Word: cuomo
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Strong personalities rarely become Cuomo insiders. He deals more comfortably with strength from a distance. Though he engages people easily, he does not easily offer his own trust. It is not by chance that Son Andrew, 28, is his closest political counselor. Preparing for his uphill 1982 race, Cuomo examined a list of 60 prospective campaign managers and rejected them all. Instead, he installed Andrew. It is an odd and intimate partnership. Like no one else, Andrew over the years has learned how to deal with his father's personal force. A skillful manager, Andrew argues politics rather than substance...
Criticism jostles Cuomo, and he retaliates. From time to time, writers in distant places have been startled to pick up the phone and hear the Governor on the line questioning the accuracy of their stories. Often he accuses critics of bad motives. Says a former close colleague: "Mario cannot treat honest criticism with respect. He views it as a personal attack." By now Cuomo has identified exactly how he responds to attacks. Recently he analyzed himself in the diary. "The first phase is the defensive one," he wrote. "For a short time there is regret, distaste, a desire to return...
...wife walked into the study. She wore a long black strapless dress. She had been having coffee downstairs with Writer Louis Auchincloss, who was sleeping overnight at the mansion. Cuomo immediately jumped out of his chair and began hugging her, kidding in a deadpan voice that she has never even read his diaries. For a moment she looked flustered that he said it openly. A vibrant and attractive woman with shiny eyes and a slim figure, she is less intense than her husband and handles him easily. Cuomo said it was impossible for anyone to understand him without accounting...
...question of Cuomo's treatment of his staff arose. He is upset by criticism that he squelches them. He knows he pushes hard but is proud of their work. Suddenly Cuomo reached for the nearby phone and dialed the Governor's office. It was 11 p.m. Chief of Staff Gerald Crotty answered, still on the job. Cuomo smiled to himself, spoke a few lines and hung up. Stories about his temper, Cuomo said, are way out of date. He takes criticism far less personally now. He has stopped calling to complain to writers; these days it causes too much commotion...
...question about the presidency made Cuomo choose his words carefully. He is in no way afraid of the job, he said. He is convinced that his theme of family is right for the country. So far, he is not all that impressed with the predicted field of candidates in either party. There is a certain drabness, Cuomo said. George Bush is a continuing calamity. He does not think much of Gary Hart...