Status Cuomo, The

Policy Review, Spring 1994 by Carroll, Thomas W

Governor Mario Cuomo of New York has long been one of the political heroes of American liberalism. His "Family of America" keynote address at the 1984 Democratic convention electrified the party, as he preached the old-time Democratic religion of class rivalry and expansionist government programs. Governor Cuomo is an unapologetic liberal, in both social and economic terms: A pro-choice Catholic, a virulent opponent of the death penalty, and an advocate of state and federal paternalism.

After narrowly defeating conservative Republican Lewis Lehrman in the 1982 governor's race, Mr. Cuomo easily won two re-election victories, picking up the votes of Reagan Democrats, the urban and suburban ethnics who increasingly have been deserting the Democratic Party. Deeply knowledgeable about the details of policy and legislation in Albany, he also is a philosopher, a potential Supreme Court justice, a master of the media game, and a champion of political hardball. Had he chosen to run, he probably would have been the favorite candidate of most liberals in the 1988 and 1992 presidential races.

SINGING A NEW TUNE

But New Yorkers now seem to be tiring of the "Status Cuomo" and the liberalism the governor represents. His approval ratings in the state fell to just 34 percent last November, the lowest during his entire tenure as governor, according to the Marist Institute for Public Opinion. Liberals have faltered elsewhere in the region: Voters last November turned out two other prominent liberal Democrats, Mayor David Dinkins of New York City and Governor Jim Florio of New Jersey.

Mr. Cuomo, the quintessential politician, is now singing a more conservative tune as he tries to rescue his re-election hopes this fall for a fourth term. He has called for modest tax cuts after signing billion-dollar-plus tax hikes in each of the past five years, and has hopped on the "three-strikes-and-you're-out" bandwagon, pushing for life imprisonment for three-time violent offenders. He also has distanced himself from President Clinton's health-reform plan, saying it would hurt coverage for state employees.

Though Mr. Cuomo may tinker with his prose, he cannot rewrite the legacy of his ideology on the state. Liberalism in New York is bankrupt, intellectually as well as financially. After 12 years under Mario Cuomo, the state's credit rating--formerly an "A-" on Standard and Poor's scale--is today the lowest of any state in the nation. Over the past four years, the state has lost 516,000 jobs, while the rest of the nation has increased private-sector employment by 1.7 million. State and local taxes are among the most burdensome in the country; public services from bridges to schools are mediocre by national standards. The state's crime rate is 48 percent higher than America's overall. Costly social services have increased rather than decreased poverty, and 24 percent more people are on welfare today than when Governor Cuomo took office.

EMPIRE BUILDERS

New York once was known as the Empire State for its worldwide economic leadership and boundless entrepreneurial energy. Now the biggest empire in New York is government: A $62.6 billion state budget, over 240,000 state employees, dozens of state agencies, state and public-authority debt exceeding $67 billion, and the largest legislative staff and highest paid state legislators in the nation.

New York's problems with big government did not start with Mario Cuomo. Republican Nelson A. Rockefeller ushered in an era of lavish social service spending as well as elephantine public construction projects for public housing, office space, state universities, mental health facilities, parks, and hospitals. Before Mr. Rockefeller took office in 1959, the top income tax rate on personal income was 7 percent; by the time he left office in 1974, the top tax rate had more than doubled, to a peak of over 15 percent. Governor Rockefeller also resorted to unprecedented levels of government borrowing, setting up special borrowing agencies when voters turned down bond issues for low-and middle-income housing. This fiscal house of cards finally came crashing down in the mid-1970s, but only after the governor had left the state to become Gerald Ford's vice president.

Mr. Rockefeller was succeeded briefly by his lieutenant governor, Malcolm Wilson, and then by Democrat Hugh L. Carey, a former congressman from Brooklyn, who had to pay the price for Mr. Rockefeller's grandiose schemes. In his first state of the state address in January 1975, Governor Carey declared the end of "the times of plenty, the days of wine and roses," and went about restoring the fiscal stability of New York State and New York City.

Big government has long been a bipartisan pastime in New York politics, and Mr. Carey waged bruising battles with the state legislature, fighting the Republican-dominated Senate as well as the Democratic-dominated Assembly to keep spending under control. Astonishingly, he succeeded: During his eight years as in office, Governor Carey kept spending growth below the rate of inflation. To do so, he aggressively used his impoundment and line-item veto powers.