Welcome to You Op to Know, The Daily Orange Opinion section’s weekly podcast.  

This week, Assistant Editorial Editor Michael Sessa and Liberal columnist Nicholas Turner discuss New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s increasing national presence as well as ways he can shift his focus back to his state.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to submit a letter to the editor at opinion@dailyorange.com.

TRANSCRIPT

MICHAEL SESSA: Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s edition of You Op To Know, The Daily Orange’s Opinion podcast. I’m your host and co-producer Michael Sessa and I’m joined by our Liberal columnist Nick Turner.

NICHOLAS TURNER: Thank you for having me.

SESSA: So tonight we’re going to talk about Nick’s recent column on New York’s governor. He’s been getting a lot of national attention lately, and some people think he could be doing more to help his state. So what drew you to the topic in the first place?

TURNER: Yeah, so the inspiration for it — I mean, so Cuomo has really outlined a progressive agenda unlike anything we’ve seen before from him in his first days of his new term. And, I guess there’s a lot of curiosity about “Why is he doing it now?” and “Is he trying to angle for a higher office?” “Is he just doing it to benefit citizens?” or “Does it really matter why he’s doing it at all?” So, I mean, those are the questions I really wanted to answer by looking at this column.

SESSA: So Cuomo stated a few times that he’s not going to run for office in 2020 — or presidential office in 2020. So why do you think he’s taken such a hard, public, national stance against President Trump?

TURNER: Yeah, so, I mean, politicians, we can always assume that they’re always thinking about their next election. And I think with governor Cuomo it’s interesting because, in New York, I don’t think he really is looking to be in, like, a competitive election any time soon when it comes to his governor election. I think the next competitive election he would be in would be in a higher office. So I think with him, I think his focus right now is to provide for New York citizens still, but also try to still be a national presence and angle for a potential higher office if he deems it necessary.

SESSA: So a 2017 Quinnipiac University poll you referenced in your column showed that 54 percent of New Yorkers actually think Governor Cuomo “should be a national leader challenging the policies of the Trump administration.” And 55 percent think that if he were to do so, that would be good for the state. So do you think there’s a happy middle ground where Cuomo can simultaneously be a national presence rebuking Trump and also benefit his state?

TURNER: I think for a New York governor, I think they’re always going to be a national presence really. So I think with him, I think just, I think his main focus should be on the progressive agenda that he has outlined. And I think if you look at that from a national perspective, I think you can, you can view that as a rebuke to President Trump — just as a reubke to his policies, to his statements, whatever you want. So I mean, I think for him it’s important to just let his actions speak louder than words because I think for a long time in New York, he’s really had his words outweigh his actions, and that’s why people sometimes feel negatively about him. And I think this is a time where he can truly, like, kind of take his actions and make sure they’re more important than things he’s saying.

SESSA: So what do you think — What kinds of things do you think Cuomo could do in New York — policies, budgeting, agenda-setting, initiatives, that kind of thing — that could show the residents that he’s really fully committed to the state above his own personal ambitions?

TURNER: Yeah. So the policies that he’s outlined so far, I think are a great — like, the voting reform, there is campaign finance reform, there was ensuring reproductive rights — a lot of things, like, that, that are things that are overdue in New York I think really. I think his focus after he kind of implements his agenda should be to, kind of, just be a presence in New York — you know, to try to visit, like, upstate New York, try to have, like, maybe town halls up here and things like that, just to show that he is a governor for the people of New York, to make sure that they don’t think he’s trying to angle for a higher office, but rather that he’s trying to still be a presence and make sure that he’s, like, recipient to the citizens of New York.

SESSA: Cool. Thanks for joining us.

TURNER: Thank you for having me.

SESSA: Stay tuned for next week’s edition of You Op To Know. And, as always, if you have any questions or comments, hit us up at opinion@dailyorange.com or send us a letter to the editor. We’ll talk to you next week!

Published on January 29, 2019 at 8:21 pm

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3