Last week, Governor Cuomo took to the road to unveil his State of the State addresses.  The State of the State is a constitutional requirement that the governor report to the legislature on issues of concerns and to offer his recommendations.  For nearly 100 years, the State of the State address was delivered in a written and verbal format in the State Capitol complex.

In a huge change, the governor did something that hadn’t been done before by ignoring the historical location of the State of the State and instead made speeches at six different locations – New York City, Buffalo, Long Island, Westchester, Syracuse and at the University of Albany.  At each location, the governor invoked consistent themes, but also different proposals that would appeal locally as well.

State of the State addresses, like the State of the Union address in Washington, allows the chief executive to set the stage for his or her policy agenda and to shape the public narrative surrounding the performance of his or her tenure.  In that way, despite being delivered at six different locations, the 2017 State of the State addresses were similar to those of years past.

In his addresses, the governor unveiled his policy initiatives for the 2017 legislative session.  He hoped, I’m sure, that his proposals would garner the broadest public support as a result of his “road show” approach.  Here are some of the key proposals offered by the governor:

• He proposed that tuition be free for students attending the State University of New York if the student or the student’s family makes less than $125,000 annually. According to the governor, one million New York families will be eligible.
• He announced a deal to close the Indian Point nuclear power plant by 2021.
• He committed that by the year 2030, the state will generate 50 percent of its power from renewable energy sources, like solar and wind.
• He proposed to spend $2 billion dollars on water quality and $300 million for environmental programs.
• He even proposed a package of ethics and campaign finance reforms that included a voluntary campaign finance system that allowed for public financing, “pay to play” campaign restrictions on those receiving government contracts, and limits on lawmakers’ outside income.

These proposals, which sound great, are just rhetoric at the moment.  The governor will have to propose specific legislation the make these ideas a possible reality.  Once New Yorkers see the details, they will know which plans are worth supporting.  In addition, whether the governor chooses to spend time campaigning for his proposals will offer the best insight into whether he is serious about getting his proposals accomplished.

Often New York elected officials will expend a lot of energy offering lip service to solutions to problems without doing the hard work to get them enacted into law.

Last year, the governor fought hard to pass an increase in the minimum wage.  The governor not only advanced a proposal, he barnstormed across the state, meeting with New Yorkers and pitching his plan.

His plan to overhaul the state’s ethics laws is an opposite example. Despite the charges filed against two of his top aides and associates, and after the convictions of the top two legislative leaders on corruption charges, the governor did nothing to galvanize public support for his ethics plans.

Instead, he waited until a few weeks before the end of the legislative session to begin discussing his proposals and chose to negotiate secretly.  Once his plans were rejected, the governor threw up his hands and blamed inaction on the legislature.

And while the legislature does deserve criticism, the governor deserved criticism for his failure to use his immense institutional powers to move public opinion and change it into public action.

So, New Yorkers will soon know the actual details of the governor’s plans and will soon see which ones he really cares about.

Given the incredible, and sweeping scale, of corruption in the state, New Yorkers must hope that the governor makes his mark in changing the political culture of Albany, a culture described by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara as a “cauldron of corruption.”  The scandals that have engulfed Albany have come during the governor’s tenure.  He must make cleaning up New York more than a rhetorical priority, it must be a real one.

The governor’s actions will speak louder than his words.