But the Democratic gubernatorial candidate won't say how he would balance the New York state budget.
View full sizeAttorney General Andrew Guomo announces a new initiative to enable social networking sites to eliminate images of child pornography Thursday at the YMCA in Fayetteville.Fayetteville, NY - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he opposes taxing soda, increasing taxes on cigarettes or borrowing money to solve the state’s $9 billion budget deficit. He’d rather cut spending.
But the Democratic gubernatorial candidate made a hasty exit from a afternoon news conference today in Fayetteville without citing a single budget cut he favors.
Cuomo, who has been criticized by Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio for not revealing how he’d solve the state’s $9 billion deficit, offered that he does not have to run in a September primary election, but is “looking forward to a full, intelligent, substantive campaign” after that. Cuomo said he has already issued the most comprehensive campaign platform of any candidate, a 224-page booklet.
Cuomo’s campaign staff did not provide examples Thursday of any specific budget cuts Cuomo supports.
Cuomo visited the YMCA in Fayetteville to talk about his efforts against child pornography and sex offenders, one of many news conferences he has given across the state on that subject in the past year. The attorney general announced his staff provided a database of 8,000 child pornography images to Facebook and MySpace, and those social networking websites have agreed to use digital technology to prevent those 8,000 images from being posted on their sites. Cuomo said he will press other social networking sites to do the same.
In applauding Cuomo at the news conference, Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law, said there are 100,000 different child pornography images on the Internet at any given time, with hundreds more uploaded daily.
Cuomo acknowledged his database will only block a fraction of the child pornography images.
Fayetteville residents Dodie and Dean Vlassis are hosting a $250 per person Cuomo fundraiser July 8 at their home.
Contact Mike McAndrew at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016.