Gov. Andrew Cuomo Faces Criticism for Reversals
Major policy changes unsettle state capital; governor calls criticism ‘nasty and derogatory’
ALBANY—More than five years into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tenure, some legislators, lobbyists and political players said his tendency to change positions has left them unsure where he stands on issues and uncertain of his core beliefs.
Now, as Albany enters its deal-making season with the state budget due by April 1, several high-profile proposals topping the Democratic governor’s agenda are issues that months ago he opposed or dismissed as unworkable, a change that has left some lawmakers scratching their heads.
“I don’t know what he wants,” said Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a Manhattan Democrat. “Nobody ever knows what this governor wants. He’s a chameleon.”
In an interview, Mr. Cuomo disputed the notion that he regularly shifted his positions, saying most of the changes marked different strategies toward the same goal or were the result of new political circumstances. He said critics who described him as a political shape-shifter were taking “nasty and derogatory” shots at him.
Mr. Cuomo has shifted on a range of issues, including minimum wage and family leave, but perhaps no move has stirred as much surprise as his apparent change of heart on teacher evaluations.
Declaring last year that he would pass “a complete overhaul of the entrenched education bureaucracy,” Mr. Cuomo fended off millions of dollars in spending on negative ads from teacher unions as he advanced his plan for student test scores to account for about half of teachers’ evaluations.
After about one in five students declined to participate in statewide testing last spring—part of a parent-led protest against extensive testing—the state Board of Regents, with Mr. Cuomo’s support, backed off the governor’s plan to use certain test scores more heavily in teacher evaluations.
“Common sense prevailed, and I give the governor all credit,” said Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, a Queens Democrat who opposed the greater emphasis on test scores in teacher evaluations.
But asked which policy Mr. Cuomo actually preferred, Ms. Nolan said she didn’t know. “You can ask him what his real position is,” she said.
Diane Ravitch, a professor of education at New York University, said it was “hard to say what Cuomo’s education plan is. He has shifted many times.”
In the interview, Mr. Cuomo said he supported a change of course because the large number of parents who allowed their children to skip statewide tests last year was “a totally new fact to take into consideration.”
“Let’s say you’re going to drive to Massachusetts tomorrow, then you turn on the Gov. Andrew Cuomo Faces Criticism for Reversals - WSJ: