Mario Cuomo, seen here in a 2012 photo speaking to Michael Carey, son of former governor Hugh Carey. (Metropolitan Transportation Agency photo)
It seemed the state lived from hand to mouth during Cuomo’s three terms, always short of cash for the governor’s ambitious programs. Cuomo, with the eventual approval of the legislature, employed some bizarre means to balance budgets, like selling Attica prison and leasing it back to the state and selling Interstate 87 to the Thruway Authority.
Public debt, back-doored for the most part through various state authorities, exploded during the Cuomo years. Cuomo did manage to win passage of two publicly approved billion-dollar bond issues for the environment and infrastructure repair.
He had an unusual relationship with his son, future governor Andrew Cuomo. Barely out of law school, Andrew at 24 managed his father’s first campaign. The word got around pretty quickly: You can massage Mario sometimes, but do not, under threat of serious and immediate reprisal, mess with Andrew. Mario remained behind the scenes for the most part during his son’s four runs for state office (for attorney general and governor), but woe the pundit who dared to criticize the next generation of Cuomos. Early morning phone calls would be the least of it.
Andrew, in grieving for his father, described him as a humble man. There’s some truth to that. In his book published in October, Andrew told how Mario had stubbornly resisted having his portrait hung in the Hall of Governors at the state capitol. The elder Cuomo considered that pretentious. Andrew, as governor, quietly commissioned an artist last year who from photos created a portrait that fairly captures the former governor’s determination and confidence, with just a hint of humor. At the official unveiling shortly before his death, Mario Cuomo looked somewhat annoyed with the hoopla, but in deference to his proud son and family members standing with him, accepting. The portrait was draped in black after he died.
There will probably always be comparisons between the two Cuomos, some of them unfair. Mario certainly mellowed in retirement as he grew rich for the first time in his life, the sharper edges smoothed by time. His son retains not only his father’s distinctive voice but also his sharp elbows. Maybe it goes with the job.
The columnist Reynolds.
Andrew declared upon the passing of his father, the day he was sworn in for a second term, that New York State is what it is because of Mario Cuomo.
For better or worse, I think he got that right.
Mario and Mo
I contacted former assemblyman and congressman Maurice Hinchey for comment for this piece. He was not available.
Cuomo and Hinchey served together in state office between 1983 and 1992. The governor supported the assemblyman on environmental and tourism issues, and the assemblyman never failed to vote for a state budget. Hinchey was in San Francisco in 1984 as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention when Cuomo made his unforgettable “two cities” speech.
They had much in common, but given Hinchey’s support of Koch in the 1982 primary for governor I suspect the relationship may not have been cordial.
