ALBANY – The state capital is geared up for a very Cuomo homecoming tomorrow night.
Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo and his ex-governor father, Mario, and mother, Matilda, are expected to arrive in late afternoon for an emotional reunion with the 40-room Italianate manse they called home for 12 years until 1994 to watch Andrew Cuomo officially sworn-in as the 56th governor of New York.
Cuomo won’t officially take office until midnight, but, by tradition and to ensure continuum, was expected to be sworn in at 10 p.m. by the state’s Chief Judge Jonathan Lippmann.
Some 60 or so Cuomo family and friends will be hosted in the 135-year-old house’s storied dining room by the incoming governor and his celebrity chef girlfriend, Sandra Lee, who some insiders have dubbed the state’s “semi-first lady” in nod to her show, “Semi-Homemade Cooking.”
The incoming first family’s buffet-style fare will be prepared not by Lee but the in-house chef. Cuomo’s brother, “20/20” co-anchor Chris Cuomo, and the governor-elect’s daughters, twins Mariah and Cara, 15, and Michaela, 13, will also be there.
An after-dinner reception in the Mansion’s Great Hall will be attended by about 80 select guests, including some top aides, but no elected other officials. New York wine will be served.
Not expected to attend was the girls’ mother, Kerry Kennedy, who split with the governor-elect after his first, disastrous run for governor in 2002.
Cuomo – hoping to convey the seriousness of the state’s financial problems – plans a staff meeting for 8:30 a.m. Saturday before speaking at a public swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol. Gov. Paterson will attend, although former Govs. Eliot Spitzer, George Pataki and Hugh Carey will not.
The governor-elect chose the pared-down ceremony, which will be attended by about 200, as a sign of austerity and pledged to cover any costs from his campaign account.
“No taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for the event,” Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said.
Cuomo and incoming Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy will then spend a two hours at the Mansion greeting about 300 ticket-holding members of the public.
The inaugural weekend would provide another high point to the Cuomos’ long history at the mansion. His sister Mario Cuomo Cole married fashion designer Kenneth Cole on the grounds. Chris Cuomo grew up in the stately home, earning the moniker “Mansion Boy” from his older brother.
The incoming governor also lived in the residence for several years while serving as a top aide during his father’s first term in office.
Unlike his father, though, the younger Cuomo plans to live in Westchester and stay at the home only when work requires his presence in Albany. Paterson, Spitzer and Pataki followed a similar practice.
Workmen from the state Office of General Services spent the past week readying the Mansion for the state’s new first family.
Officials described the Mansion as tattered and in need of a thorough painting but, they said, Cuomo, facing a projected $10 billion state budget deficit, has been reluctant to authorize even the relatively modest spending that would be involved.
Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) defended Cuomo’s decision to move his Jan. 5 “State of the State” from the Assembly chamber to a larger convention hall, a move some lawmakers saw as a slap.
Silver told Albany’s WGDJ 1300-AM packing all the interested attendees into the ornate chamber would be “a fire hazard.”
“I don’t think the people of the State of New York really care where the governor gives that speech,” Silver said. “There are issues out there that are more important to them, maybe where are they going to be working next year.”