Cuomo: President Picks a Name Brand

Readers of People magazine will know Andrew Cuomo well, both for his famous father (New York’s silver-tongued former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo) and for the storied family he married into (his wife is Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy).

But fame and a political pedigree have both an upside and a downside, as Cuomo--nominated Friday to be President Clinton’s next secretary of Housing and Urban Development--has learned during his four years in the nation’s capital.

Cuomo has spent much of his political career trying to escape the trappings of being his father’s son. Yet comparisons are inevitable. As he accepted Clinton’s nomination, the 39-year-old son evoked traces of the father’s eloquence, wishing for “a future in which no one is left behind, a future in which the bright sun of opportunity will reach those who have lived for too long in the shadows.”

That kind of passion has earned the younger Cuomo praise as assistant secretary for community planning at HUD. During his tenure, he has earned a reputation as a forceful advocate for the homeless, as well as a champion of the Empowerment Zone program, designed to improve the economic vitality of America’s cities.

Although Cuomo has fought for the powerless, his social connections have given him extraordinary access to the powerful. He and his wife threw a cocktail party and such luminaries as Vice President Al Gore, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin reportedly showed up. His ties to Gore are particularly close. This fall, Cuomo helped the vice president prepare for his debate with his Republican challenger, Jack Kemp.

Cuomo’s critics charge that he is brash and arrogant and say that he has achieved political stardom on the strength of his family name.

One official of an organization that represents cities, speaking on condition of anonymity, described Cuomo as a third-string contender for the job after other candidates--including Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and Seattle Mayor Norman Rice--dropped out of contention.

“Cities are facing a real critical period,” this official said. “I think it’s time to have a real strong leader and a charismatic person who can command a lot of respect within the president’s Cabinet. . . . This is someone who will work hard but not someone who comes with the level of professional respect that a Henry Cisneros comes with.”

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Cuomo’s admirers describe him as an innovator and a reformer, particularly praising his strategy for reducing homelessness. Under Cuomo’s initiative, HUD has launched what is called the “continuum of care” designed to move homeless people from emergency housing to transitional housing to permanent housing in one streamlined operation.

“He took the homeless programs by the horns and really gave an intellectual framework to thinking about how the federal government delivers homeless assistance,” one former official said.

As a youngster, Cuomo cut his teeth on New York politics. When he was 16, he spent the summer helping his father run for lieutenant governor, climbing telephone poles to rip down his opponents’ campaign posters and replace them with Cuomo posters. In 1982 he served as campaign manager for his father’s first campaign for governor of New York.

Veteran campaign advisors were dubious. They considered him too young at 23. But Cuomo helped deliver his father a victory and went on to Albany as a $1-a-year special assistant, a job he left after becoming the target of stinging political barbs because of his unusual access to the governor.

In the mid-1980s, Cuomo began to build his credentials in the housing arena. He founded HELP, which grew to become the nation’s largest private provider of transitional housing for the homeless. He also headed New York City’s Commission on the Homeless.

As a result, homeless advocates, many of whom are despairing in the face of funding cuts, have high hopes for Cuomo. “I think he has the insight and the capability . . . to be a very strong advocate,” said Mary Ann Gleason of the National Coalition for the Homeless, “and I would urge him to do it.”