Mario Cuomo refuses to have his portrait painted
ALBANY — Under the lofty ceilings of the State Capitol’s Hall of Governors, the official portrait of George E. Pataki will be unveiled early next year, to be displayed alongside gilt-framed paintings of Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, Martin Van Buren and a jowly Grover Cleveland, among others.
But this happy occasion for the state’s 53rd governor is creating more than a little awkwardness in the capital, and bringing a nagging question to the surface: Where’s Mario?
Fourteen years after leaving office, Mario M. Cuomo, elected three times and once the state’s most prominent political figure, is still refusing to sit for his official portrait.
Tourists have asked about the absence of Mr. Cuomo’s likeness. Emissaries have been sent to try to convince the former governor of the importance of this tradition, but failed to move him. Even Mr. Cuomo’s son Andrew, the state attorney general, is said by people in government to have thrown up his hands when asked about it, although Andrew M. Cuomo would not comment for this article.
The former governor, in an interview, suggested he found the whole idea pompous. He also said he had no patience for posing: “I went to electric razors so I would not have to look at myself in the morning.”
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But this happy occasion for the state’s 53rd governor is creating more than a little awkwardness in the capital, and bringing a nagging question to the surface: Where’s Mario?
Fourteen years after leaving office, Mario M. Cuomo, elected three times and once the state’s most prominent political figure, is still refusing to sit for his official portrait.
Tourists have asked about the absence of Mr. Cuomo’s likeness. Emissaries have been sent to try to convince the former governor of the importance of this tradition, but failed to move him. Even Mr. Cuomo’s son Andrew, the state attorney general, is said by people in government to have thrown up his hands when asked about it, although Andrew M. Cuomo would not comment for this article.
The former governor, in an interview, suggested he found the whole idea pompous. He also said he had no patience for posing: “I went to electric razors so I would not have to look at myself in the morning.”