ALBANY — One day after a parade of special-interest groups assailed his plan to slash $9 billion in state spending, Gov. Cuomo vowed not to back down in a call-to-arms video message to New Yorkers.
The governor urged the public to ignore the attacks and rally behind a tough-love $133 billion budget plan that would dramatically cut school aid, close as many as a half-dozen prisons and lay off up to 9,800 state workers in the name of government reform.
The five-minute video provided a preemptive strike in Cuomo’s expected fight with the teachers unions, health-care groups and state-worker associations who have caused previous governors to buckle with devastating ad campaigns.
“In the past, the attacks by the special interests and the lobbyists forced the governor to back down and give in,” Cuomo said. “Know this: I will not be intimidated. This is why you elected me, and I will get it done.”
But “I need your help to do it,” Cuomo said. “The real power of the governor comes when the people of the state stand with him.”
The proposal, which promised no tax increases and included several agency mergers and a 10 percent across-the-board cut to state spending, was praised by business groups and budget hawks.
But the plan drew outrage from groups dependant on state funding.
The Public Employees Federation charged such job cuts would “cripple public services.” The New York State United Teachers called a $2.85 billion reduction in expected school aid a “recipe for devastating impact.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg toned down his own complaints about Cuomo’s “inequitable” proposal to cut the city’s aid by $660 million.
Sources said Cuomo had assured Bloomberg through staffers that the administration would support the mayor’s calls for pension reform and relief from state-mandated costs.
“We’re not going to have a public fight,” Bloomberg told reporters. My job is to work with the governor.”
Additional reporting by Fredric U. Dicker