The New York Observer » Mario Cuomo http://www.observer.com Just another WordPress site Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:14:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en If I Were Driving This Train: One N Rider’s Platform for Fixing the M.T.A. The first thing on my platform is that the next M.T.A. chief need not be a train buff. He or she—or me specifically, since I’m hereby throwing my name out there—has to appreciate the economic essentiality of the authority, which moves the equivalent of New Jersey’s population (8.5 million, give or take) every weekday. But this is not a Lionel set; this is dollars and nonsense.

The next chief should know more about transit financing, particularly the warren navigated in simply keeping the four-pronged monster afloat. As it stands now, it’s a ready-made punch line, with the nation’s largest transit system held hostage to a dysfunctional Albany. Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/08/if-i-were-driving-this-train/ At Conspirator Premiere Models and Mario Cuomo Come Out for Redford On Monday evening to celebrate an at long last sunny afternoon, New Yorkers gathered at MoMA for the premiere of Robert Redford’s historical courtroom drama, The Conspirator, starring James McAvoy and Robin Wright Penn. Freshly shaven legs and flirty skirts prevailed as guests glided down the escalators towards the subterranean theater. All the stars in Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/daily-transom/models-muse-d-conspirator-premiere Late Weekend Reading: Cuomo on Cuomo Education: 10th best middle school in NYC is in the Bronx and it's not a charter school. [Jonathan Mahler]

Mario on Andrew: "I asked Cuomo whether Andrew was a different kind of Democrat from his father. He paused for a long moment. 'I think . . .,' he began, then stopped. 'What’s a different Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/late-weekend-reading-mario-cuomo-ponders-andrew-cuomo Dicker Strikes at Critic’s Theory: ‘Makes Glenn Beck Look Sober’ New York Post state editor Fred Dicker doesn't think much of public radio host and newspaper publisher Alan Chartock, who yesterday accused Dicker of having an unholy alliance with the governor in some kind of agreement that included Dicker's publisher, Rupert Murdoch.

"Chartock laid out a conspiracy theory so far-fetched it makes Glenn Beck Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/dicker-strikes-critics-theory-makes-glenn-beck-look-sober Poll: New Yorkers Want to Balance Budget Without Raising Taxes or Cutting Services A new Quinnipiac University poll confirms that a soaring budget deficit is  the most important issue to most New Yorkers, but also registers resistance to most budget-cutting measures other than freezing wages for state workers.

77% of respondents said New York State has “very serious” budget problems, and 70% were “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2011/politics/poll-new-yorkers-want-balance-budget-without-raising-taxes-or-cutting-services The Distance Between Cuomo and Paterson

Here's a graph that shows the shift in poll numbers between Andrew Cuomo and David Paterson in a hypothetical gubernatorial race.

There are actually two new polls today, both showing Cuomo leading Paterson among Democrats.

Marist has Cuomo leading 70 to 23 among registered Democrats. Quinnipiac has Cuomo leading 55 to 23, also among Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/distance-between-cuomo-and-paterson Mario Cuomo’s 14th Grandchild Mario Cuomo, father of Chris and Andrew, welcomed his latest grandchild into the world yesterday.Chris is the the youngest son of the former governor, and his wife, Christina, had a baby girl, according to the governor's secretary.The governor, according to this secretary, said the baby is healthy, and he's happy the kid doesn't look Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/mario-cuomo-14th-grandchild Cuomo for Kim

Mario Cuomo endorsed fellow Democrat Kevin Kim in Bayside, who, if elected, would be the first Korean-American in the City Council. Cuomo referenced what he said was an ethnically motivated attack by unnamed critics, and called it "the worst kind of politics."

Kim has accused opponent Dan Halloran of stoking racial fears.

Also in the video, Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/2009/politics/cuomo-kim Mario Cuomo on Kennedy’s Pragmatism, Health Care Health care advocates are trying to use the passing of Ted Kennedy to help galvanize support for the stalled health care legislation in Washington.

One conservative pundit told me today that the effort to associate the "liberal lion" with a bill that is already giving Republicans and moderate Democrats pause will further polarize Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/5060/mario-cuomo-kennedys-pragmatism-health-care Mario Cuomo for de Blasio Here’s video of Mario Cuomo endorsing Councilman and former Andrew Cuomo deputy Bill de Blasio for public advocate today “because he’s the best available.”

"This is a good field,” but de Blasio is the best choice, says Cuomo.

]]> http://www.observer.com/4970/mario-cuomo-de-blasio One Likely Candidate for Governor Weighs in on Ravitch Pick As the New York political universe waits to see what Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says about the legality of David Paterson's selection of Richard Ravitch as his Lt. Governor, another, likely candidate for governor in 2010, Rick Lazio, has weighed in.

Essenatially, Lazio, a Republican former congressman, punts on the issue of whether such Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/4414/one-likely-candidate-governor-weighs-ravitch-pick The Goodman Commission Former state senator Roy Goodman of Manhattan released a statement today saying he’d like the stalemate in the Senate to be broken by a bipartisan commission.

Goodman, one of the last of the Rockefeller Republican types, recommends the following “individuals of the highest caliber” to serve on it:

Former governors George E. Pataki, Mario Cuomo Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/4186/goodman-commission All the Bloomberg You Can Handle Politics, the saying goes, is just show business for ugly people. And as in show business, the Charlie Parker rule applies: Always leave them wanting more.

This is not what Michael Bloomberg is doing. Faced with a two-term limit on his mayoralty, he could have opted to ride off into the sunset this Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/3692/all-bloomberg-you-can-handle Bloomberg and Friends Cheer for Volunteers, Obama In response to Barack Obama’s push for more public service among Americans, Michael Bloomberg is unveiling the city’s effort to boost volunteerism .

"If you grow up in New York City, you will learn how to serve, and you will be expected to serve," Bloomberg told a crowd gathered at an indoor track in Read More

]]> http://www.observer.com/3150/bloomberg-and-friends-cheer-volunteers-obama Cuomo Emerges Andrew Cuomo's shadow campaign for governor moved decisively into the open today when the New York Post's Fred Dicker ran on-the-record quotes from the attorney general's spokesman, Richard Bamberger, criticizing the "state" as inefficient, fiscally undisciplined and procedurally opaque.  

In the article, headlined "Budget Bashing," Bamberger said, "The attorney general believes the state must Read More

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