I’m not ready to give him a thumbs up or down yet. I would like to see some substance and some real reforms, I have seen nothing but the same old BS from Albany, sorry I can’t be more optomistic.

Andrew Cuomo’s approval rating headed up

ALBANY, N.Y. — So just who is leading the field among New York’s state government leaders when it comes to job approval ratings?

Democrat Eliot Spitzer, the new governor who won the office with a record-setting 66 percent of the vote in November? No way.

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver? Give me a break.

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno? That would be a big N-O.

Could it be that fresh face in the lineup, Long Island Democrat Thomas DiNapoli, the former state assemblyman elected by his colleagues in the state Legislature to be state comptroller? Not even close.

Lt. Gov. David Paterson? Who?

In fact, the man with the numbers on the rise and at the top for the latest Quinnipiac University poll when it comes to job approval rating is none other than Andrew Cuomo, the elder son of former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo.

The younger Cuomo, who got himself elected state attorney general in November, had an approval rating of 53 percent in the Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday, up from 42 percent in a February survey from the Hamden, Conn.-based polling institute.

Spitzer, suffering the aftereffects of a bruising budget battle with Republican Bruno and Democrat Silver, saw his approval rating slip to 48 percent, down from 61 percent in February. Silver and Bruno were even lower _ 30 percent and 27 percent, respectively.

DiNapoli’s approval rating was at 24 percent with 63 percent of voters surveyed saying they didn’t know enough about him to have an opinion. The don’t-know-enough factor was even higher (65 percent) for Paterson, a former state Senate minority leader.

For Cuomo, the rising approval rating has to be music to his ears. Following a stint as federal housing secretary under President Clinton, Cuomo ran a disastrous race for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2002 that left many questioning the political ability and electability of Cuomo II.

But between 2002 and 2006, he worked to mend fences within the Democratic Party and to soften an image of sharp elbows, dirty tricks and ruthlessness that had followed him from his days as his father’s chief political enforcer.

While largely overshadowed by the big November wins posted by Spitzer and Hillary Rodham Clinton in her bid for a second Senate term, Cuomo managed to collect 53 percent of the vote to replace Spitzer as attorney general.

Spitzer had, of course, redefined the job by taking on major financial institutions and the Bush administration in a series of lawsuits and investigations that had made him the most famous state attorney general in America.

Tough act to follow?

Not really, especially for Cuomo, said Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac’s polling institute and an expert on New York politics.

“He knows what works in Albany,” Carroll said. “He’s been involved in big-time politics since he was a teenager.”

Cuomo I, the father, said that while he is pleased with the Quinnipiac poll results, he is not surprised given his elder son’s experience running the vast federal Department Housing and Urban Development.

“He’s proven he’s very good at government. What he had to prove was that he was good enough at politics to win an election,” said the former governor.

“There is one thing nobody is ever going to beat him at, and that is working hard,” added the obviously proud father.

“Andrew Cuomo is a very politically aware guy. He saw what Spitzer did and is essentially doing the same thing,” Carroll added.

What Cuomo has done is generate plenty of headlines in a short time with some high-profile cases, including an investigation into the college loan industry and the practices of subprime lenders, the mortgage companies that make loans to consumers with questionable credit histories. He has also announced plans to step up the policing of ethics in state government, a surefire winner with the public, if not with his fellow politicians.

In fact, Cuomo has never had the warmest of relations with other politicians who see him as overly ambitious in a world where ambition is largely taken for granted. Carroll said Cuomo has plenty of ambition.

“Is he going to run for governor (again)? I suppose so,” Carroll said. “It’s really a question of when.”

The when is far from certain. Spitzer has just taken over and while some supporters already tout him as a future presidential candidate, he might have to wait until 2016 if Clinton or another Democrat captures the White House next year.

But Cuomo and Spitzer both have time. The new attorney general is 49 and the governor 47.

While waiting, Cuomo can at least take pleasure in the fact that his approval rating is climbing.