New York State’s constitution requires that every governor submit a message to the legislature “at every session the condition of the state, and recommend such matters to it as he or she shall judge expedient.” Since the early 20th Century, governors have delivered a State of the State speech in addition to delivering a written document. Usually that speech was delivered in the New York State Assembly chamber. The Assembly seats 150 and so jamming in the smaller Senate body plus staff and dignitaries was the appropriate venue.
At least until this Governor Cuomo became the state’s executive. He began holding the State of the State addresses in the Empire Plaza complex, which connects to the Capitol. The argument for the move was two-fold: the greater capacity made it more comfortable and seated more people and it allowed the governor an opportunity to use visuals to accompany his address.
This year, the governor is not delivering his State of the State address anywhere near the Capitol, instead he is taking his message on the road with speeches in New York City, Buffalo, White Plains, Long Island, Albany and Syracuse.
The governor’s rationale is that he wants to deliver his message directly to the “people,” – those who reserve a ticket and who have the time to attend during a workday.
But there is another reason – the increasingly hostile relationship between the governor and the legislature. It was the governor who killed the legislative pay raise slated to go into effect on January 1. If approved, it would have provided a raise for the legislature and the governor’s commissioners for the first time since 1999 – a long time to go without a raise.
The governor argued that he wanted ethics reforms as part of any pay raise deal, but did little to galvanize the public behind his demand. Lawmakers on the other hand, feel like they’ve been duped and are extremely angry. The governor decided, I would guess, not to give lawmakers an opportunity to publicly rebuke him at his State of the State and simply decided not to hold one at the Capitol.
Wherever the State of the State address is held, it is supposed to discuss the “condition of the state” and what the governor proposes to recommend. Here are some key topics that he should be talking about:
Climate change. There is absolutely no doubt (despite what the nation’s leaders argue) that the planet is heating up and that human activities are driving those changes. It’s not a belief, it is fact. States like New York will have to take the lead in developing new sources of energy that do not rely on the burning of fossil fuels and are safe.
In this area, the governor has a lot to talk about: he has blocked natural gas exploration; he has advanced measures to overhaul the state’s energy grid, and is in the process of harnessing wind power off the cost of Long Island.
Last week, it was reported that the governor has a deal to close down the Indian Point nuclear power plant – and outdated and unsafe facility operating too close to millions of downstate New Yorkers.
However, at the same time the governor is hiking utility rates by an estimated $7.6 billion to keep open three outdated, unsafe nuclear power plants on Lake Ontario. The governor should use his State of the State address to defend why upstaters living close to those plants are less vulnerable than downstaters living near Indian Point. And while he’s at it, how about a pitch to explain why ratepayers need to spend billions more in utility payments to prop up three plants built in the 1960s and which were headed for the scrap heap?
But the biggest issue has to be corruption in government. During the governor’s tenure, the number of arrests, indictments and convictions has skyrocketed. In the legislature, both legislative leaders are facing prison time and scores of others have been convicted as well. Two of the governor’s top aides have been indicted and one close associate has pleaded guilty to corruption charges in a sweeping pay-to-play scandal. The charges outline a scheme in which government contracts were allegedly used to enrich those individuals and to shake down contractors for campaign contributions to the governor’s re-election.
Trust in New York State government is at an all-time low and the governor must propose sweeping changes; changes which rely on independent oversight, not enforcers beholden to Albany’s political establishment.
Every State of the State has a lot to offer, but New Yorkers deserve the facts and real solutions, no matter where or how the speech is delivered.
Blair Horner is the Executive Director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
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