The Governor's
message was astutely deferential to Upstate's need for
economic growth, meanwhile Cuomo also avoided triggering the tripwires
of controversy on education and the environment (which provided Zephyr Teachout with opening to garner a third
of the 2014 Democratic primary vote); Cuomo advanced strong measures around election law
reform and on the criminal justice front vis a vis Bail
reform, as well as the Dream Act and MWBE all
of which registered positively with minority voters.
Leonard's most striking
message was that the party he leads exists not just to «secure a fairer distribution
of wealth» from the status quo but «to fundamentally change the existing
economic system» via «the biggest programme
of social and
economic reform in the history
of the Scottish parliament».
In the wake
of the latest public corruption scandal, Cuomo said his State
of the State
message next January will include a
reform package that will provide more checks and balances when it comes to awarding state
economic development contracts.