It’s Day Three of Andrew Cuomo’s tenure as governor-elect of New York and he still hasn’t made any public appearances, save a radio interview on Talk 1300 with Fred Dicker yesterday morning.

But that doesn’t mean the nascent Cuomo administration isn’t hard at work.

To wit: I just received a press release from the governor-elect, announcing he has sent a personal letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking that if governors-Elect in Ohio and Wisconsin fulfill their respective campaign promises to cancel federally funded high-speed rail projects that New York be the beneficiary of the combined $1.26 billion worth of savings.

“High speed rail is critical to building the foundation for future economic growth, especially Upstate,” the governor-elect said.

“If these Governors-Elect follow through on their promises to cancel these projects, a Cuomo Administration would move quickly to put the billions in rejected stimulus funding towards projects that would create thousands of good jobs for New Yorkers.”

This move is clearly designed to demonstrate that Cuomo cares about upstate, which is where he fared the worst against his GOP challenger, Carl Paladino. The Buffalo businessman carried 12 counties – all of them upstate – on Tuesday.

High speed rail was included in the environmental agenda Cuomo released during the campaign. Specifically, he pledged to “ensure that New York has done the work necessary to put itself in a position to win more critical federal grants to upgrade our rail system at reasonable cost to enable a reliable service that averages 100 miles per hour between New York City and Albany, Albany and Buffalo, and points in between.”

The text of Cuomo’s letter to LaHood appears after the jump.

November 5, 2010

Hon. Ray LaHood
Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20590

Dear Secretary LaHood:

High speed rail could be transformative for New York—with the potential to revitalize Upstate New York’s economy with construction jobs now and permanent jobs created by the new high speed rail links to New York City, Toronto and Montreal in the future. That is why I made high speed rail a priority during my campaign, and that is why it will continue to be a top priority for me as Governor.

To date, New York has received only a small fraction of federal money for high speed rail, but we want to make it a success now, and my Administration will aggressively pursue all funding opportunities to make high speed rail a reality. Recent reports have stated that incoming Administrations in other states, particularly Ohio and Wisconsin, are seeking to cancel their high speed rail projects and the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal aid associated with those projects. Therefore, I would ask you to consider redirecting the federal funding to New York because the project is a top priority.

High speed rail could be the 21st Century Erie Canal for New York State and help rebuild Upstate New York’s economy. Now is the moment to build. Thank you for the consideration and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate and call.

Best wishes,

Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor-Elect

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