Andrew Cuomo kicks off run for N.Y. gov

NEW YORK, May 22 (UPI) -- State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo kicked off his campaign for New York's governor Saturday, vowing to mend the state's ethical and financial problems.

Cuomo made the announcement in front of the courthouse named for Boss Tweed, the corrupt political boss of Tammany Hall, The New York Times reported.

"Unfortunately, Albany's antics today could made Boss Tweed blush," Cuomo told the crowd, the Times reported. "Our message today is simple. Enough is enough."

Cuomo said "politicians of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, share the blame" for the state's scandals and corruption, the Times reported, and state government, controlled by fellow Democrats, "has failed and the people have the right, indeed the people have the obligation, to act."

Cuomo made his campaign official as Democrats prepared to open their state convention Tuesday in Rye Brook. Cuomo is the only Democratic candidate for governor, reports said.

The Times said the Republican governor's race is expected to come down to two men -- former U.S. Rep. Rick A. Lazio of Long Island and Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy. Levy switched his party affiliation in March. Republicans plan to hold their state convention early next month.

Cuomo, 52, is the son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. After graduating from Fordham University and Albany Law School, he worked as an aide to his father, as head of a commission on the homeless under New York Mayor David Dinkins and as U.S. secretary of housing and urban Development in the Clinton administration. He became attorney general in January 2007.

His marriage to Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, ended in divorce. They have three daughters.