The 2010 election here in New York posed an especially stark choice for voters when it came to the Governorship. In one corner was Andrew Cuomo- thoroughly competent State Attorney General, and son of famously liberal former Governor Mario Cuomo. In the other corner was Carl Paladino, a teabagger who trounced the state Republican party's annointed candidate. It's not like it was a tough choice; Paladino was unhinged, at one point making an apparent death threat against a heckler—on camera!
But now things don't look quite so simple. Cuomo's behavior since his inauguration makes former Republican Governor George Pataki look positively liberal.
Cuomo came out of the gate swinging at New York's traditional liberal constituencies, indicating that 'business as usual' was a thing of the past. He announced in a series of commercials that things were going to be different. He actively embraced the traditional Republican meme: taxes are too high, State spending is out of control, and we have to embrace a brutal austerity regimen. To paraphrase, we will balance the State budget on the backs of the poor.
As detailed
here, Cuomo has proposed a budget that slashes taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, while cutting more than $2 billion from health and education spending.
Not coincidentally, my rural school district has just announced that all AP programs for gifted students are being completely eliminated due to huge cuts in State aid. Half the school nurse positions are being eliminated. Last year our rural hospital lost $1 million on operations due to huge reductions in insurance payments and rising expenses. The administrator predicted that in 2 years our hospital, the only one in the county, might be out of money and forced to close. With the Governor's new cuts, I think we can move that date forward by at least a year.
So....
Who do I vote for when the Democratic Governor insists on acting like a Republican?