During Cuomo 's tenure as HUD Secretary , he called for an increase in home ownership . He also pushed government-sponsored lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy more home loans issued to poor homeowners , in an attempt to end discrimination against minorities . Some believe that this helped lead to the recent subprime mortgage crisis . Edward J. Pinto , former chief credit officer at Fannie Mae , said " they should have known the risks were large . Cuomo was pushing mortgage bankers to make loans and basically saying you have to offer a loan to everybody . " But others disagree with the assessment that Cuomo caused the crisis . Dean Baker , co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research , said Cuomo " was a contributor in terms of him being a cheerleader , but I do n't think we can pin too much blame on him . " According to libertarian author and critic James Bovard , Cuomo was obsessed with changing HUD 's image , as Cuomo declared , " The PR is the important thing I do ... Eighty percent of the battle is communications . " He championed a new program called Community Builders , created without appropriation by Congress , for 800 new HUD employees with computers to be paid as much as $ 100,000 . In a June 16 , 1999 , speech , Cuomo declared that one purpose of the program was to fight against HUD 's abolition . In August 1999 , Community Builders distributed a letter to community groups to fight against proposed tax cuts . One HUD official declared that Community Builders were seen as " Democratic ward heelers who act as a pipeline between Democratic city officials , party leaders , and the administration and the Democratic National Committee . " In 1998 , Clinton-appointed HUD Inspector General Susan Gaffney testified to a Senate committee that she was the victim of " ' escalating ' attacks on her office by Cuomo and ' his key aides , ' including cooked-up charges of racism , insubordination , malfeasance , and general dirty-dealing . " In 1999 , Gaffney 's office concluded that " most ( 15 out of 19 ) Community Builders ' goals were activities rather than actual accomplishments . " and that Cuomo 's initiatives " had a crippling effect on many of HUD 's ongoing operations . " Cuomo first ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of New York in 2002 . He was initially the favorite for nomination and led in fund-raising and polls , but his campaign took serious damage after a gaffe when Cuomo said ( in reference to the aftermath of the September 11 attacks ) " Pataki stood behind the leader . He held the leader 's coat . He was a great assistant to the leader . But he was not a leader . Cream rises to the top , and Rudy Giuliani rose to the top . " His remarks were widely derided ; even his father , former Governor Mario Cuomo , later admitted it was a blunder
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Andrew Cuomo