Andrew Cuomo Delivers Annual Abrams Lecture
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the commentatorThe Student Newspaper of the New York University School of Law Volume XLIII, Number 2 September 30, 2009 Andrew Cuomo Delivers Revesz Answers Students’ Questions Annual Abrams Lecture During Thio Town Hall Meeting BY ASHOK AYY A R ’11 BY ERIC A IV E RSON ’11 STAFF WRITER CONTRIBUTING WRITER New York State Attorney The air was tense last Tues- General Andrew Cuomo spoke to day as students, armed to the an NYU Law assembled throng on teeth with questions, gathered at September 14, delivering the 13th a town hall meeting in Greenberg Annual Robert Abrams Public Lounge to finally hear Dean Service Lecture. Richard Revesz provide answers The theme of Cuomo’s talk, about all things Li-ann Thio. Tak- unsurprisingly, was to encourage ing on a slightly different format students to pursue public service. than previous town halls, the Surprisingly, he exhorted students to hour was divided into three parts: just spend a few years in service, not general background information necessarily their entire careers. from the Dean, a closed question Why serve at all? Because and answer session moderated the government matters today, by Yoshinori Sasao, the Student MIchael Mix and lawyers in the public sector ance. Raising taxes isn’t the solu- Bar Association (SBA) President, and finally an open question and can make a difference. They get tion, as taxes are already high and Dean Richard Revesz divided the meeting into three parts: an initial speech, answer session. a sense of reward in their chests. the New York’s most wealthy are questions by the SBA President, and a general question-and-answer session. And, Cuomo reminded us, the highly mobile. The legislature isn’t Marching their SBA Presi- legal skills they develop will be the answer, either – he noted with dent to the front lines, the crowd into prospective faculty candidates, face of her discriminatory views and valuable in the private sector. scorn – so the remaining option is to expectantly waited for the grilling without really delving into the heart remarks, on the basis of “academic Cuomo recounted a personal call a constitutional convention and it had long anticipated. As the of the Thio matter. freedom.” He stressed that a “robust moment of inspiration from Bill have the citizenry step forward. first few minutes of the closed After a few of these long- discussion of ideas” is necessary in Clinton, who told him that being Some of the initiatives he question and answer session winded answers, Sasao was finally an academic community and that an attorney general is the “purest would like to see are public financ- unfolded, however, the situation able to get a word in long enough it should not be Thio’s views that form” of all public service, be- ing reform, lobbying reform, re- mirrored the first 11 taping ses- to request that “for the rest of the disqualify her from a position on the cause attorneys general “use the drawing of district lines (by a non- sions in David Frost’s famous questions, [ Revesz’s] answers be faculty, but rather her arguments in law to do justice,” whether social, partisan commission), campaign interview of Richard Nixon. a little bit shorter,” drawing hearty support of those views. He admit- racial, or economic. finance reform, and, of course, at- Revesz spent several minutes laughter from the crowd. ted that he believed her arguments Cuomo’s own rise to this tracting top talent (“YOU!” read his delivering monologues about After that ice-breaking mo- to be weak and unsupportable and august office was a predictable PowerPoint) to the government. broad topics such as the vetting ment, the town hall seemed to focus that had a more rigorous evaluation march through other posts in Although Cuomo brought his process and why the appoint- on more pressing student concerns. of her ideas been necessary, these state and federal government. policy discussion back full circle to ments committee does not do Revesz defended the administration’s Son of former Governor and public service, his presentation at a Google search when looking decision to appoint Thio, even in the See THIO page 3 Attorney General Mario Cuomo, times felt more like the unveiling the younger Cuomo served in of a political program rather than a the Manhattan DA’s office before public service address to students. It becoming Housing and Urban came as no surprise that just a few Development (HUD) Secretary days later, President Obama appar- for President Clinton. As NYAG, ently urged Governor Paterson to Cuomo, 51, has pursued landmark not stand for re-election and yield cases and tackled areas that the the Democratic nomination to Department of Justice has not, Cuomo. It is rumored Cuomo will a major achievement considering in fact challenge Paterson for the the headline-grabbing tenure of seat in the Democratic primary. his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer. Still, Cuomo’s speech was Cuomo has investigated Wall not all slick. He bared his human Street in the aftermath of the side, showing himself to be mod- financial crisis, the student loan in- est and good-humored. He joked dustry, members of the legislature about his own varied career, say- and former Governor Spitzer. ing he “can’t hold a job,” and that Another major thrust for Cuo- “people wouldn’t have joined his mo has been government reform administration if they met him” and accountability. He devoted first. He also joshed about student much of his speech to outlining anxiety with the legal job market his vision for government reform, in disarray. And he even admitted and employed a helpful PowerPoint that if he could go to law school presentation to explain his agenda. again, he would drink more, and a Cuomo’s assessment of the situa- bit more seriously, read a newspa- tion facing New York seemed out per and become well-rounded. of place for a crusading Democrat. The Robert Abrams Public Ser- He blamed bloated government for vice Lecture was endowed by Robert much of the state’s ills. Economic Abrams ’63, who himself served as distress, compounded with an Attorney General. Last year’s speaker already dysfunctional government, was Anne Milgram ’96, the current has driven the budget out of bal- New Jersey Attorney General. LRAP is more evil than you thought. page 2 Stavan Desai Hungry? Why wait? Go to Keste and eat page 3 some pizza. Seriously, do it. After over a year, the fountain in Washington Square Park finally opened again for Greenwich Villagers to Infra cool off in. Don’t get too used to it, though. Now that the center or western portions of the park have been The Informant! is anything but informative. page 4 reopened, plans call for the eastern side to be fenced off for renovations. Page 2 Opinions &c Editorials September 30, 2009 Before Cashing that Check from a Biglaw Revesz Did Not Get It All Firm, You Must Read the LRAP Fine Print Wrong Regarding Thio BY MOLLY WA LL A C E ’10 you’ll make even less. Say you money and thereby reduce the BY MICH ae L MIX ’11 in general? Or against New STAFF WRITER work for 12 weeks and make amount that LRAP will have to EDITOR -IN -CHI E F England Patriots fans? How $37,200. The tax on that is cover post-graduation, making can NYU possibly come up LRAP has some fine print going to be just over $13,000. more funds available to more About halfway through with a reasonable line? you public interest leaning folks So you’ll get to keep $15,000 – graduates. the town hall meeting last If the administration might want to know about be- 13,000. A whopping $2,000. Secondly, if the goal is week about the controver- couldn’t rescind Thio’s ap- fore you rush off to take that Well, that makes sense. actually to provide graduates sial appointment of Li-Ann pointment, what could it firm job so you can “take the LRAP’s goal is to get people with greater flexibility in career Thio as a visiting professor, do? Well, waiting for her to money and run.” into public interest, isn’t it? So choice, than perhaps the pro- Dean Richard Revesz was withdraw is always a pos- Any earnings you make it should create incentives for gram should be set up to allow asked what he would do if sibility. But if Thio had ac- over $15,000 in a summer “are people to take public interest students to experience as wide a a potential visiting profes- tually come to NYU, would deemed to be an addition to the summer jobs as well. variety of career options as they sor was a Holocaust denier. that have been that bad student contribution.” Transla- Not exactly. LRAP’s stated can while in law school. Some Revesz dodged and evaded in reality? She would have tion: anything you make over goals, according to “LRAP students might be undecided as as if he were Oscar De La had about one person per $15,000 is money LRAP will not 101” are “to provide gradu- to whether they want to work at Hoya, saying it depends on class, which is embarrassing help you pay back towards your ates with greater flexibility in a firm, or go into public inter- the context. Looking at the enough (though makes grad- loans after law school. career choice,” and to “provide est. Students who choose to audience’s responses, I felt ing papers a tad easier). She This means that if you in- assistance in repayment of law work at firms their 2L summers that many people were not also would have probably tend to go into public interest school loans.” Neither of these in order to explore their options satisfied with that answer.