AndrewCuomo.com

Gov. Andrew Cuomo displays a self-assured air, a plain sense of entitlement or straight-up arrogance. Whatever he has, he walked into the AmNews offices with it. Unabashed.

There were some nerves and caution as both sides worked to measure each other, along with some politically practiced dodging by the governor as he worked skillfully to move around certain issues.

However, the AmNews team was fairly persistent, not letting him dodge major issues of importance like charter schools, a lack of jobs and cuts in education and social services for people of color and the poor.

Sometimes it seemed like a slick oilman or salesman was hovering around the room. Yes, he is personable, but personality does not resolve issues affecting the masses and the middle class if a genuine intent to do the right thing is absent.

Talk is cheap, to reiterate a point made by the man himself. Talking loud and saying nothing, though, also goes hand in hand with many politicians, especially those bent on higher office or trying to maintain the status quo. So we have to take a wait-and-see attitude with our current governor, one who was elected with overwhelming Black, Latino and urban support. We have a right to have high expectations because we were the base of support for his initial election and political mandate.

And after much haranguing and a long wait, the Amsterdam News editorial staff was finally granted the sit-down interview with the governor, which he promised shortly after he was elected last November. What follows is our analysis of that discussion.

Cuomo came into office in January 2011. For most of the time he has stayed in Albany, prompting many downstate residents to ask: "Where is the governor?"

He claims that he was doing the people's business, dealing with the legislators for the first seven months. But what he really did was completely dodge the question about the multi-billion dollar cuts to communities and services and his refusal to tax the rich. When asked about these issues he offers, "The main fear of the cut in New York City was that the cut was basically in the area of education."

He added, "We believe that New York City was in the position [to make the cuts] because they were financially strong, and the city would be able to compensate for the reduction from within their budget.

"The initial position from the city was that they wouldn't be able to do that and they would [have to] lay off teachers, and that created a lot of anxiety. As it turns out New York City doesn't lay off a single teacher because the city did have reserves to compensate for the state cuts."

The governor continued, "So where we are today, now that the play has closed-not that it wasn't a good play-it closed because of a matter of time."

Cuomo sits back. Gloriously happy with his analogy

A play? So all the families panicking and hyperventilating as they worry about their job security or getting a job, their homes and their children's education, the AmNews asked if all that is just a political play.

"No, it's a semi-negotiation," Cuomo said. "Welcome to every budget done in the state of New York in the last 20 years. Their position was, 'If you do that, we're going to have to lay off 5,000 teachers.' Everybody got upset and they called their assemblyman, they called their senator-and they called the governor. The city is doing what the city is supposed to do. I understand that. But my position was that the city has the reserves, which is the way it turned out so no teachers were laid off."

When asked why he visited only upstate communities, Cuomo said that he visited cities to do budget presentations rather than visiting individual communities. He said that he had to be in Albany for the legislative session to ensure that some of his legislations were passed and that being in the capital as often as necessary is the most effective way to run the state. When asked about the crisis of minority employment in our communities, he did not really have a plan; he only spoke of economic injustice.

Cuomo said that his plan was to first deal with the legislators, and now that he has accomplished his goals, he will begin to meet with groups and organizations across the state. He calls this phase two.

So are we to believe that urban downstate communities are his second phase?

In this so-called plan, he says he will establish "regional councils focusing on economic development and jobs all across the state on a very community-driven, grassroots, bottom-up process."

And as his blueprint for this process, the governor pointed to his tenure as HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) secretary under the Clinton administration, stressing to the economic development and housing programs he implemented and his central role in the destruction of Chicago's Cabrini Green housing project (a Chicago Housing Authority's (CHA) public housing development on Chicago's Near North Side) as a keystone to his credibility.

The AmNews asked for his view point on charter schools and co-locations, which we have chronicled in these pages, showing how one element of a community can be pitted against another.

"I don't see one as the enemy of the other. The charter school experiment, if you will, to the extent that it has brought interest and funding and people getting involved in public education in underserved communities, I think that net is good. Will we solve the problems of public education with charter schools? No, as a matter of scale, you could never get there."

"Have you been into a public school in the city?" Cuomo was asked. "The area schools are a mess, governor."

Cuomo replied: "Yes, the schools are a mess. I agree. All I'm saying is that the answer isn't in giving them more money."

The governor asked, "Can we sacrifice resources that go to public schools for charter schools? No, but I don't see one as the enemy of the other. I'm focused on the performance of the public education system, and starting to measure that.

That's what we're working on, and the Board of Regents is working with us on that. The simple answer is standardized tests. [But beyond that] I believe in teacher measurement."

He continued: "I support the charter schools. . .On co-locations it is issue by issue. It would depend on the specifics of that co-location, but I think the issue of charter schools is a net positive across the board. It is fostering a conversation, even the debate was a good debate."

When asked about specifics regarding children and their education -- children having lunch at 10, ensuring that all the children are fed at all, cramming a charter school into a building already at capacity or the uneven distribution of resources -- he was short on real answers.

"With those specifics, that's a problem," Cuomo said. "On co-locations specifically, I can understand problems and issues that have to be worked out. I think the charter school movement, the charter school experiment, the charter school argument has been good for public education because it has brought resources to the table. It is not an answer to public education because it is not a scalable [solution]."

Fixing public education involves "funding and resources," the governor noted. "It has to be the best teachers with the best skill sets and the best methods, and we have to start measuring and funding performance."

Meanwhile, the governor bragged that the budget negotiations weren't as austere as people feared they would be. But the AmNews challenged him as to whether that would be the view of the man or woman on the street, especially as the effects of his cuts trickle down to local communities.

When asked how he feels about being compared to New Jersey governor Chris Christie -- common talk in the media -- and his relationship with unions, he says that he did exactly what he said he was going to do with unions, and he still has their support. He said that he needed to get $450 million in savings and he got it without layoffs. He says givebacks were necessary because the state is broke. However, he says the unions were just posturing, and you should not confuse posturing with results.

Next, he says, he is going for pension reform but claims he is not going for the 401K-style pension favored by corporate America or Republican governors in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana or New Jersey. The changes he is going for will affect new employees, not existing employees, he said. Cuomo says conservatives will say he is not doing anything, but he is not trying to please them.

Discussing MWBEs, Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise, the governor said that he wants to further their use and even expand them during his term. In February, former New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate William Thompson was put on a MWBE task force.

According to Cuomo, the task force is "very diverse" and has 30 members, including elected officials from the state Senate and the Assembly from the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus. There are also representatives from companies actively involved in supplier and workforce diversity contracting and inclusion practices, experts in MWBE implementation and representatives from New York State academic institutions.

Among those on the task force are Assemblyman Keith Wright (D-70th AD), State Sens. Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan) and Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D-Yonkers), Counsel to the Governor Mylan Denerstein and Paul Williams, president of the Dormitory Authority.

Current MWBE participation in the state's contracting and procurement process is at 9.2 percent. Cuomo wants to increase that number to 20 percent.

As part of his newfound presence in New York City and its neighborhoods, Cuomo says he wants to develop a "real urban development program in the state." Cuomo admits to injustice in the economic system both "racially [and] demographically," but aside from several general statements, he didn't make any real commitment to communities of color or the urban core. He did not take the kind of stand that he has taken with public employee union pensions or many state programs. Instead, he is asking our communities to take a wait-and-see approach.

In the end, what does the governor want to be judged on? He says it is about "my agenda [of] diversity of hiring, housing, performance of MWBEs, commitment, competence and success."

While Cuomo wants education to be judged by the numbers produced from standardized tests, maybe the Black community should hold Cuomo up to a similar standard. As of right now, the numbers might not add up. But there's still time.