New hope in Andrew Cuomo
Torie DeGhett
Issue date: 2/26/10 Section: Opinion
This November there will be another election in New York, another call to civic duty, and undoubtedly another overanalyzed race in which newspapers focus on minutiae. This time the race is for the governor's seat. It's easy amid all the typical politics to lose interest in the outcomes or to wax cynical about how the process has become separated from the people it is supposed to benefit. It's particularly easy as college students to become disillusioned as we watch the world we are about to officially enter into dissolve into a partisan mess of barbed insults and illogical arguments. However, we may be able to find hope in Andrew Cuomo, New York State's current Attorney General and the person many Democrats are hoping will run on their ticket.
I have paid more and more attention as our current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has made effort after effort to bring accountability and good governing to the world of insurance, loans, and Wall Street. Of particular interest to students, one of Cuomo's first acts as Attorney Gen was to mount an investigation into colleges taking kickbacks from the student loan industry, uncovering deals between major loan companies and colleges to profit illegally off students. Soon after, he helped pass a law to protect students from that kind of action. He has done many other things since becoming Attorney General - from starting a website called "Project Sunlight" for easy citizen access to government data to suing Bank of America for civil fraud.
Cuomo has also stayed out of the polarized debates that characterize today's politics. According to a February 3rd article in The Village Voice, he does not comment on issues "other than those that fall squarely within the parameters of the office of the New York State Attorney General." Yes, this may be calculating political strategy, but it's good policy. The crusading lawyer with the people's interests at heart paints a very nice picture. And yes, Cuomo may not always have been the powerhouse for good government that he is now. He did at one point in his life earn a reputation for arrogance, symbolized by his Jaguar with its vanity plates. It seems, however, that Andrew Cuomo has learned some lessons from growing up in politics, lessons that could be valuable in the office of governor.
Torie DeGhett
I have paid more and more attention as our current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has made effort after effort to bring accountability and good governing to the world of insurance, loans, and Wall Street. Of particular interest to students, one of Cuomo's first acts as Attorney Gen was to mount an investigation into colleges taking kickbacks from the student loan industry, uncovering deals between major loan companies and colleges to profit illegally off students. Soon after, he helped pass a law to protect students from that kind of action. He has done many other things since becoming Attorney General - from starting a website called "Project Sunlight" for easy citizen access to government data to suing Bank of America for civil fraud.
Cuomo has also stayed out of the polarized debates that characterize today's politics. According to a February 3rd article in The Village Voice, he does not comment on issues "other than those that fall squarely within the parameters of the office of the New York State Attorney General." Yes, this may be calculating political strategy, but it's good policy. The crusading lawyer with the people's interests at heart paints a very nice picture. And yes, Cuomo may not always have been the powerhouse for good government that he is now. He did at one point in his life earn a reputation for arrogance, symbolized by his Jaguar with its vanity plates. It seems, however, that Andrew Cuomo has learned some lessons from growing up in politics, lessons that could be valuable in the office of governor.
Torie DeGhett
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