Good Tuesday morning. Here’s a glance at opinion content published today in The Journal News:
Andrew Cuomo: Editorial
We congratulate Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his success in realizing the legalization of same-sex marriage, a property-tax cap, ethics reform and more in the just-concluded legislative session. New Yorkers, we argue, deserved a bit of functional government. Still, there’s plenty left for Albany to tackle. We write:
… The weary voters, discouraged by a succession of failed governors and corrupt elected officials, won a new ethics law; it requires, for the first time, disclosure of legislators’ outside business interests, and calls for greater oversight of both the Legislature and the executive branch. Cuomo threatened legislators with a host of official inquiries if they failed to approve a new ethics law. What they delivered won’t address all of the ethical shortcomings that confound Albany politics, but it is better than what was on the books.
The score run up by Cuomo was such that there was open speculation Monday about a Cuomo run for the White House in 2016 — the kind of nonsense talk that seems to crop up whenever something actually goes right in politics. Cuomo reportedly discouraged such conjecture, and with good reason: New York remains a harsh place to do business; the schools do not return results commensurate with taxpayer expenditures; too many New Yorkers remain jobless; and the list of required additional fixes — on pensions, health care, redistricting, and unfunded mandates, to name a few — is lengthy.Cuomo is off to an impressive start, but it just wouldn’t be New York if we could not soon wonder: What has the governor done for us lately?
Gay marriage: Reisman
Phil Reisman comments on how the legalization of same-sex marriage may become an issue in the Republican mayoral primary in Yonkers. Republican Councilman John Murtagh supports the measure while his likely opponent, former Councilman Richard Martinelli, does not.
Gay marriage: Commentary
Jeffrey Allen, a Larchmont native who lives in London, offerrs a Community View in which he argues that while New York’s passage of same-sex marriage is certainly encouraging, the federal Defense of Marriage Act still needs to be repealed.
More opinion
Here’s a glance at what our colleagues are saying today:
Things are looking up for New York: Editorial, Newsday
Big achievements in Albany: Editorial, Syracuse Post-Standard
Cuomo’s triumphs are historic gains: Editorial, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
The day that had to come: Editorial, The Buffalo News
The Legislature’s comeback?: Editorial, Albany Times Union
Reject stopgap measure on school pension costs: Editorial, Watertown Daily Times
Congress needs input on Libya policy: Editorial, Poughkeepsie Journal
