Free Republic

Even Andrew Cuomo’s beloved 90-year-old mom Matilda has been canceled by her disgraced son’s behavior, sources told The Post. State officials removed the matriarch’s name from the Web site of a mentoring program she founded and oversaw — after her ex-gubernatorial son’s humiliating departure from office over sex-harassment claims last year, sources said. “It’s a sad day when politics has gotten so ugly that it would come down to removing the name of 90-year-old former First Lady Matilda Cuomo,” raged a disgusted source close to the Cuomo family.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule. There are exceptions. But if you look around, for the most part, you’ll find that the scions of the successful are almost always bad news—nothing like their self-made parents. In fact, many of these scions are straight-up sociopaths—which brings me to the Cuomo brothers, Andrew and Fredo. Andrew and Fredo are the sons of the late Mario Cuomo, who epitomized what it means to be a self-made man in America. Born in 1932 to a family of grocers, Mario attended public schools, enjoyed a brief professional baseball career, attended college and then law...

Disgraced outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stain is even affecting the legacy of his late father, three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo. Some Democrats are entertaining a push to remove Mario Cuomo’s name from the new $4 billion Hudson River crossing in Rockland/Westchester — an idea unthinkable just months ago. It would be renamed with its original moniker — the Tappan Zee Bridge. Queens Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, a Democratic socialist, has signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill to rename the bridge.

The Democratic congressman who reps both sides of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is calling on the federal government to investigate concerns about the span’s structural integrity. US Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), who represents Westchester and Rockland counties, recently wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking him to probe claims reported by the Albany Times-Union earlier this month that bridge contractors “covered up” faulty bolts in the $3.9 billion structure. Jones called on Buttigieg “to open an investigation into these claims and … to work with the New York state Department of Transportation to ensure proper inspections are...

If you've ever driven up the East Coast, you may have driven over the Tappan Zee Bridge. The span — north of New York City — was built in the spot that seems to make the least economic sense. Why?

On top of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s nursing-home scandal and sexual-harassment charges comes new cause for concern: an alleged coverup of serious flaws in the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. On Monday, the New York Thruway Authority denied any issues of concern over the $3.9 billion span, which replaced the Tappan Zee Bridge in 2017. But a report Sunday in The Albany Times Union alleges that the contractor “covered up” structural problems — faulty bolts — potentially endangering the public, and the authority basically let it slide. “The bridge has been and continues to be safe,” insisted Jamey Barbas, the director of...

First, New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon roasted her primary opponent Gov. Andrew Cuomo during an address to the annual Legislative Correspondents Association dinner last May. “Vote for the homo, not for the Cuomo,” Nixon said during her remarks. The line was a reference to the 1977 New York City mayoral campaign which pitted Ed Koch against Cuomo’s father, Mario. During the campaign, flyers appeared with the line saying “Vote for Cuomo, Not the Homo,” which Koch had blamed on the Cuomo camp.

Cuomo Is Italian for “Clueless”A fine Tuesday to all of you, dear Morning Briefing readers. I’m starting to wonder if the Cuomo family tree has any branches on it. I remember patriarch Mario Cuomo as being somewhat tolerable for a Democrat. He had some personality. He was a good baseball player when he was young. But that was a different era. Face it, northeastern Democrat dynasties don’t fare well as the generations go on. The current crop of Kennedys is mostly using litter boxes in rehab centers these days. It looks like the stupid managed to hit much quicker in...

There is mounting pressure to reopen New York City from a chorus of small businesses who say they are being 'brought to their knees' by the lockdown and other critics who say it is 'high time' to let people get back to work and fume the officials in charge 'have no plan'.

Editor’s Note: On Sundays we usually try to focus on spiritual matters, but this column deals with such a direct and serious threat that we thought it urgent to bring it to you today. – Robert Royal    I was born in New York State and have lived here for more than 61 years. During that time I have paid plenty in state and local taxes and have served the public in a number of capacities including two terms as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.I am also a Catholic and a member of...

Who could have predicted back in 1928 that Al Smith's successor as governor of New York would be explaining his advancement of legislation by his "solidarity" with the pope?  Back then, poor Governor Smith was defeated in his run for president in part by anti-Catholic fears that he represented a "Romish Peril," not least by way of a transatlantic tunnel between Washington and the Vatican.  A vote for Al Smith would put America under the dictatorship of the pope. So when Governor Andrew Cuomo, literally on the same day Pope Francis declared that the death penalty is "inadmissible" in all cases, introduced...

The words of the former New York Governor and Democrat icon Mario Cuomo rang out loud and clear some 30 years ago. "I am personally opposed to abortion but" would pretty much sum up Cuomo's message. Yesterday that message was echoed on the issue of gay marriage by the Republican governor of North Carolina in a statement entitled "Governor McCrory defends Constitution". Governor Pat McCrory noted his own 'sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman'. But then we got this: "Whether it is the president, governor, mayor, a law enforcement officer, or magistrate, no...

People across the nation are mourning the death of Mario Cuomo, the passionate Italian-American Catholic who served as the governor of New York from 1983-1994. Cuomo’s political career was deeply formed by his Catholic faith. During his famous 1984 speech at the University of Notre Dame, he said as much: “The Catholic Church is my spiritual home. My heart is there, and my hope.” But Cuomo’s relationship with the Church in the United States, particularly its bishops, was at times strained, especially over the issue of legalized abortion. At Notre Dame and elsewhere, Cuomo maintained that -SNIP-

Mario Cuomo was never the presidential candidate Democrats dreamed of. But the three-term New York governor was long an eloquent spokesman for American liberalism. "You campaign in poetry," he memorably told The New Republic. "You govern in prose." And you can be wrong in both. In 1984, the same year gave Cuomo gave a stirring keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, he delivered a speech at Notre Dame University in which he attempted to reconcile his Catholic faith with his support for legal — indeed, taxpayer-funded — abortion. The essence of Cuomo's argument was that abortion rights and religious...

How precious in the sight of progressives was one of their saints, Mario Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who died last week at age 82. He was a model of progressivism and a gifted rhetorician. In most media accounts, references were made to two speeches Cuomo delivered in 1984, one at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco where Walter Mondale was nominated for president, and the other at the University of Notre Dame where Cuomo spoke about abortion and the "proper" role of religion in politics. The thing about progressivism is that it resembles floor wax --...

Mario Cuomo will be laid to rest today. Odd. The son of a legal Italian immigrant somehow managed on his own to get an education, grow rich and become governor of the nation’s largest state – and  pass his legacy on to his progeny  - butt he wants the government to do for the next generations what he and his family did for themselves? I learned about our kind of democracy from my father. And I learned about our obligation to each other from him and from my mother. They asked only for a chance to work and to make...

Making it to the White House will shift prejudices not only in America, but far beyond. Hillary Clinton was on my mind even before word came of the death of Mario Cuomo. The former governor of New York will be remembered by those who have long forgotten, or never knew, his record running that state chiefly for his oratory and his knack for an enduring phrase. Eight minutes spent on YouTube watching his 1984 rebuttal of Ronald Reagan’s depiction of the US as a “shining city on a hill” will not be wasted. It was Cuomo who memorably told us:...

The death of Mario Cuomo today at age 82 marks the final end for one of the great “what if” figures in American politics. Today, the Left’s standard bearer is Elizabeth Warren, a senator from Massachusetts who was first elected to office only two years ago. Back in the 1980s, the liberal heartthrob was Mario Cuomo. The governor of New York from 1983 to 1995, Cuomo was long considered the great hope of the Left, especially after his riveting keynote speech to the 1984 Democratic National Convention. In it he contrasted Ronald Reagan’s vision of America as a “shining city...

Ever-eloquent Mario Cuomo, a son of Queens who rode his rhetorical gifts to three terms as New York governor and tantalized Democrats by flirting with a run for President, died Thursday, two sources close to the family said. He was 82. Cuomo passed away six hours after his oldest son, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was formally sworn-in to a second term in Manhattan. The elder Cuomo was too ill with a serious heart condition to attend.

NY1 has learned that former Governor Mario Cuomo has died at the age of 82. This comes just hours after Andrew Cuomo was publicly inaugurated for his second term as the 56th governor of New York. Governor Cuomo said in his speech at One World Trade Center that his father was unable to attend because he was too ill. He also said he and his family had spent New Year's eve with the senior Cuomo. Governor Cuomo had also changed his initial plans for his swearing in ceremony to take place in Manhattan as opposed to Albany.