Dear Commons Community,

Maureen Dowd has a well-deserved “thank you” column today praising Governor Andrew Cuomo for what he has achieved in his first year. The gay marriage bill, no tax increases, and a property tax cap are all major accomplishments that are good for our state and people. There is also insight into Cuomo the individual who grew up with his father who was governor, who had strong Roman Catholic roots, and who went through a well-publicized divorce. The best lines for me were:

“At Sunday’s gay pride parade in Manhattan, the guy who was once the cold insider blossomed into the cherished hero.
“I have never been in anything like that in my life, period,” he [Andrew Cuomo] said. “Not when I worked with Clinton. Not with my father. In my 30 years in government, I never felt what I felt in that parade. Just the difference we made in people’s lives, how we touched people and made them feel good about society. It was really magic.
“A father, maybe 60 years old, came up to me and said, ‘You know, I have a gay son, and I never really accepted him and I shouldn’t have needed you to tell me that it was O.K. to accept my own boy. But I did.’ ”

Good work for the city kid from Queens!

Tony