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Business Funds Fuel Cuomo Agenda
Casino Gambling Included in Platform of Powerful Committee to Save New York
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By JACOB GERSHMAN
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has yet to roll out an agenda for his second year. But that hasn't stopped a lobbying coalition from pouring nearly $3 million into an ad campaign patting him on the back.Over the past few weeks, the governor's praises have been sung in a ubiquitous TV ad campaign financed by the Committee to Save New York, a coalition of banking and real-estate interests marshaled by Mr. Cuomo after his election last year.
"Despite the challenges, the governor and Legislature are getting things done," the announcer says as the ad extols Mr. Cuomo's "jobs plan" and claims he lowered "taxes for all New Yorkers," a claim disputed by critics.
The group has spent an estimated $2.8 million on the ads, according to one knowledgeable media buyer. Given its timing—an off-election year during the quiet political month of December—the sum is remarkable by Albany standards.
The ad campaign started this month after the Committee to Save New York released its agenda for the upcoming session of the state Legislature—a platform that included for the first time legalizing casino gambling.
The gambling plank came five days after Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, wrote a newspaper op-ed announcing his support for new "destination gaming locations." It also represented something of a departure for the committee, which had focused on an antitax, pro-fiscal-discipline message for much of 2011.
Placing gambling on its agenda apparently didn't have the blessing of its full board of directors. "The casino item has not yet gotten a full airing by the committee," said Andrew Rudnick, a Buffalo business advocate who is one of 14 people on the committee's board of directors, according to the group's website, letsfixalbany.org.
"I am not a big fan of gambling. I can understand the argument for constitutional-based gaming because of its public-finance benefits," said Mr. Rudnick, president of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership. "But it's not a fundamental platform issue of the upstate business community."
Mr. Cuomo has said he supports a constitutional amendment legalizing non-Indian casino gambling but has declined to endorse efforts by horse-racing interests to limit the expansion to the state's nine racetracks that already have video lottery terminals. An amendment would have to be passed by the Legislature in 2012 and again in a subsequent year. It would then go to a public vote.
Josh Vlasto, a spokesman for Mr. Cuomo, said the governor hasn't coordinated his policies with the group. Michael McKeon, a spokesman for the group, also said the committee doesn't coordinate its efforts with Mr. Cuomo. Mr. McKeon wouldn't discuss details of the advertising buy, nor who was donating to its campaign this year.
People familiar with the matter have said Mr. Cuomo has briefed members of the group on his plans in the past.
Mr. McKeon said its agenda was approved by a three-member executive committee, consisting of Rob Speyer, president of the real-estate firm Tishman Speyer, Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, and Steven Spinola, head of the Real Estate Board of New York. Mr. McKeon said Mr. Rudnick serves on the group's advisory board, which meets less frequently.
Mr. McKeon said he didn't know when all of the committee's directors met last but said the group's executive board had extensive discussions about policy goals.
As Mr. Cuomo moves deeper into his first term, the committee's money is helping to burnish the image of a popular governor who works well with both parties.
Mr. McKeon, a Republican consultant, served as a senior aide under former Gov. George Pataki. Last year, he endorsed Mr. Cuomo and actively campaigned for him, leading the Democrat's efforts to reach out to Republican voters. He's a partner of Mercury Public Affairs, a consulting firm recently hired by the committee.
The committee's ad campaign marks a new phase for a group that intended to be a counterweight to union influence in Albany and an independent voice for fiscal restraint. While Mr. Cuomo has drifted from some of his more fiscally conservative platforms and ventured into new policy realms, the Committee to Save New York has followed suit.
Since Mr. Cuomo took office in January, the group has spent more than $12.5 million lobbying on behalf of Mr. Cuomo's agenda. Between January and October, the group reported more lobbying expenses—about $10 million at the time—than any other state interest group, according to a report by the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit watchdog that tracks lobbying data.
The committee—a 501c4 nonprofit—backed the governor's budget, with its deep cuts to school aid, and lobbied Albany to pass his plan for a 2% cap on local property taxes.
The committee can raise unlimited sums of money. It can campaign for political candidates, but that can't be the group's primary function.
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