Andrew Cuomo Is New York’s Best Choice for Governor

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/opinion/editorials/governor-endorsement-cuomo-new-york.html

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When focused, Gov. Andrew Cuomo can be a nearly unstoppable force for progress.

After the Sandy Hook massacre, the governor declared gun violence an emergency, and, within days, rallied the State Legislature, including 11 Senate Republicans, to make New York the first state to enact stricter gun safety regulations.

When Mayor Bill de Blasio wanted to get thousands of New York City children enrolled in a public pre-K program but couldn’t fund it, Mr. Cuomo stepped in and provided enough money to extend access to all 4-year-olds across the state.

Determined to legalize same-sex marriage, the governor won over skeptical advocates, enlisted top Republican donors to help, blunted resistance from the Catholic Church and lobbied reluctant legislators one by one. “You can either focus on the goal,” Mr. Cuomo told advocates at the time, “or we can spend a lot of time competing and destroying ourselves.”

May that be the governor New Yorkers re-elect on Tuesday.

New York needs nothing less to meet its biggest challenges: investing in a dangerously out-of-date subway system; supplying housing that more residents can afford; making it easier to vote, and passing ethics and voting reforms to enhance state politics and government.

After two terms in office, the governor’s list of accomplishments is substantial. It also includes increasing the minimum wage, implementing paid family leave and setting to work rebuilding some of New York City’s most essential infrastructure.

But New Yorkers have reasons for disappointment in Mr. Cuomo as well. Faced with a deteriorating subway system, a threat to the region’s work force and economy, the governor has refused to take full ownership of the problem and has instead let endless squabbling with Mr. de Blasio get in the way of substantial progress.

Mr. Cuomo allowed a group of rogue Democrats in the Independent Democratic Conference to hold the State Legislature hostage until his primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon, forced his hand to put an end to it. For a governor committed to doing big things, he sometimes allows himself to seem quite small. In the final days of his primary against Ms. Nixon, the governor chose not to apologize after his supporters sent out campaign mailers falsely accusing his challenger of being “silent on the rise of anti-Semitism.”

Mr. Cuomo’s failure to forthrightly address corruption in either the Legislature or his own administration is an enduring black mark on his record. In a particularly disturbing example, his closest aide and confidante, Joseph Percoco, was convicted this year on bribery charges. The governor, who has been accused of no wrongdoing, insists that he knew nothing of Mr. Percoco’s activities. Yet Mr. Cuomo bears a responsibility for leading an administration that is above reproach.

Given these weaknesses, voters may be looking on Tuesday to make a change. New York has sent Republican moderates to the governor’s mansion in the past, from Nelson Rockefeller to George Pataki. Mr. Cuomo’s opponent, Marcus Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive and a former state assemblyman, has presented himself in this tradition.

Mr. Molinaro’s substantive, largely positive campaign is refreshing. He has distanced himself from the national Republican Party, saying he wrote in the name of former Representative Chris Gibson in the 2016 presidential election rather than vote for Donald Trump. The father of a daughter with special needs, he has focused on advocating for the rights of people with disabilities. He has criticized the state’s high tax rates, a significant burden for many New Yorkers. He has embraced the ambitious rescue plan for the city’s subway system put forward by the New York City Transit chief, Andy Byford, and has proposed far-reaching ethics reform, including an initiative to create an independent redistricting body for the state.

His legislative record, however, presents few signs of the centrist politics he has recently espoused.

While in the State Assembly, from 2007 to 2011, Mr. Molinaro voted against limiting access to firearms for domestic abusers. He voted against sensible rent regulations several times. He voted against a measure that would have stopped the shackling of pregnant prisoners while in labor. He opposed Mr. Cuomo’s signature gun safety law. He says he has evolved on gay marriage, which he voted against while in the State Legislature but now sees as a civil right. He also voted against a proposal to allow unmarried partners to adopt a child.

New York is best served by robust democratic competition, with healthy political parties guaranteeing voters a true choice at the polls. But Mr. Molinaro’s record puts him far out of line with the views of the average New Yorker. His aversion to raising taxes also risks hampering the effort to repair the subway. And while split control of government might be seen as a way to force effective compromise, more often over the years in Albany it has provided excuses for stalemate and inaction.

Voters will be best served by casting their ballots for Mr. Cuomo. He is better positioned to lead this diverse, dynamic state, particularly at a time in which too many of its residents — immigrants, minorities and the poor and middle class — are under attack from a hostile administration in Washington.

There’s no doubt that Mr. Cuomo seeks to leave a lasting legacy in New York. To do so, he will need to keep his campaign promises.

Fixing the subway, and finding the political will to pay for the repairs, is the most urgent task before him. That will mean working with legislative leaders to find the votes to approve congestion pricing, to pay for the biggest chunk of the subway fixes.

Next up is the passage of the Reproductive Health Act to codify Roe v. Wade into the state’s Constitution. New York’s abortion laws are decades old and full of holes. After the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, women’s access to care in the state is under threat if Roe is gutted, as is expected. Mr. Cuomo has pledged to get this done in the first 30 days of the session, which begins in January, assuming Democrats take control of the State Senate.

In a time of rising voter suppression nationally, New York also has the opportunity to serve as an example to the nation by making it easier to vote instead. That, however, will require Mr. Cuomo putting his considerable political muscle behind reforms, including early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots.

Finally, there is the question of corruption. The governor has long said that he wants change, that he is as outraged by the dirty tricks in Albany as the public is. He needs, then, to do something about it. Creating an independent anticorruption body, providing for public financing of campaigns and closing the loophole that allows businesses called limited liability companies to bypass limits on corporate donations are all good places to start.

To help ensure that the governor delivers on these important promises, it would behoove voters to also cast ballots to elect a Democratic State Senate. That’s the best way to keep New York moving forward, and push all the politicians in Albany to lead with no more excuses.