ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Saying "government should be responsive to
the needs at the time," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo promises a
different kind of State of the State address on Wednesday, one less
about political pageantry and more about governing in a crisis.
Cuomo said he will use his first opportunity for speech to cast
himself as the hard-fisted manager needed to lead New York out of
more than two years of fiscal crisis, with $11 billion in current
and future deficits still ahead.
He said he will consolidate the hundreds of state agencies,
departments and authorities to save money and run more efficiently,
while leaving open the question of additional public worker layoffs
beyond the 900 he's carrying out.
But the most anticipated remarks may be those of powerful
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver's support is essential for
Cuomo's plans to cut spending, establish a 2 percent cap on the
growth of property taxes, enact nonpartisan redistricting of
election districts for the next 10 years so majority parties don't
protect their power, and other key proposals.
"I am going to say unequivocally in the speech that we will
pass a property tax cap, us and the governor working together
trying to find common ground," Silver told The Associated Press.
"And the Assembly will pass a reform of the redistricting
process."
He also said he will support Cuomo's plan to cut state spending.
"There is no doubt in anybody's mind that we have to restrain
spending as a result of the economic crisis going forward," said
Silver, a Democrat like Cuomo. "We will have to fill a gap of $10
billion. It's obvious there have to be cuts to fill that gap."
Cuomo moved the site of Wednesday afternoon's speech to the
Empire Plaza convention center, able to hold 2,000 people, or twice
as many as the traditional venue for the annual speeches, the
Assembly chambers. Seeking to work with the Legislature that has
derailed Govs. Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson before him, Cuomo
has provided unprecedented time to the Senate and Assembly leaders
for brief speeches.