Home Issue Hospitals Downtown FAQs Resources
Position Paper E-mail Us Attend Meetings Sign Petition

Jump to:
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021

Cuomo-Brindisi Politics

Governor Cuomo seems to have forsaken Utica. Did it start with the stumbling nano projects? Yet when Assemblyman Brindisi started exchanging barbs, perhaps that's when Cuomo dropped Utica like a hot potato? We'll also suggest that perhaps Cuomo is smart enough to know a downtown hospital is a massive disaster and so will Cuomo pin the hospital disaster onto Brindisi? Sure why wouldn't he?

January 11, 2017 - We read in, Brindisi to Cuomo: ‘This area deserves its due’ that, "...Brindisi disagreed with his party leader’s decision, booked a room at the Utica State Office Building and prepared his own personal remarks on the state of his district to fill the silence."

Then, Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. piled on, “I’m extremely disappointed in the speech given by Governor Cuomo today which was clearly more of a ‘State of Syracuse’ than that of the region. Today, Governor Cuomo laid out an economic development plan for the City of Syracuse that invested in nano and UAS technology while bolstering upstate airport infrastructure. While we are a major player in nanotechnology and UAS industry development and our airport has seen recent job growth, Oneida County was completely absent from the Governor’s economic development plans in 2017, and that lack of acknowledgement is an egregious slight to this community.”

Brindisi also stated, "leaders make promises, they should be held accountable." These guys are obviously not on the same page!

March 2, 2017 - Public Media WRVO reports, Mohawk Valley legislators consider forming alliance in Albany, whereby we learn...

"Brindisi has been trying unsuccessfully to get Gov. Andrew Cuomo to visit the nano center to reaffirm his commitment. A chorus of Mohawk Valley legislators, Brindisi says, might be more attention grabbing."

So what has happened behind the scene? What went so wrong, that now Brindisi can't get Governor Cuomo to stop in Utica?

January 22, 2017 -Nano woes strain Brindisi, Cuomo relationship

"It is no secret that state Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi has been critical of Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the last several weeks."

January 10, 2017 -Brindisi has plan to make it easy for Cuomo to address state from Mohawk Valley, where Brindisi says...

“We’ve got the chairs, the podium, and even the constituents,” Brindisi said. “Now we are just waiting on the Governor to show up.”

December 28, 2016 - In the Syracuse Post-Standard story, Todd Howe was Cuomo administration liaison on stalled Utica nano project we read...

"The New York Times reported Tuesday that Utica-area leaders, including state Sen. Joseph Griffo and Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, met last March with Howe and state officials. Andrew Kennedy, who was then the governor's deputy director of state operations, told the members of the Utica group that Howe would act as their liaison to the governor's office, the Times reported, quoting Brindisi, a Utica Democrat."

December 27, 2016 - In a New York Times story How Cuomo’s Signature Economic Growth Project Fell Apart in Utica, Brindisi says about Cuomo...

"Shifting blame to the procurement process at SUNY Poly is drawing attention away from all the missed opportunities the governor’s office had to step in and make sure the AMS project was moving forward. I think the governor’s office, essentially, when it came to economic development upstate, turned the keys over to Alain Kaloyeros, and unfortunately in the case of Utica, Alain drove the bus right off the cliff."

December 8, 2016 - Brindisi (along with Senator Griffo), offers strongly suggested words to Albany...

"It is simply not a valid excuse to exclude Utica school district representatives from meetings with executive branch fiscal and educational experts because of pending litigation,” Brindisi said in a news release.

Read this and more in the article, Griffo, Brindisi: Cuomo’s office using students as ‘pawns in political game’.

So did a lawsuit over school funding, Maisto v. State of New York (PDF), create Cuomo-Brindisi tensions? It's a big deal, as we read, "NYS and Governor Cuomo owe public schools across the state $4.8 billion according to the New York State Education Department."

August 20, 2015 - Brindisi probably had a great deal of hopes, dreams, and promises riding on nano. In this article, Cuomo says little about offer to bring GE’s headquarters to New York, Brindisi stated:

Assemblyman Anthony J. Brindisi, said, “I am thrilled to welcome the next phase of the Nano Utica initiative. This is another massive step forward for our community – one that builds on the progress that we have already seen and brings more than a thousand additional jobs to the region. Governor Cuomo has zeroed in on the needs of communities like Utica for going on five years now – and this is another tremendous example of what we can accomplish with his support and our collective potential."

This was the start of good times, or so it seemed.

You can help, please join us on Facebook #NoHospitalDowntown. Also consider adding your voice to Hundreds of People Saying, "No Hospital Downtown". Get to know BUD, that's the future of the Columbia Lafayette Neighborhood!

No Studies, No Reports, thus we remain #NoHospitalDowntown

Our research is ongoing, please check back. Our research is ongoing, please check back.