Let’s see if we’ve got this straight.
When two state senators put forward a bill that would require a town’s clear approval — e.g., by a law or referendum — before a new casino is sited there, the governor’s spokeswoman denounces it as “politicizing the [site-]selection process.”
But when the industry is natural gas and the issue is hydraulic fracking, somehow home rule is more acceptable. Here the governor remains silent as anti-fracking activists push communities to enact local bans as a way to ensure that fracking never gets off — er, under — the ground.
As Westchester County Executive and likely GOP gubernatorial foe Rob Astorino said Monday: “It took Tolstoy less time to write ‘War and Peace’ than it’s taken for Cuomo to make a decision on fracking.”
The administration’s reaction has it backward. The casino legislation sponsored by state Sens. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) and Cecilia Tkaczyk (D-Duanesburg) reflect serious concerns, especially in upstate communities, about whether casinos will provide the widely promised economic rejuvenation in their regions.
Especially since the state ballot measure passed in November on the strength of some questionable language claiming it would mean more jobs, lower taxes and more money for schools.
So here’s where this leaves us. Citizens who want to have some say in whether a casino goes up in their town are “politicizing” the process. While environmental activists trying to shut down the industry before it can get started are simply expressing home rule. Welcome to Andrew Cuomo’s New York.