo has declared war with Shelly Silver. If Cuomo forces enough legislators to side with him, he'll be in a better position than New Jersey's Christie to actually make change happen. California's Schwarzenneger started out talking the talk, but couldn't walk the walk because he didn't have the legislative support.
This also puts Cuomo at odds with the philosophy of Obama & Co., doesn't it?
Interesting ... and developing ....
