Public finance veterans recalled former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo as a determined state official who governed the state during a difficult financial period.
Cuomo, New York's governor from 1983 to 1994, died early Thursday evening, hours after his son Andrew was sworn in for a second term at the same office. He was 82. He died from natural causes due to heart failure with his family at his side, according to the governor's office.
Former New York State Assemblyman Jerry Kremer headed the Ways and Means Committee while Cuomo was governor and recalls budget battles he waged against discretionary spending proposals.
"He was an accredited penny pincher when it came to the legislature and budgets," said Kremer, who is chairman of Empire Government Strategies in Uniondale, N.Y. Kremer spent 23 years representing Long Island in the assembly from 1967 to 1989.
"He resisted a lot of efforts by the legislature to put in their pet projects."
While Kremer often had his disagreements with Cuomo on spending, he credits him for initiating the $3 billion "Rebuild NY" Transportation Bond Act in 1988, which voters approved. The borrowing came as New York faced fiscal pressure, but the initiative was vital for the state to address needed road and bridge repairs, according to Kremer.
"It was pretty daring at the time," said Kremer of Cuomo's support for the bond act. "It really had a major impact."
Alexandra Lebenthal, chief executive and president of Lebenthal Holdings LLC, had just started selling retail bonds when Cuomo was governor and admires the importance he placed on investing in infrastructure needs despite major budgetary hurdles.
Cuomo spearheaded the founding of the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp., which Alexandra's late father, Jim Lebenthal, created an ad campaign for called "The Last Angry Trout" in an effort to promote bonds that addressed water improvement projects. She also remembers the "funny banter" Cuomo had with her father when the two met socially.
"My dad had a great relationship with him," said Lebenthal. "He really was a governor who understood the value of financing and what that could mean to a state, city or municipality."
Hyman Grossman, a managing director at Standard & Poor's while Cuomo was governor - and who wielded considerable clout as head of an S&P rating committee at the time - praised Cuomo as "an extremely good tongue-in-cheek kind of guy."
Now retired and living in Monroe Township, N.J., Grossman has a New York Times Sunday edition framed on his wall in which Cuomo gave a "Jackie Mason-type monologue" about the Municipal Assistance Corp., created during New York City's 1975 fiscal crisis to borrow on the city's behalf.
Said Cuomo: "Hy Grossman. Who is he? From Jersey. He's a rater. He can hurt us? Oh, he can kill you. How? He can say you can't borrow. Why? What's the difference?"
Speaking by phone on Friday, Grossman said Cuomo took S&P's 1982 downgrade from AA to A-plus to heart during his first term. "My impression of Cuomo was that he was a smart, intelligent, learned man. You couldn't debate him across the table and expect to win an argument. I enjoyed working with him."
Grossman said nobody in Albany objected when he once told the Times: "Those clowns in Albany are always late with the budget," which prompted his superior to pull the state from his watch. "The budget director called and said: 'You're not referring to me, are you?' I told him I was referring to the legislature."
Howard Cure, director of municipal research for Evercore Wealth Management LLC, remembers the degree of difficulty Cuomo faced when governing at time of federal budget cuts from Ronald Reagan's administration.
"It's was a tough time, I think, to govern the state. Budgets were perpetually late, by months sometimes," said Cure. "These regular battles were often about keeping tax rates the same versus lowering them. The economy of the state was in transition from manufacturing to a more service economy. There were declines in upstate New York. It made for long, drawn-out budget sessions."
Richard Larkin, senior vice president and director of credit analysis with H.J. Sims & Co., recalled the formation of the state's Local Government Assistance Corp. in 1990. According to Larkin, that eliminated the need for the state's annual cash-flow borrowing from April to June, which totaled about $4 billion.
"This was very important because cities, counties and particularly school districts relied on large state cash payments during that period, and if the budget was adopted late, the state couldn't sell RANs to send needed cash to the local governments," said Larkin. "It eliminated an annual cash crisis, which was always a concern for credit analysts and rating agencies."
Current state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli served in the state legislature when Cuomo was governor. "New York has lost one of its greatest leaders," DiNapoli said.
Cuomo, born June 15, 1932, grew up in South Jamaica, Queens, as the son of poor Italian immigrants, living above his parents' corner grocery store. He briefly played minor-league baseball before graduating from St. John's Law School.
Before entering politics, he fought for the preservation of a housing project in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens.
"He gave voice to the voiceless, held fast to his moral compass and was a beacon of progressive thought and action," said New York City Comptroller and former Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
After serving three terms as governor, he lost his 1994 re-election bid to state Sen. George Pataki, then little-known. He delivered a keynote address lambasting President Reagan at San Francisco's Democratic National Convention in 1984 and considered running for president in 1988 and 1992.
"I asked him if he had any plans," Grossman recalled. "He told me: 'Hey, I have no plans and I have no plans to make plans."
Cuomo also ran unsuccessfully for New York City mayor in 1977.
He left behind his wife of 60 years, Matilda Raffa Cuomo; five children - including the current governor and Chris Cuomo, host of CNN's "New Day." - and 14 grandchildren.
