2013 a year of ups and downs for governor
ALBANY – For Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature, 2013 was a year of ups and downs.
Early on, Cuomo used his political muscle to pass a set of more-stringent gun laws in the face of the Newtown, Conn., massacre. It was quickly followed by a third consecutive on-time budget — a first since 1984.
But it was also a year painted by scandal, with no fewer than eight lawmakers facing legal or ethical charges since the year began. And Cuomo continues to be criticized for the gun-control law by gun-rights advocates.
In a recent Cabinet meeting, Cuomo and his top aides ran through a series of their accomplishments in 2013 while looking to the future when Cuomo has made clear he’ll push for a series of tax cuts as he runs for re-election in 2014.
“Part of what I’m most pleased about is the breadth of the government and how it’s operating,” Cuomo told his Cabinet members. “Very often, in state governments especially, they’ll get myopic and focus on one area. The breadth of what we do — the traditional role of state government, the new special duties, the emergency service — it’s been stellar right across the board.”
The Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act was Cuomo’s first major policy push of the year. The bill, which was passed in January and expanded a ban on assault weapons while restricting magazines to seven rounds, was passed by the Legislature in January.
The new law gained Cuomo praise from his Democratic base and gun-control groups, who pointed to the Newtown tragedy in December 2012 as a reason to act. But it hurt Cuomo’s popularity upstate, where gun-rights groups have quickly become his most fervent critics.
Last December, Cuomo’s favorability rating upstate was at 68 percent, according to a Siena College poll. Last month, it was at 51 percent.
“I think the SAFE Act was just the beginning of a bad year for Cuomo,” said Assemblyman Kieran Michael Lalor, R-Fishkill, Dutchess County. “To a large degree, he lost upstate — maybe permanently.”
From there, Cuomo and lawmakers shifted their focus to the $135 billion state budget, which was passed on time in late March.
The string of lawmaker arrests, however, started soon after in April, when former Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, was charged with trying to bribe his way onto the Republican ticket in the New York City mayoral race.
Smith’s arrest was quickly followed by two others — Assemblyman Eric Stevenson, D-Bronx, and former Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn. At the same time, it was revealed that two former lawmakers had agreed to wear a wire for federal prosecutors while speaking to their colleagues.
The arrests led to Cuomo and four factions of the Legislature to propose varying plans to stem the corruption, but the legislative session ended in June without a resolution. That led to the creation of the Moreland Commission, a 25-member panel appointed by Cuomo to probe corruption in New York with much of the focus aimed at the Legislature.
The Moreland panel’s probe resulted in a 98-page report earlier this month detailing a “pay-to-play culture” in Albany. It created tension between Cuomo and state lawmakers, with the majority leaders challenging the investigation in court. The probe, the leaders claim, violates the state’s separation of powers between the executive and Legislature.
Doug Muzzio, a professor at Baruch College and a long-time Albany observer, said he doesn’t believe the hard feelings over the Moreland Commission will extend into 2014. Cuomo and all 213 lawmakers are up for election. All things considered, he said, the government seems to be operating “reasonably well.”
“There isn’t a lot of overt conflict, even though you’ve got issues with the Legislature and the Moreland Commission on particular issues,” Muzzio said. “But overall, state government seems far less psychotic and dysfunctional than it did, even though it has been a quieter year for the governor.”
Along with a potential tax-cut package, anti-corruption measures are also likely to be on the Capitol docket in 2014, along with Cuomo’s 10-point Women’s Equality Agenda, which was left unresolved in 2013. Senate Republicans continue to oppose a provision in Cuomo’s bill that would bolster the state’s abortion laws.
Perhaps Cuomo’s biggest accomplishment in 2013 came in the middle of the Hudson River.
His administration last week closed on a $1.6 billion loan from the federal government to help finance a replacement for the aging Tappan Zee Bridge.
The bridge is the state’s largest infrastructure project since the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into New York City more than 50 years ago, according to Howard Glaser, Cuomo’s director of state operations.
Cuomo has already turned his attention to the 2014 legislative session, which will begin with his State of the State address on Jan. 8. He’s received recommendations from two commissions he tasked with looking at ways to reform the tax code, with both recommending a form of a “circuit breaker” — the idea of tying property taxes to household income.
“I believe long-term, the economic health of this state requires you to get your taxes under control,” Cuomo said at the Cabinet meeting. “I think you’re feeling the reputation of this state change as the reality changes.”