Cuomo – Mario, that is – returns to the Capitol
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- January
- 7
Former Gov. Mario Cuomo, out of office for 14 years, today made his first trip to a State of the State address since he left office in 1994. He was never invited by former Gov. George Pataki, who defeated him in a bitter race in 1994 and served until 2006, and turned down invitations from Eliot Spitzer for the last two years.
But he was present today, and seated between two long-ago adversaries: former Gov. Hugh Carey, who had the top job from 1975 to 1982 and then endorsed Ed Koch over Cuomo, who was serving as his lieutenant governor, to succeed him.
Seated on the other side was former Lt. Gov. Al DelBello of Yonkers, who was elected with Cuomo. But Since DelBello defeated Cuomo’s pick to be lieutenant governor in that year’s Democratic primary, H. Carl McCall, Cuomo froze out DelBello once they were in office, and he resigned in 1985.
There was no obvious animosity today, though, as Carey and Cuomo were introduced by Paterson.
Paterson invited Pataki to attend as well, but he declined.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 5:39 pm by Jay Gallagher.
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Pataki declined because his chances of being appointed Senator from New York are (ahem) slim. But, he’s so dumb and egotistical, he probably thinks it’s possible. Carey, the best of a shaky bunch, is too old. The other named attendants actually think they can work a deal. If not, they’ll just keep on quietly lobbying, posing as attorneys, and forcing the State into a further quagmire.