(L-R) Hon. Chuck Lesnick and former Governor Mario Cuomo.
The Family of New York suffered a great loss on New Years Day with the passing of former Governor Mario Cuomo. He was a voice of compassion, reason and community spirit at a time when “greed was good” in so many other places in this country. Serving as his Regional Representative for Westchester, Rockland & Putnam was my first job out of law school in 1985 and he challenged us constantly to work harder to improve the lives of the people who need government the most. He set a high ethical and intellectual bar. He actually listened to our thoughts and perspectives, challenged them with appropriate Socratic dialogue, and embraced good ideas regardless of from where in the hierarchy they came. He recruited a loyal team of hard workers many of whom are my good friends to this day and some of whom still work for the in government. We were attracted to government because the Governor made each of us feel special and he recognized public service as a calling to something larger than all of us. In his 1984 speech at the Democratic Convention in San Francisco he stated: We believe in only the government we need, but we insist on all the government we need…a government that is characterized by fairness and reasonableness ….a government strong enough to use words like “love” and “compassion” and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities. My last conversation with the “Guv” was in August after the funeral of his friend and counsel Fabian Palamino at the same St. Ignatius Loyola Church where thousands will honor him on Tuesday, when he told me “there ought to be a word stronger than “friend” to express his relationship with his friend, mentor and colleague” whom he had just lost. This week many of us wish we had that word as we feel that we have lost a great teacher and mentor. They don’t make many leaders like him anymore. Our heart goes out to his family. May his name be a blessing.
The Governor talking to my wife Beth as I look on.
Much has been said about the Governor over these past few days. To capture a glimpse of a truly great American I recommend the following video followed by the following two articles and then the Governor’s own words in his stirring 1984 Keynote to the Democratic National Convention.
Mario Cuomo: A Tribute to the Man, the Governor, the Writer By Stephen Schlesinger / The New York Observer
* AND *
Mario Cuomo Was So Very Right – Especially on the Death Penalty By John Nichols / The Nation
* AND *
“The Tale of Two Cities” Speech by Mario Cuomo delivered in 1984.
Comments 16
Cut him down, build him up, it does not matter. For the thinking person, all your praise is not going to change the numbers, nor is slander.
The numbers do not lie. When you politicos get it, life will be easier. For all his oratory cannot change one number on the tax rolls or expenditure line. Only those who think numbers are in his words like a secret message were the ones who fooled themselves.
Unlike you Mr. Lesnick, you are way to smart not to know the numbers and the effect oratory can have on them to those not watching the pot. Hence look at the number during his tenure and see if it matches your praise, it may be a little off, just like those who would tear him down. Somewhere between probably lies a better truth.
Governor Mario Cuomo worked tirelessly to restore the American Dream put on hold during the Reagan-Bush era. R.I.P., Mario — may we see your likes again.
Yea right?? Chuck, you & Mario would probably get a slap in the face from the founding fathers. Your dream of the american dream is freebies for anyone in exchange for a vote.
Hey Chuck, remember how helpful Mario was assisting Yonkers settle the housing case? No? Me either. Want to know why? Cause he turned his back on Yonkers though he was part of the original problem!
Maybe his son will be next….
We should all imagine how we will do at our interview at the pearly gates. That is if you believe in that stuff. Be sure to take your essays, photos with important people, news clippings, bank statements, etc. if you think they will help.
This sinner is very concerned about being defenseless. I sure hope saying I’m sorry will help
Mario Cuomo was so very right about so many things.
Cuomo was certainly right in the midst of the dismal Reagan era to reject an oblivious president’s “morning in America” sloganeering and “shining city on a hill” fabulism. And Cuomo did so not do this with the empty language of bipartisanship but rather in a gloriously unapologetic appeal to the 1984 Democratic National Convention that heard the newly elected governor of New York declare:
Mr. President you ought to know that this nation is more a “Tale of Two Cities” than it is just a “Shining City on a Hill.”
Maybe, maybe, Mr. President, if you visited some more places; maybe if you went to Appalachia where some people still live in sheds; maybe if you went to Lackawanna where thousands of unemployed steel workers wonder why we subsidized foreign steel. Maybe—Maybe, Mr. President, if you stopped in at a shelter in Chicago and spoke to the homeless there; maybe, Mr. President, if you asked a woman who had been denied the help she needed to feed her children because you said you needed the money for a tax break for a millionaire or for a missile we couldn’t afford to use.
Maybe—Maybe, Mr. President. But I’m afraid not. Because the truth is, ladies and gentlemen, that this is how we were warned it would be. President Reagan told us from the very beginning that he believed in a kind of social Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. “Government can’t do everything,” we were told, so it should settle for taking care of the strong and hope that economic ambition and charity will do the rest. Make the rich richer, and what falls from the table will be enough for the middle class and those who are trying desperately to work their way into the middle class.
You know, the Republicans called it “trickle-down” when Hoover tried it. Now they call it “supply side.” But it’s the same shining city for those relative few who are lucky enough to live in its good neighborhoods. But for the people who are excluded, for the people who are locked out, all they can do is stare from a distance at that city’s glimmering towers.
Cuomo was right when he rejected the false morality of a rising religious right and said in his 1984 speech to the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Theology what too many cautious and confused liberals—and too many responsible conservatives—neglected to say:
I think it’s already apparent that a good part of this Nation understands—if only instinctively—that anything which seems to suggest that God favors a political party or the establishment of a state church, is wrong and dangerous.
Way down deep the American people are afraid of an entangling relationship between formal religions—or whole bodies of religious belief—and government. Apart from constitutional law and religious doctrine, there is a sense that tells us it’s wrong to presume to speak for God or to claim God’s sanction of our particular legislation and His rejection of all other positions. Most of us are offended when we see religion being trivialized by its appearance in political throw-away pamphlets.
The American people need no course in philosophy or political science or church history to know that God should not be made into a celestial party chairman.
Cuomo was right, at a time when Catholic politicians were being pressured to impose a narrow morality upon public policy, to anticipate the more generous and inclusive vision of Pope Francis. As Cuomo explained:
In addition to all the weaknesses, dilemmas and temptations that impede every pilgrim’s progress, the Catholic who holds political office in a pluralistic democracy—who is elected to serve Jews and Muslims, atheists and Protestants, as well as Catholics—bears special responsibility. He or she undertakes to help create conditions under which all can live with a maximum of dignity and with a reasonable degree of freedom; where everyone who chooses may hold beliefs different from specifically Catholic ones—sometimes contradictory to them; where the laws protect people’s right to divorce, to use birth control and even to choose abortion.
In fact, Catholic public officials take an oath to preserve the Constitution that guarantees this freedom. And they do so gladly. Not because they love what others do with their freedom, but because they realize that in guaranteeing freedom for all, they guarantee our right to be Catholics: our right to pray, to use the sacraments, to refuse birth control devices, to reject abortion, not to divorce and remarry if we believe it to be wrong.
The Catholic public official lives the political truth most Catholics through most of American history have accepted and insisted on: the truth that to assure our freedom we must allow others the same freedom, even if occasionally it produces conduct by them which we would hold to be sinful.
I protect my right to be a Catholic by preserving your right to believe as a Jew, a Protestant or non-believer, or as anything else you choose.
We know that the price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that they might some day force theirs on us.
Cuomo was right when he rejected the madness of an arms race and the expansion of a military-industrial complex when politicians of both parties neglected the human cost of misplaced priorities. He willed his party to be better, arguing:
We believe as Democrats, that a society as blessed as ours, the most affluent democracy in the world’s history, one that can spend trillions on instruments of destruction, ought to be able to help the middle class in its struggle, ought to be able to find work for all who can do it, room at the table, shelter for the homeless, care for the elderly and infirm, and hope for the destitute. And we proclaim as loudly as we can the utter insanity of nuclear proliferation and the need for a nuclear freeze, if only to affirm the simple truth that peace is better than war because life is better than death.
Cuomo was right to join another liberal lion—the late US Senator Edward Kennedy—in offering a humane and embracing definition of liberalism in the modern era when he announced that:
We believe in only the government we need, but we insist on all the government we need.
We believe in a government that is characterized by fairness and reasonableness, a reasonableness that goes beyond labels, that doesn’t distort or promise to do things that we know we can’t do.
We believe in a government strong enough to use words like “love” and “compassion” and smart enough to convert our noblest aspirations into practical realities.
We believe in encouraging the talented, but we believe that while survival of the fittest may be a good working description of the process of evolution, a government of humans should elevate itself to a higher order.
Cuomo, who died on New Year’s Day at age 82, was the first to admit that he was not always right. He faced criticism for mounting crude campaigns in the early stages of a political journey that took from the streets of Queens to the cusp of presidential politics. He was defeated in races for lieutenant governor of New York, for mayor of New York City, for reelection to a fourth term as governor of New York State. He will always be second-guessed for his “Hamlet on the Hudson” indecision about seeking the presidency in 1988 and 1992, and for rejecting the prospect of nomination to serve on the US Supreme Court.
Yet, in three terms as governor of New York, as a champion of liberalism in the face of what conservatives proclaimed to be the “Reagan revolution,” as a keeper of the New Deal and Fair Deal and Great Society faith in a possibility of a more perfect union, as a thoughtful proponent of the Equal Rights Amendment and of reproductive rights, as an early supporter of research and funding of programs to address the HIV/AIDS crisis, as a sometimes lonely defender of social-welfare programs, as an innovative thinker who recognized that economic development did not have to be at odds with environmental sanity, Mario Cuomo was so frequently right that he came to be understood more as a statesman than a politician.
And on one issue, above all others, he was the most rigorously and necessarily right of all the prominent political figures of his time.
That issue was the death penalty.
Cuomo was the steadiest high-profile foe of capital punishment in an era when most Republicans and many leading Democrats—including President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Ed Koch—supported state-sponsored executions.
Again and again as governor, Cuomo vetoed legislation to establish capital punishment in New York State, explaining when he issued one of those vetoes in 1991 that “The death penalty legitimizes the ultimate act of vengeance in the name of the state, violates fundamental human rights, fuels a mistaken belief by some that justice is being served and demeans those who strive to preserve human life and dignity.”
Long after he left office, Cuomo remained consistently outspoken in his opposition to the death penalty, and it can he argued that this consistency played a role in shifting Democrats and the country as a whole toward a more enlightened view. But even if he had been required to stand alone on the issue, Mario Cuomo would have done so. It was his chosen mission in the realm of politics, and in the realm of moral discourse, to argue for outlawing capital punishment.
“Because the death penalty was so popular during the time I served as governor, I was often asked why I spoke out so forcefully against it although the voters very much favored it,” former Governor Cuomo wrote in 2011. “I tried to explain that I pushed this issue into the center of public dialogue because I believed the stakes went far beyond the death penalty itself. Capital punishment raises important questions about how, as a society, we view human beings. I believed as governor, and I still believe, that the practice and support for capital punishment is corrosive; that it is bad for a democratic citizenry and that it had to be objected to and so I did then, and I do now and will continue to for as long as it and I exist, because I believe we should be better than what we are in our weakest moments.”
Did he not steal 2 or 3 billion out of pension funds and have to put it back?
Did the money of working people go to social programs for people who were not working?
And the Spanos, Lenny, Nick, Mikey and the restsold their souls as well.
We all end up in the same place at best 3′ x 6′ or 18 square feet in this world.
What do we do to explain our moral stupidity to the Maker?
New York State political leaders crossed party lines to honor and remember former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who died at 82 today, and to send their sympathies to his family.
Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos joined with Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Democratic State Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and former Gov. David Paterson in paying tribute to the late Cuomo—a liberal Democratic icon and father of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“My thoughts and prayers are with Governor Cuomo and his family as they mourn the loss of his father Mario,” Mr. Skelos wrote on his Facebook page, recalling his personal history with the departed governor. “Mario Cuomo was governor when I first became a member of the State Senate, and I always had a deep and profound respect for him. With his passing, New York has lost a dedicated leader and committed public servant, and one of the great orators of our time. He will be deeply missed.”
Mr. Silver reminisced about Cuomo’s famous “Tale of Two Cities” speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention—an acclaimed piece of political oratory the Manhattan legislative leader argued still resonates today.
“Truly, New York has lost one of its most beloved and charismatic sons and a leader of extraordinary integrity, eloquence and grace,” Mr. Silver said in a statement. “Like many Americans, I was deeply inspired by Mario Cuomo’s “Tale of Two Cities” speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. His words ring as true today as they did more than 30 years ago.”
“Having had the privilege of working with him, I always admired Mario Cuomo’s relentless efforts to extend the compassionate hand of government to those most in need,” he continued.
Ms. Stewart-Cousins similarly expressed admiration for the deceased’s progressive ideology and legacy.
“Mario Cuomo was a voice for the voiceless and he stood up for those that could not stand up for themselves. He is the ideal that Democrats strive toward,” she stated. “New York and our country as a whole are better places because of his leadership. He will be truly missed.”
Mr. Paterson, the chair of the State Democratic Party, shared personal memories of the elder Cuomo on his Twitter account, recalling his humor and his gift with words.
“I used to try and model speeches after him and even used to practice his cadence from the ’84 Democratic National Convention speech,” Mr. Paterson tweeted. “He used to make fun of my use of the word “perspicacity” in a speech I made once.”
“Governor Cuomo was a mentor and a friend. I’ll miss those jokes and I’ll really miss him,” he added.
Harold Holzer, the senior vice president for public affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a former Cuomo press secretary, called Cuomo “a giant” and someone akin to Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Holzer said he was working on a book project with the former governor.
“He was a giant who cared more about issues than about himself,” Mr. Holzer, also a historian, said. “As a historian who had the privilege of working in government for him I can honestly say he was the closest thing to a Lincoln that we’ve ever had: someone who rose from the urban equivalent of a log cabin, wrote magnificently and spoke for the voiceless.”
Read more at http://observer.com/2015/01/leading-state-lawmakers-offer-recollections-condolences-for-mario-cuomo/#ixzz3NtUnW2ut
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what political line did michael spano cross…oh, yes he plays whatever party has the voting majority or current consensus. PATHETIC
New York reacts: Former Gov. Mario Cuomo dies at 82
01 January 2015, 9:18 pm by Jon Campbell in Andrew Cuomo – 2 Comments
Former Gov. Mario Cuomo was remembered Thursday for his strongly held beliefs, his soaring oratory and his professionalism by lawmakers, officials and advocacy organizations from across the state.
Cuomo died at the age of 82 on Thursday, the same day his son—current Gov. Andrew Cuomo—was inaugurated for a second term.
Here’s some reaction:
State Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers: “My thoughts and prayers are with the Governor and his family. Mario Cuomo was a voice for the voiceless and he stood up for those that could not stand up for themselves. He is the ideal that Democrats strive toward. New York and our Country as a whole are better places because of his leadership. He will be truly missed.”
Senate Co-Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County: “Mario Cuomo was Governor when I first became a member of the State Legislature, and I always had a deep and profound respect for him. With his passing, New York has lost a dedicated leader and committed public servant, and one of the great orators of our time. Mario Cuomo will be deeply missed.”
Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County: “I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Governor Mario Cuomo. Governor Cuomo will be remembered by history as one of the great progressive leaders of our time. His life service will be forever remembered and his legacy will live on for many years to come.”
Sen. Charles Schumer: “From soaring oratory that stirred the very soul to painstaking coalition building to advance policies and accomplishments, he was a colossal political mind and represented the very best of public service; he leaves an indelible legacy on the state he loved. My prayers and thoughts are with the Governor, the whole Cuomo family, and all who knew and loved Mario.”
New York State United Teachers: “Mario Cuomo was a first-generation American and son of a grocer who grew to become an extraordinary figure in the history of our great state and our great nation. NYSUT mourns his passing and offers condolences to his son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the entire Cuomo family at this difficult time.”
New York State political leaders crossed party lines to honor and remember former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who died at 82 today, and to send their sympathies to his family.
Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos joined with Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Democratic State Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and former Gov. David Paterson in paying tribute to the late Cuomo—a liberal Democratic icon and father of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“My thoughts and prayers are with Governor Cuomo and his family as they mourn the loss of his father Mario,” Mr. Skelos wrote on his Facebook page, recalling his personal history with the departed governor. “Mario Cuomo was governor when I first became a member of the State Senate, and I always had a deep and profound respect for him. With his passing, New York has lost a dedicated leader and committed public servant, and one of the great orators of our time. He will be deeply missed.”
Mr. Silver reminisced about Cuomo’s famous “Tale of Two Cities” speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention—an acclaimed piece of political oratory the Manhattan legislative leader argued still resonates today.
Read more at http://observer.com/2015/01/leading-state-lawmakers-offer-recollections-condolences-for-mario-cuomo/#ixzz3NtTGy7uK
Follow us: @newyorkobserver on Twitter | newyorkobserver on Facebook
“Truly, New York has lost one of its most beloved and charismatic sons and a leader of extraordinary integrity, eloquence and grace,” Mr. Silver said in a statement. “Like many Americans, I was deeply inspired by Mario Cuomo’s “Tale of Two Cities” speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. His words ring as true today as they did more than 30 years ago.”
“Having had the privilege of working with him, I always admired Mario Cuomo’s relentless efforts to extend the compassionate hand of government to those most in need,” he continued.
Ms. Stewart-Cousins similarly expressed admiration for the deceased’s progressive ideology and legacy.
“Mario Cuomo was a voice for the voiceless and he stood up for those that could not stand up for themselves. He is the ideal that Democrats strive toward,” she stated. “New York and our country as a whole are better places because of his leadership. He will be truly missed.”
Mr. Paterson, the chair of the State Democratic Party, shared personal memories of the elder Cuomo on his Twitter account, recalling his humor and his gift with words.
“I used to try and model speeches after him and even used to practice his cadence from the ’84 Democratic National Convention speech,” Mr. Paterson tweeted. “He used to make fun of my use of the word “perspicacity” in a speech I made once.”
“Governor Cuomo was a mentor and a friend. I’ll miss those jokes and I’ll really miss him,” he added.
Harold Holzer, the senior vice president for public affairs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a former Cuomo press secretary, called Cuomo “a giant” and someone akin to Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Holzer said he was working on a book project with the former governor.
“He was a giant who cared more about issues than about himself,” Mr. Holzer, also a historian, said. “As a historian who had the privilege of working in government for him I can honestly say he was the closest thing to a Lincoln that we’ve ever had: someone who rose from the urban equivalent of a log cabin, wrote magnificently and spoke for the voiceless.”
Read more at http://observer.com/2015/01/leading-state-lawmakers-offer-recollections-condolences-for-mario-cuomo/#ixzz3NtT4QgWf
Follow us: @newyorkobserver on Twitter | newyorkobserver on Facebook
Good Riddance where your going is awfully hot and for eternity, you earned , while down there say hello to Ted ,The Killer, Kennedy for me, your new roommate, Well at least 2015 is off to a terrific start…
Amen
Perpetual light shine upon him, Oh Lord ! May his soul and the souls of the faithful departed rest in Peace. Amen.
Other than these wishes for his departed soul, this middle of the roader, always thought of him as a person who sold out his religion, culture and ethnic values for political gain.
Too bad that he didn’t grow in the old days of westchester politics, where with his magnificent skills of intellect and oratory, he might have shaped this nation in a totally different way. Hey, he might have been another Ronald Reagan.
Alas, he was a victim of the ultra liberal “progessive” democratic machine. He had to preach antiCatholic, antiCommon Sense values to get elected.
Good for him that he tried to help the underpriveledged, downtrodden and weary. he did not have to do it at the expense of compromising basic Catholic and Christian value.
Cannot believe that his inner soul espoused his fringe liberal policies. Only the Lord, knows and now, too, Mario knows, having met the Lord if he was right or terribly wrong.
I admired him, as a fellow Italian American, fellow Attorney, fellow son of imigrants. I had no use for his politics.