No New York governor-elect has telegraphed more completely what he intends to do when he's in office than
Andrew Cuomo.
Sort of. After all, he's known for roughly 11 months that he was going to be governor. In that time, a policy group he assembled under the very capable
Paul Francis put out eight manuals covering matters from energy to urban renewal and agriculture. This sort of wholesale wonkery as the basis for future governance is unprecedented.
It also is not terribly helpful just yet. For one thing, that's because most of the principles and precepts Cuomo is advocating in advance are not well defined and sometimes run amok on the turf of others, like the Legislature, for example. In general, these may be guidance documents in the best of all possible worlds, a place none of us lives, especially Andrew Cuomo.
In addition, these policy books don't offer a clue to how our new governor proposes to accomplish what he has in mind. What will be quite instructive is the strategy he finally rolls out to do what on its face is impossible, or at least unrealistic.
Here's a prime example. In "The New NY Agenda: A Plan for Action," we're told New York's governmental bureaucracy is way overdue for a restructuring, something that hasn't been done since
Al Smith's time. Cuomo wants to cut the size of state government by 20 percent, including agencies, authorities and commissions, through mergers and elimination of redundancy, waste, etc. A noble goal that many of us applaud -- in the abstract.
Consider, of course, that by doing so he will create unemployment. Look what that's done to the Capital Region already. Further layoffs -- about four times what we've already seen -- could be devastating to fragile upstate regions if implemented quickly. If they are spread over a long time, the shock to communities may be lessened. But the governor won't get the savings he needs for the next few years of state budgets that he pledges he will balance without tax increases.
Then there's the niggling detail that our state constitution spells out that downsizing government is the Legislature's job, not the governor's. Yet Cuomo wants the Legislature to give the governor that power instead. How in the world does he expect to get that done? Legislators can claim justifiably that they have just as much of a public mandate to do their jobs as the governor-elect has to do his.
On Friday,
John Howard, one of Cuomo's behind-the-scenes policy makers, spoke briefly at a conference on industry and the environment sponsored by the
Business Council at the Gideon Putnam in Saratoga Springs.
Originally,
John Malatras, the author of all those policy books, was supposed to speak on the coming Cuomo agenda on the environment. I was more than a little curious to hear what that might be.
Howard was chief of staff for
Congressman Paul Tonko back when Tonko was an assemblyman and chair of that body's energy committee. He did a credible job answering questions and offered a little more as to what we can expect. But not a clue concerning the reduction of the state bureaucracy, except to affirm that it's at the top of Cuomo's list of things to do.
Where he was most forthcoming was on the critical question of where the new administration stands on drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.
That's the other pitfall-ridden issue that may well define the success or failure Andrew Cuomo's governorship.
A phrase rang out from Howard's answer on drilling: "a great balancing act." He said that all the relatively clean-burning energy and the untold riches it could bring have to be kept in the context of the risks involved to human and environmental health. "Anyone who's visited the drilling in Pennsylvania will see there are ways not to do this."
He struck a far more cautious tone than I had expected. He also said that recent discoveries of huge natural gas deposits deeply underground all over the world, including Japan, will be "game-changing" in terms of cheap energy for many years, "whether we drill here (in New York) or not."
A great balancing act is exactly right. Andrew Cuomo has held his popularity, according to
Siena College polls, from March to November. That's impressive. He will never be more popular than he is right now, before he's actually done anything to irritate one special interest group or another.
The latest Siena poll also showed that the public only expects the impossible from him, both to balance the budget and create more jobs as first priorities, but not to lay off state workers in the process. Andrew has added on his own that he won't raise taxes or fees.
So maybe it's less a balancing act we can look forward to, than a magic act.
Contact
Fred LeBrun at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.
New York's no bullshit governor-elect 
Fredric U. Dicker 
