Free Republic

Shortly after John J. O’Connor became Archbishop of New York in March 1984, he found himself in a battle with the state’s governor, Mario M. Cuomo, which not only made national headlines but also had a profound impact on the abortion debate in America.It began when the archbishop said during a press conference: “I do not see how a Catholic, in good conscience, can vote for an individual expressing himself or herself as favoring abortion.” That didn’t sit well with Cuomo.  The governor, who in the early 1970s had been publicly pro-life, changed his position after losing a primary for lieutenant governor...

Suburban Albany is not known for its rip-roaring weekend scene, but this most recent Saturday night, it was the momentary center of the political universe, as an underfunded political party was using its quadrennial convention to try to force America’s most powerful and best-financed governor to submit to its demands. Though the Working Families Party’s conventions are typically low-key affairs, this one had drawn 800 activists and operatives and most of the New York press corps—all to see if the party would endorse conservative Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo or run a third-party candidate against him. In the end, when the...

Four years after endorsing Andrew Cuomo for governor, the Working Families Party says it may support another candidate this year. The liberal group fears Cuomo's agenda has drifted too far to the right. So now it's deciding whether to back another candidate, who would run to Cuomo's left. "I'm very proud of the record that I have," Cuomo said. "I think we have progressive accomplishments in this state that resonated across the nation and I believe that's undeniable." A recent poll by Quinnipiac University showed Cuomo leading his Republican opponent, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, by a 57 to 28...

The City plans to attack economic segregation in its affordable housing plan — placing the poor in middle-class neighborhoods and the more affluent in high-poverty spots. Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Vicki Been said the plan to build 80,000 new affordable apartments and preserve 120,000 units would create a more diverse city. “We really have to make economic diversity a cornerstone of that plan,” she said at a City Council budget hearing Wednesday. “That means that in some neighborhoods that have mostly middle or upper-income housing, that we would need to put affordable housing at the very lowest income,” she...

LANCASTER, NY - Representative Kathy Hochul (D - 26th District) was booed at her own town hall meeting on Friday morning in Lancaster. The packed crowd was critical of Hochul for supporting President Obama's plan to require religiously affiliated employers, such as hospitals and schools, to provide full contraception coverage to female employees. The plan was later altered. It now calls for those workers to get free contraceptive coverage from health insurers, thus sparing religious based groups, morally opposed to paying for birth control, from having to do so. Even though Hochul's town hall meeting was open to any topic,...

Kathleen C. Hochul, a former member of Congress and Erie County clerk with a reputation as a personable politician and strong campaigner, is Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s choice to run for lieutenant governor.Hochul, 55, would replace Robert Duffy, the former mayor of Rochester, who opted not to seek a second term as lieutenant governor.“This should be another big boost for Buffalo,” Cuomo said. “This is a big deal to have a lieutenant governor from your town.”After months of speculation, Cuomo this afternoon made his selection known to the delegates attending the convention here that Hochul will be running with him...

RYE BROOK - New York Republicans have officially nominated Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino (R) as their candidate in the race for governor. Republicans wrapped up their state party convention Thursday at the Hilton Hotel in Rye Brook after nominating Astorino. Other candidates nominated include Onondaga County Comptroller Bob Antonacci for comptroller and chief of staff to former Gov. George Pataki John Cahill as attorney general. Astorino says his success in Westchester shows he can appeal to all kinds of voters in heavily Democratic New York. In his acceptance speech, Astorino called for hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and the...

WASHINGTON — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged the White House Wednesday to give "immediate attention'' to safety issues involving the increased use of freight trains to transport crude oil. He made his comments just hours before the latest derailment in Lynchburg, Va. Cuomo later said the accident and other recent derailments are "a startling pattern that underscores the need for action." "In addition to steps that states like New York are taking, the federal government must overhaul the safety regulations, starting with taking DOT-111 trains off the rails now," he said in a statement. "These trains travel through populated...

Subprime Scandal: Newly released memos from the Clinton presidential library reveal evidence the government had a big hand in the housing crisis. The worst actors were in the White House, not on Wall Street. During the 1990s, former Clinton aides bragged that more aggressive enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act pressured banks to issue riskier mortgages, lending more proof the anti-redlining law fueled the crisis. A 2012 National Bureau of Economic Research study found "that adherence to that act led to riskier lending by banks," with "a clear pattern of increased defaults for loans made by these banks in quarters...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who will be arriving in New York this afternoon for a trip trying to lure businesses to the Lone Star State, offered a Texas-sized take-down of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s record on job creation this morning and challenged him to a debate. “I’d be more than happy to sit down and have a thoughtful conversation, a debate with Gov. Cuomo over the issues that face us as a state and talk about the economic policies and compare New York to Texas,” said Mr. Perry, speaking on New York Post columnist Fred Dicker’s Live from the State Capitol...

<p>ALBANY — A “mass exodus” is expected from the Cuomo administration after November’s election, according to several sources.</p> <p>“They all want out,” one source said of top Cuomo staffers. A former staffer said the rush has been spurred by the work environment.</p>

This year April 15 is more than the tax deadline for an estimated one million New York State residents. It’s also the deadline to register “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines. If they don’t, they’ll begin living outside the law. A lot of them have decided to do just that. They’ve decided to practice civil disobedience even though failure to register an “assault weapon” by the deadline is punishable as a “class A misdemeanor,” which means a maximum sentence of one year in prison. I put “assault weapon” and “high-capacity” in quotes because their definitions vary by state—they’re political terms. In...

<p>US Attorney Preet Bharara of the southern district Thursday did not rule out investigating whether Gov. Cuomo and his aides improperly intervened with the investigations undertaken by the governor's anti-corruption commission.</p> <p>"We're going to look at the documents, we're going to see what the facts are, and if there are questions that are appropriate to ask, as I think the public knows by now, there are strong-willed and aggressive--but fair--people in my office who will ask those questions," Bharara said during an appearance Thursday morning on WNYC public radio's "The Brian Lehrer Show."</p>

When Andrew Cuomo was running for governor in 2010, he claimed time and again that he wanted to represent and fight for all the people of New York – all, that is, except Catholics.Since taking office in 2011, Cuomo, who was baptized a Catholic, graduated from Archbishop Molloy H.S. in Queens County and Fordham University, has been hell-bent on offending Catholics and dismissing their beliefs in the public square.Cuomo’s first assault was on Catholic teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. He was embarrassed that his state had been “surpassed by many other countries which have legalized...

(Photo courtesy of Carl R. Gottstein Jr.) By: Raquel Okyay4/6/2014 03:20 PMRESIZE: AAA Print More than a year after the New York governor’s landmark gun control law was enacted, thousands of New Yorkers poured into the state house in Albany to protest his governance and leadership.“There is nothing about the SAFE Act that makes us safer,” said Robert P. “Rob” Astorino (R-Mount Pleasant), executive of Westchester County and candidate for governor 2014. Astorino, who spoke to the crowd state police estimate at 3500, said the people were energized and enthusiastic about the Second Amendment. “It’s an issue that deals with...

The pastor of a Lansingburgh Baptist church plans to give away an AR-15 assault rifle to the winner of a free raffle at an upcoming Sunday service. A provocative flier he distributed rallied supporters of gun rights and stirred controversy among anti-gun advocates and some who considered it un-Christian. The Rev. John Koletas, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, said the service and gun raffle are aimed at "honoring hunters and gun owners who have been so viciously attacked by the antichristian socialist media and antichristian socialist politicians the last few years," according to a letter he posted on the church...

Remington Arms announced last week that it will open a large manufacturing plant in Alabama. It will create 2,000 jobs for the southern state. While I don’t begrudge another state from securing these high-paying manufacturing jobs, I do begrudge our own leaders for forcing the “SAFE Act” upon its people and hindering economic development right here in New York. Its passage has undoubtedly affected Remington Arms, located in Illion, NY, for more than a century, from expanding in its home state. The SAFE Act makes gun owners and gun manufacturers feel unwelcome, plain and simple. I voted against the SAFE...

An upstate New York lawmaker told Guns & Patriots Remington’s decision to develop a new plant outside the Mohawk Valley shows a state that is closed for business. “The long-term consequences of Remington expanding to Huntsville, Ala., instead of Ilion, N.Y., are profound,” said Assemblyman Marc W. Butler (R.-Newport), whose district includes the Village of Ilion, where the Remington Outdoor Company has been situated for almost 200 years. “Remington is part of our culture.” The Village of Ilion which is located at the South Bank of the Mohawk River is recognized as ‘Remington Country’ because of its integral relationship...

ALBANY >> With his re-election campaign underway, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is riding high in the polls, but don’t tell that to Assembly member Steven McLaughlin, his self-described loudest critic. “I would point to a multitude of problems, but I think overwhelmingly he’s a bully,” McLaughlin said last week. “He acts that way and it’s catching up with him.” McLaughlin, a Rensselaer County Republican, compared Cuomo to Hitler and Mussolini after the SAFE Act gun law was pushed through the Legislature in January 2013, later apologizing for a poor choice of words. A year later, he says voters in his district...

Kerry Kennedy may agree to a plea deal over driving while drugged charges stemming from a 2012 accident so she can continue her extensive human rights work. Kennedy, 54, is afraid a conviction would bring with it restrictions that would curtail her international travels – she has visited several dozen countries on humanitarian missions. The plea deal was previously discussed between her legal team and prosecutors before being shelved, but her attorneys have brought it back to the table with her trial slated to start Monday, according to the New York Daily News. Lawyers originally tabled the deal while preparing...