The gubernatorial elections are approaching and candidates are heading out on the campaign trail, beginning the cycle of promises and accusations. Andrew Cuomo, son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and gubernatorial hopeful, has taken in the lead in the former. If he wins the Democratic primary, he will challenge Gov. George E. Pataki, who is seeking a third term and was elected over the elder Cuomo in 1994.
"[Pataki] stood behind the leader. He held the leader's coat," Cuomo said of Pataki's less prominent role behind former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, while en route to Buffalo. "He was a great assistant to the leader but he was not a leader." He criticized Pataki for failure to assume the mantle of leadership and for allowing Giuliani to bear the brunt of the decision-making that followed Sept. 11.
His remarks, while perhaps not all that surprising given the nature of political campaigns, reflect poorly on the man who would run the State of New York. The offense in his statement is not that he called Pataki a weak leader - that, as it should be, is a decision left up to the voter - but that he chose to use a national tragedy and an ongoing nightmare for many New Yorkers as political capital. Cuomo went beyond the line of even negative campaigning, and he is not yet the official nominee of his party.
Aside from the questionable nature of his statements, the crux of Cuomo's argument is fundamentally wrong. In a disaster as colossal as Sept. 11, the situation demanded the control of one, not two, leaders. Had Pataki attempted to assert authority over Giuliani at a time when both New Yorkers and Americans required a strong, authoritative figure to look to, he would have divided both the attentions and the loyalty of the populace - not a situation conducive to quick thought or decisive action. Pataki's duty was to stand behind and support the mayor as Guiliani worked to remedy the tragedy in his own city, as Giuliani's successor Michael Bloomberg wisely chose to do.
The personal nature of the comment conjured memories of Rick Lazio in his failed 2000 Senate bid against Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the first debate of that campaign, held in Buffalo, Lazio blasted Clinton over her personal handling of the sex scandal that nearly toppled her husband's presidency in the late nineties. Cuomo reprises Lazio's image as a brash young politician grasping for headlines, regardless of taste.
Perhaps the biggest handicap to Cuomo's campaign is the former mayor's response. After being informed of what Cuomo said, Guiliani said that if Cuomo used Sept. 11 as a campaign issue, Pataki "could be elected unanimously." Guiliani reiterated his support for the governor's actions during and after the tragedy - a defense that arguably places the most popular New Yorker since FDR, as well as Time Magazine's reigning Man of the Year, in Pataki's corner.
Cuomo would be wise to offer an apology sooner rather than later. With the floundering upstate economy and steady erosion of jobs, Pataki is politically vulnerable and these issues are legitimate grounds for criticism. Instead, Cuomo took the low road, employing cheap political attacks in the face of an abomination.
Cuomo could have pointed to Pataki's failure to publicly denounce the Bush administration and the Republican Congress' reluctance to send more funding to the Ground Zero cleanup and Lower Manhattan restoration projects. He could have brought up the Pentagon's recent decision to cease the constant air patrols over NYC, a cause of concern for many New Yorkers. Any of these - if supported with sufficient fact or public opinion - would have been acceptable and legitimate criticisms of the governor's performance as mayor. Rather than that, Cuomo did what may be irreparable harm to his political future.
