The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
NEW YORK VALUES
Gov. Andrew Cuomo kicks off series of State of the State speeches in NYC, Buffalo
Gov. Andrew Cuomo kicked off State of the State week Monday with speeches about the angry national political climate and creating jobs in New York, and at the second stop was chided by hecklers.
“They’re all under investigation and so are you ... You’re under investigation by Preet Bharara,” a protester in a “Cuomo’s Gotta Go” T-shirt shouted as Cuomo talked about his Buffalo Billion programthat prosecutors alleged involved bidrigging by some of his closest aides. “Traitor!”
The man posted video online showing him being tossed out of the SUNY theater while wearing an anti- SAFE Act group NY2A T- shirt backing Second Amendment gun rights.
Cuomo was also heckled as he talked about school aid. “Favorite part of disrupting @NYGovCuomo is being told by his Bflo rep “u know u don’t belong in here Eve Shippens!” #FundCFE,” a Buffalo teachers union member posted on Twitter afterwards.
Both were led away and the incidents occurred despite very tight security measures, with no one admitted without pre-screening by Cuomo’s staff. In 2016, Assembly member Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) was also led away after he heckled Cuomo about school aid during the State of the
State speech in Albany.
Cuomo’s Buffalo speech painted a rosy picture of the progress the upstate region hasmade since he took office in 2011. Cuomo announced the Western New York region would get another $500 million for economic development projects on top of the Buffalo Billion.
Cuomo also urged the Legislature to pass a bill to permit Internet-based car services like Uber and Lyft to operate upstate. They are permitted in New York City, where drivers are fingerprinted like cab drivers, but the companies say looser rules would work upstate.
Earlier, Cuomo spoke to a much smaller crowd in New York City, where the focus of much of his talk was on the GOP victories in the November election, though he did not mention by name President- elect Donald Trump and Republicans.
“We understand the anger and we will address it,” he told an invited audience at the World Trade Center, referring to the rough economic conditions that have benefited the wealthy and produced a shrinking middle class. He said he would propose programs to create more jobs, infrastructure improvements, education, and tax relief.
He also said New York would remain a “safe harbor” for social programs and progressive political views, including providing free lawyers for every immigrant facing deportation regardless of ability to pay.
“The troubling reality is the sea upon which our ship of state sails is as rough and is as tempest tossed as it has been in over 50 years,” he said. “Our New York freedom, indeed our American freedom, our progressive philosophy in providing opportunity for all and welcoming immigrants and fostering community, providing for the poor, respecting individual and religious freedom -- it’s all being questioned, blamed and attacked.”
Cuomo did not reference President-elect Trump by name, but was clearly referring to his comments about deporting illegal alien immigrants and screening Muslims to deter terrorism.
“Yes we have challenges -- it’s a challenging time... we will calm the waters, we will stop the opposing currents and we will align the energy of both,” Cuomo said, delivering his seventh State of the State address as governor.
He said giving the speech at the rebuilt site of the 9/11 attack was apropos.
“It is the site where you saw the greatest hatred, and the greatest cowardice, and the greatest anger in the attack, but it is also the site where you saw the greatest response which was love and reaching out and understanding and people coming together and not seeing differences but seeing souls and character and fellow human beings,” Cuomo said.
The speech came as Cuomo released more than a dozen separate proposals as part of the State of the State, the governor’s annual message to the Legislature that lays out his agenda for the year. He cancelled the usual Albany speech to a joint legislative session, announcing six regional speeches in its place.
More speeches are planned for Tuesday at SUNY campuses on Long Island and Westchester County, and on Wednesday at SUNY Albany and in the Syracuse convention center.
Legislative leaders are not traveling to attend the speeches, but Monday’s New York City’s audience included Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Also on hand to deliver a benediction was Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who sat next to Cuomo in the front row holding a Bible.
Cuomo announced Dolan would lead a new initiative to spread understanding and tolerance of other religions and cultures, through a state Interfaith Advisory Council. Cuomo condemned the spate of hate crimes, swastika drawings, and other objectionable behavior seen in recent weeks.
“It is disgusting, it is ignorant, and it is anti-American,” Cuomo said.
As part of the criminal and social justice initiative announced Monday, Cuomo proposed “The New York Promise Agenda.” Items on the list included raising the age of criminal prosecution as an adult from 16 to 18 and mandatory video recording of police questioning of suspects in major crimes.
Also Monday, Cuomo announced a $650million “life sciences cluster” in partnership with Johnson and Johnson in New York City and the state Genome Center to host research aimed at commercializing new discoveries.
Two other initiatives rolled out Monday including a pilot program for expanded afterschool services in Albany, Troy and 14 other communities; and a renewed effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Over the weekend, Cuomo proposed other six additional proposals beyond four he put out last week.
The six include closing the Indian Point nuclear plant north of New York City; making it easier to vote, including automatic voter registration and early voting; building public recharging stations for electric cars; protecting senior citizens from financial abuse scams; banning financial industry professionals involved misconduct like the kind seen in the Wells Fargo fraud; and going after out of state investors in businesses that steal wages from New York workers.