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Andrew Cuomo Announces Transition Team

By DNAinfo Staff on November 11, 2010 6:11pm

Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo on election night.
Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo on election night.
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DNAinfo/Jill Colvin

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Andrew Cuomo has put together a transition advisory team that includes more than a dozen CEOs, a former Republican Chairman and numerous minority leaders, the Governor-elect announced Thursday.

Lieutenant Governor-elect Robert Duffy will direct and chair Cuomo's official transition team, comprised of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, former New York State Comptroller Carl McCall, Onondaga’s County Executive Joanie Mahoney, and Felix Rohatyn, the former chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corp.

Cuomo also announced the creation of two advisory boards to help deal with the state's crippling budget woes and create new jobs, which will begin to meet as soon as next week.

"As I have said throughout my campaign, fiscal reform will be a top priority of my administration," Cuomo said in a statement announcing his choices.

"We must overhaul our government, clean it up and pare it down while simultaneously putting New Yorkers back to work and making New York once again the jobs capital of the nation," he said.

Cuomo's Council of Economic and Fiscal Advisors, which will advise him on economic and budget policy, includes the CEOs of Avis, American Express, and Amalgamated Bank, as well as the former Chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange.

A separate Committee for Economic Development and Labor charged with creating jobs will include State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Conference Leader John Sampson.

Questions have been swirling in recent days about whether Cuomo intends to replace Silver as speaker when he takes charge.

The teams also include numerous minority leaders, including Hazel Dukes, the president of NAACP New York, Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, and Elinor Tatum, who heads the Amsterdam News.

The announcement comes a day after Rev. Al Sharpton told the Daily News that he had "serious concerns" about the lack of diversity in Cuomo's inner circle.

Cuomo said he expects to announce more committees in the upcoming days.