Cuomo Presents Budget Proposal at Marist

POUGHKEEPSIE – Governor Andrew Cuomo was at Marist College in Poughkeepsie Thursday touting his accomplishments over the past seven years while also laying out his upcoming initiatives including addressing the gun control issue and the epidemic of sexual harassment complaints across government and industry.

Cuomo also said the state is on the right financial track after years of problems.

“We are in the process of making more progress, but the fundamental issues we face, we reversed,” the governor said. “Our taxes were going up, our jobs were going down, the unemployment was going up and upstate investment was abandoned by Albany. That is a death formula and that is the spiral we’re in for decades, literally.”

Cuomo said the president “pledged allegiance to the NRA” instead of backing initiatives to prevent further gun violence.

Earlier, in a telephone conference call with governors from New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island, Cuomo said the states plan on establishing a joint database to share gun information.

In his Poughkeepsie speech, he also said the recent sexual harassment complaints in government a “national disgrace” of which he said “I don’t see the federal government stepping in anywhere on sexual harassment except denying it.”

Cuomo is poised to let New York set the standard for anti-sexual harassment policies that are consistent throughout all levels of government and possible adoption by the private sector.

His agenda includes the elimination of the ability to use taxpayer funds to pay for an official’s liability related to sexual harassment claims, ending secret non-disclosure agreements and requiring companies that do business with the state to disclose the number of sexual harassment adjudications they have had.

Cuomo also mentioned upcoming initiatives to protect the environment and natural resources because “the federal government is looking the other way.”

Four local bodies of water including Lake Carmel and Mohegan Lake are slated to be a part of a $65 million dollar to find ways of eradicating harmful and toxic algal blooms. Cuomo further criticized the federal EPA pertaining to their possible decision to accept General Electric’s claim that they have remediated the PCB contamination in the river. Cuomo plans to sue the feds if they accept the proposal.

Interference of the election process by Russia was also a target of Cuomo’s plans for the near future. The governor plans to require all social media outlets to maintain a public file of all political ads purchased by a person or group for publication on the internet. Currently print, radio and television ads that contain a political message are required to list the purchaser of the advertisement and the governor wants the same requirement for digital ads.