New York Rep. Nita Lowey, who worked with him as assistant secretary of state before she was elected to Congress, said part of his power was how he couched the liberal ideal of government as a helping hand for the needy in relatable terms.
“What was so important to my development was his absolute conviction that people wanted a hand up, not a handout,” Lowey said.
New York Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf said much of his appeal and legacy — and why he remains a rarity in politics today — is that he was unapologetic in his ideals and beliefs.
“He didn’t need any spin doctors. He didn’t need to be told what to do. If he had something on his mind he said it, he told you exactly how he felt, and he didn’t regret any of it,” Sheinkopf said.
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Still, his allies admit that his soaring oratory was at times constrained by the earth-bound realities of a difficult economy and partisan opposition in the statehouse.
Former New York Democratic Assemblyman Paul Tokasz said that he was often met with disappointment by teachers’ unions and other constituencies in the state with a budget that might have been balanced but didn’t do enough for them.
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And he acknowledged, “I have also decided I’m not capable of doing it.”
Rangel said that today’s often toxic atmosphere of partisanship makes it difficult for anyone to have the sort of conversation with the public that Cuomo revered and did so well.
“I don’t think anyone could get out of the billions and trillions of dollars that have been poured in for [the parties] to negatively attack each other,” he said.
“But if there’s anyone that could do it, it would’ve been Mario Cuomo.”
People we lost: 2014
