In video posted his website and appearance downtown

May 23rd, 2010|Editor
State

The announcement by the son of former three-term New York Governor Mario Cuomo had been expected for months, and he is virtually unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

New Yorks Democrats hold their state convention next week.

Democratic Governor David Paterson, mired in scandal and under investigation, has pulled out of the race. The former lieutenant-governor had stepped into the top post in 2008 after Governor Eliot Spitzer, another Democrat, resigned due to a prostitution scandal.

In the 21-minute video, Cuomo, who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the second Clinton administration, said he supports abortion rights, gay marriage and Wall Street regulation, and opposes the death penalty.

I am fiscally prudent and socially progressive, he said.

RECKLESS BANKERS

Cuomo, 52, blasted Wall Street, saying that reckless bankers exploit the economy at the expense of working families, and said he will seek a freeze on state taxes along with a cap on state spending and state workers salaries.

Raising taxes is just not an option, said Cuomo, who ran for governor in 2002 before pulling out of the race.

Appearing at the Tweed Courthouse, named after the notoriously corrupt 19th century politician Boss Tweed, Cuomo said the November vote was probably the most important election for the state in my lifetime.

The New York state government was at one time a national model. Now, unfortunately, its a national disgrace, he said. In recent years, the chronic dysfunction of Albany metastasized into the corruption of Albany.

The level of corruption could even make Boss Tweed blush, he added.

Cuomo, who is divorced from Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, fielded no questions after the speech.

He vowed to adopt a much different approach to state government, taking a bipartisan approach in Albany and working with reasonable Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Republican Rick Lazio, who is running for governor, said in a statement that Cuomo had been an Albany insider for 30 years, and tied him to the states troubled recent history.

Lazio is a former New York state representative who was defeated by Hillary Clinton during her first run for U.S. Senate representing New York in 2000.

Editing by Xavier Briand source