Cuomo Praises Legislators for Criminal Justice Reforms, Bashes Federal Government – but Ignores Critics Demanding Parole Board Appointments

By Alexander Parisel

 

The Association for a Better New York hosted a luncheon today featuring New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. The event, which was located at the Cipriani restaurant on Wall Street, gave Cuomo the opportunity to address the state’s new budget. The governor opened his speech by thanking the legislature for the hard work of their new budget.

“The legislature did an extraordinary job because this was probably the most difficult budget that I have ever been involved in, less because of the circumstances of the state, more because of the circumstances of the nation,” said Cuomo.

The governor added, “It was especially hard this year because of the external circumstances that we are dealing with. Because of the external forces that are surrounding us. You have a federal government assaulting the state of New York.”

Cuomo then went on to explain that the new budget aims to reform some criminal justice policies, restructure the MTA board as well as ban plastic bags in the state of New York.

“We start with criminal justice reforms and ending a cash bail system that was a disgrace,” he said.

“When did we ever say that the decision on whether or not to release a person should be based on wealth? And that what the cash bail system is.”

The bail reforms will eliminate cash bail by 90 percent for most people who are arrested.

There are, however, other issues some activists want Cuomo to address.

Critics, such as those in the Release Aging People in Prison campaign, argue that the governor needs to appoint more commissioners to the state parole board. The board has space for 19 commissioners, but only 12 people are on the board.

“Such staffing levels lead to repeated postponements and shorter interviews, less time for individualized evaluations of parole applicants and their files, and other administrative challenges,” the advocacy group JustleadershipUSA wrote in an open letter to the governor back in December, 2018.

Moreover, the RAAP organized a rally in front of Cuomo’s New York City office, urging him to appoint more commissioners. But the governor did not address this issue at the luncheon.

Cuomo, however, displayed a great deal of human during his speech.