Expect an “orgy of self-congratulation and promise-making’’ in Gov. Cuomo’s election-year State of the State Address Wednesday, including pledges of tax relief, job creation, medical marijuana and some funding for new Mayor de Blasio’s pet pre-K program, Democratic insiders have told The Post.
Cuomo, who hopes to win re-election with a landslide total that tops the 64 percent received when his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, first won re-election in 1986, plans to use much of a projected $2 billion budget surplus for a property-tax “circuit breaker’’ that will reduce the tax burden on hard-pressed middle- and upper-middle-class homeowners.
At the same time, he’ll propose using some of the surplus to kick up the state’s commitment to subsidizing universal pre-K school programs of the sort de Blasio is hoping to fund with a new tax on New York City’s wealthy, a plan Cuomo opposes, sources at the Capitol said.
“Cuomo is nervous about de Blasio and the Democratic Party’s left wing, and he’s going to make a strong gesture related to that in the speech,’’ said a prominent state Democrat.
A legislative Democrat said lawmakers expect Cuomo to deliver “a campaign speech’’ that will “brag about how he’s supposedly growing education and jobs and how he’s going to increase the state’s commitment to improving health care, as well as cutting taxes.’’
A senior legislative Democrat predicted an “orgy of self-congratulation and promise-making’’ from the governor, who, he said, “wants us to believe that he’s either solved all of the state’s problems or is on the verge of doing so.’’
Governors have traditionally used State of the State speeches to outline a grab bag of proposals for the new year, with the actual cost of the plans not outlined until late January, when the governor presents a proposed budget to the Legislature.
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the Republican who may challenge Cuomo in November, says Cuomo is favoring “wealthy downstate radical environmentalists’’ at the expense of the ailing upstate economy by refusing to make a decision on permitting fracking for natural gas in the Southern Tier.
Astorino, who’ll be at the Capitol in advance of Cuomo’s speech, said through an aide, “If Cuomo doesn’t signal in his State of the State that he’s finally moving forward on natural gas, then he isn’t serious about helping the upstate economy.
“It seems like every day, there’s a new story highlighting the energy and economic boom in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Dakota, and then, beneath the fold, the other story is about the further economic and population declines in upstate New York.”
Cuomo has been refusing to say if he’ll call special elections to fill nine vacancies in the Legislature, including a newly opened Senate seat in Nassau County, a hot potato if ever there was one.
The Nassau vacancy was created New Year’s Eve with the surprise resignation of longtime Sen. Charles Fuschillo, a Republican whose district Democrats think they can win.
The dilemma for Cuomo is that he’s been courting support for his re-election bid and his legislative agenda from Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County and county GOP Chairman Joseph Mondello.
“If Cuomo calls a special election for Fuschillo’s seat, he’s going to be expected to back the Democratic candidate,” said a party source.