Cuomo Era Begins (Again)

Andrew Cuomo had his public swearing-in ceremony yesterday at the Museum of Art, where he trotted out themes from his campaign including social justice, gun violence and governmental reform.

Cuomo added a special thank you to the audience:

"This was not an easy campaign. This was a hard campaign. I wasn't able to self-finance the campaign. I needed the generosity of over 4,000 donors to make this possible. I needed you to give me a second chance, and the benefit of the doubt that I could win a new campaign. And you did that and I can only say thank you with the best public service I can muster. "

(Historical footnote: Cuomo's much-praised predecessor in the attorney general post actually did self-finance a campaign for that office, and Cuomo absorbed some criticism for rolling over money from his failed gubernatorial campaign to help fund this year's race.)

Afterwards, Cuomo went to a closed-press reception with Chuck Schumer, Ed Koch, Denny Farrell and campaign co-chair Andrew Farkas where, according to one guest, he stood with invitees and posed for picture after picture for the better part of two hours.

-- Azi Paybarah