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Andrew Cuomo, son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, called Sunday for the outright repeal of the state's draconian Rockefeller drug laws. He also ripped into his rivals, Democratic primary opponent H. Carl McCall and incumbent Republican Gov. George Pataki, for failing to do more to roll back the Rockefeller laws. While both Pataki and the Democratic-led legislature have postured about changing the laws for years, they have yet to pass a Rockefeller reform bill. Cuomo went further than his rivals, calling not for reform but repeal of the laws, which have led to thousands of New Yorkers spending decades behind bars for relatively minor drug transactions.

Cuomo, hoping to win support among black and Hispanic voters, first presented his alternative plan at a campaign event in East Harlem, where he attacked Pataki and McCall for failing to change the state's "antiquated criminal justice system." Blacks and Hispanics make up more than 90% of the state's 19,000 drug war prisoners.

"Governor Pataki has said that he wants to reform the Rockefeller drug laws, but he has failed to get it done," Cuomo said in a press release the next day. "The Assembly has put forth a thoughtful reform package to make the sentences fit the crime, increase drug treatment and restore limited judicial discretion. But neither has proposed comprehensively reforming the way we approach punishing drug crimes, and neither has sufficiently addressed violent crime in our society," Cuomo said. "We need real reform that restores judicial discretion, while basing sentences not just on the weight of the drugs involved, but also on the role played by the defendant in the crime. And we need to ensure that our criminal statutes punish violent crimes fully and rationally," Cuomo continued. "Repeal of mandatory minimum sentences, coupled with renewed emphasis on treatment, will restore rationality to our State's drug policies," Cuomo said.

"We need comprehensive reform now to restore true fairness and uniformity to criminal sentencing, and to make the punishment truly fit the crime. Only by repealing the Rockefeller drug laws, restoring judicial discretion and reemphasizing treatment can we accomplish this goal," Cuomo concluded.

Both Pataki and McCall, who supports the legislature's watered down reform package, reacted defensively to Cuomo's campaign assault, but even after Cuomo's attack, McCall aimed most of his fire at Pataki. "Let's be clear," he told a group of trade unionists at a Sunday campaign event. "The reason the Rockefeller drug laws are still in effect is George Pataki for the last eight years has been governor. And during that period, he has not provided the leadership to change them." A Pataki spokeswoman defended his record to the New York Times: "This is the first governor in 30 years who has advanced a comprehensive plan for reform of the Rockefeller drug laws, said Jennifer Farina. "We're working hard with the legislature, and hopefully, the legislature is ready to work with us."

But that hasn't been the case. The governor and legislative Democrats have been unable to come to agreement on such key issues as judicial sentencing discretion, prosecutorial power and ending mandatory minimum sentences. Despite what many drug reformers consider excessive concessions to prosecutors in the Democratic proposal, it still remained unpalatable to the governor.

Cuomo's proposal moves beyond squabbling over partial reforms and includes the following elements, not all of which will prove popular with reformers:

• Repeal mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent, low-level drug offenders.
• Replace parole with determinate sentences.
• Create a "fast-track" commission to develop comprehensive sentencing guidelines for drug crimes. Cuomo would use such a commission to focus on a variety of factors in setting penalty enhancements for drug crimes, instead of merely focusing on drug weight, as is currently the case.
• Create a "Violent Crime Initiative" to enhance penalties for crimes committed with a firearm. Aimed at persons who use "deadly weapons during violent crimes," a phrase almost redundant, Cuomo's initiative would slap a second, consecutive sentence on pistol-packing offenders, creating an offense something like "armed robbery while armed."

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