New York’s Governor Cuomo intrigues me. What he is trying to do may impact the entire country some day.

Cuomo is from the left, of course. He gets a lot of campaign money from the left. Teachers unions, the education lobby, give him big bucks. So do the unions for state and municipal workers.

And yet he is confronting them. He is forcing the issue of teacher evaluation. Basically, the teachers’ unions don’t want teachers to be evaluated seriously. They fight against poor teachers being identified. They fight against poor teachers getting the boot. They put up various smokescreens and say they just want fairness. Right.

Meanwhile, your school cannot sack its hopeless teachers. Because the union will fling so many roadblocks at the school. Overcoming the roadblocks will cost more than a new gym. So schools put up with incompetence. And the kids take it on the chin.

Cuomo is challenging this ridiculous racket. He is threatening to put teeth into the evaluations.

The Governor is also confronting civil servants. Over their pensions and other benefits. Now, you cannot blame unions for wanting to hang onto the existing benefits. They are fat, compared with benefits in the private sector.

Cuomo proposes that new hires pay a bit more toward their pensions. And that they retire three years later than current public employees. He also suggests the pension program begin to shift toward a 401k-type system. Like those that cover private employees.

These are hardly radical changes. But they will save cities and the state billions in the long run.  Of course the unions immediately condemned them and predicted they will end life on the planet.