Gov-elect Andrew Cuomo fielded congratulatory calls from President Obama and Gov. Paterson yesterday as he set in motion the transition process that will hand him the reins of power on Jan. 1.
Cuomo also got a pledge of cooperation from Senate Republican Minority Leader Dean Skelos, who told the governor-to-be that he expects to be the Senate majority leader in January.
Cuomo, just a day after defeating Republican Carl Paladino by a whopping 62 percent to 34 percent, spent several minutes speaking with Obama in what was described by his spokesman as a “congratulatory call in which the president said he was happy with the results in New York and wished him well.”
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Cuomo also received a pledge of “full cooperation” from fellow Democrat Paterson and will meet with the governor to discuss the transition as soon as today, the spokesman said.
Their staffs are expected to begin transition talks today or tomorrow.
A day after his landslide victory, Cuomo made no public appearances and spent much of his time at his official attorney general’s office in lower Manhattan.
“He’s exhausted. He was up all night after the election and decided not to do anything public because he was so tired,” according to the spokesman.
Skelos told Cuomo that he’ll support the incoming governor’s plans to make steep reductions in state spending and adopt a tough new ethics law, measures that in the past have been opposed by Democrats in the Legislature.
“There are real problems in this state, fiscal problems, decisions that have been put off for too long, and our Republican conference is ready to do the right thing and turn this state around,” Skelos said on Albany’s Talk 1300-AM.
Mayor Bloomberg, meanwhile, warned that the defeat of several reform-oriented candidates, including some he had backed, could make Cuomo’s new job even harder.
“He’s not going to have all the tools, perhaps, he might have liked. But that’s the job. He wanted it. He’s got it, and I think he’ll do a great job,” he continued.
While Cuomo didn’t talk during the day with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), whom many expect to oppose his reform proposals, the spokesman said the two men had “friendly discussions” early Tuesday morning at the Manhattan hotel where a Democratic victory party was held.
Meanwhile, with the confetti barely cleaned up from election-night celebrations, Cuomo’s famous father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, said he won’t be surprised to hear his son’s name mentioned as a contender for the White House.
“If Andrew with his bright mind comes up with good ideas and is able to implement them, then of course he ought to be considered for a higher place,” the elder Cuomo said in an interview with William O’Shaughnessy on Westchester’s WVOX radio.
But, he said, “it should depend upon what he produces.”
He also predicts his son will be “smarter than his old man.”
“He’ll learn from what I did that didn’t work well and he will also learn from what I did that did work well,” Cuomo said.
The loquacious former governor veered into the towering rhetoric he’s famous for when trying to describe how he felt seeing his son win the governor’s race.
“This is a spectacular country. This is a magnificent, unique house and home of opportunity for everybody,” he said.
He also revealed that his workaholic son planned a transition meeting this morning at 10 a.m. — and called him around 5 a.m. to talk politics.
“I feel sorry for the guys who were partying,” said the elder Cuomo.
Additional reporting by David Seifman in New York