Rye Brook, NY – It was a father-son moment like no other in New York’s history — and it brought tears to Mario Cuomo’s eyes.
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Two Cuomos — the father an aging ex-governor, and the eldest son aiming to follow his dad into the Executive Mansion — stood arm in arm on a confetti-strewn stage yesterday to celebrate their family’s return to the top of the state Democratic Party.
Mario Cuomo looked at his smiling son through tear-filled eyes — his face filled with pride — as Andrew at long last accepted his party’s nomination for governor.
The moving encounter in the ballroom of the Hilton Rye Town in Rye Brook marked the official start of the popular attorney general’s long march to the November election, in which he’s overwhelmingly favored over a bitterly divided Republican field.
Moments earlier, the younger Cuomo, 52, praised his 77-year-old father as “an icon for principle and integrity in public service” and listed him among such renowned Empire State Democrats as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Hugh Carey.
That brought the assembled party faithful to their feet to cheer the three-term former governor in an extended ovation.
Mario Cuomo, a master orator, whose speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention made him one of the party’s most prominent figures, said he was caught up in the emotion of the day.
“Matilda and I feel the same way about this. When our grandchildren come home with good grades, we don’t congratulate them because they are intelligent, we congratulate them for using their gifts well,” Mario told The Post.
“I’m not going to congratulate Andrew for being big and strong and being able to fix a motor on an old car. I love him because of what he’s doing with the gift that he has. He’s trying to make the state better for everybody.
“It’s nice to know that your first son who was so close to you and who was so much a part of your own political success . . . learned something about the political process from his father just by watching me perform, for better or worse.”
In his own remarks to convention delegates, Andrew Cuomo showed of some his father’s famous flair and, in one clear homage to dad, referred to the state’s citizens as the “family of New York.”
“We believe in E pluribus unum — out of many, one,” Andrew Cuomo said. “And as one there is nothing we cannot do.”
Mario, azendeme, tu se proveno Sfaccime!!!!!! And you little kid too!!!!!!
i cant wait for another Pataki to come and kick him out of office “like father like son”
Cuomo senior was for taxing and spending. Lets see if Jr fixes some of that by reining in the unions, especailly 1199 and the UFT, cutting ridiculous State pension costs, fighting DC for NY fair share of Fed money, fighting pork barrle projects for every lobbyist represented constituency and forming a working coalition with the Assembly and Senate. Going head to head with them will backfire. Making deals works.
Can anyone explain why during the Summer of 1991 (when Cuomo was Governor), when there were riots in Crown Heights, that Cuomo did not send in the New York State Police to quell the riots? He could have done that, since the NYCPD did nothing for three days and three nights. His predecessor, Gov. Hugh Carey sent in the NY State Police into the Bronx in the Summer of 1977, when there were riots following a massive blackout in NYC.
we need more cuomo’s….they are beter educated than us and beter intellagent than us…and they know how to tax us more than we coulds ever figure out…look at that which that they have done for us already.
One Cuomo was bad enough. 2 is a disaster