What Cuomo Has To Fear in 2014

[ABCin2014]

Liz Benjamin's column today. The whole article needs to be read. I didn't even excerpt all of the choice parts.

Andrew Cuomo is running against himself in 2014.

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Cuomo came into office, remember, pledging to do nothing less than overhaul the culture of Albany. And for a time it seemed as if he was actually succeeding. Armed with a robust mandate following the chaotic tenure of David Paterson, Cuomo immediately redefined the relationship between the executive branch and the famously dysfunctional legislature. He announced impressive-sounding steps to make government more transparent. He proceeded to pass three on-time budgets in a row, which hasn’t happened in Albany since his father was governor.

Meanwhile, he helped orchestrate a reordering of the State Senate's leadership, giving control to a coalition of Republicans and breakaway Democrats that he could do business with. And he used his position to achieve some legislative victories, most notably a historic same-sex marriage bill the Legislature, including the Republican-controlled State Senate, and a sweeping (if imperfectly conceived) gun-control package.

But many of what Cuomo was touting as transformative, "historic" victories quickly turned out to be smaller than advertised. He passed a public-ethics bill with great fanfare that effectively gave legislative leaders discretion over the investigative process. He spurned a chance to fix New York's famously partisan legislative redistricting process, agreeing to a watered-down compromise that won't take effect for a decade, in exchange for budgetary concessions. And responding this year to a rash of legislator indictments, Cuomo created the Moreland Commission on Public Ethics, only to undermine its independent standing by having his aides dictate its scope.

Cuomo's attempt to position himself as "absolutely transparent in everything he does," in the words of Lieutenant Governor Bob Duffy, turned to mush in fairly short order. While he improved access to some online data, the data was provided selectively. And the administration’s overall relationship with the media has been extraordinarily bad.

Reporters are routinely berated for what’s perceived as unfavorable coverage, while information that was once readily available through state agencies is now funneled exclusively through the executive offices on the Capitol’s second floor, if it’s released at all.

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At times, the famously headstrong Cuomo has even looked excruciatingly indecisive.

The governor has dragged his feet for years over whether to allow fracking in the Marcellus Shale, drawing out the process in a way that is clearly political, allowing him to avoid alienating liberal environmentalists while allowing pro-fracking constituencies in economically depressed upstate areas to cling to their hopes that he'll eventually, somehow, come through.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2013/12/8536767/what-cuomo-has-fear-2014