Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today wished Reverend Al Sharpton a happy birthday in a video played at the Reverend's birthday celebration event earlier today.  

VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h264, mp4) format here. 

A transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Happy Birthday, Reverend Al Sharpton.

I don't even want to tell you how many years I've known the Revered. Remember when you were a child and your parents would say, "I've known him for 20 years"? You would think how is that even imaginable, 20 years. Someone is going to die soon. Well, it's been well over 20 years that I've known the good Reverend. 

We have both seen our ups and downs and have endured the journey of life and come out the other side.

The Reverend has gotten stronger, better and even more effective over the years. He's a national voice, a historic civil rights leader and he even has his own TV show.

The Reverend followed the advice of the good book. He has learned from those who came before. Take the best from each and form your own composite. 

The Reverend learned from Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson and John Lewis and Bishop Washington and Revered William Augustus Jones and Rosa Parks and he brought forward many of their best talents.

The Reverend has a God-given gift for oratory. Of course I think it would be more effective if he had an accompanying PowerPoint to go along with it but he still has time to do that.

He educates and he motivates people. He can lead people and he has the courage to take on the difficult fights.

Most of all the Reverend is effective because he embodies the most important lesson. His entire effort is geared to make change, to right wrongs and to improve people's lives.

The Reverend just doesn't want to fight a good fight. He wants to win and he does. That was Dr. King's brilliance. Everything was for the singular purpose of making progress. Today everyone calls themselves a progressive but you can't be a true progressive without accomplishing progress.

As the Reverend recently said when we were signing New York's groundbreaking chokehold law, his formula has three steps - demonstration, legislation, reconciliation.

Demonstrate to make people's voices heard, articulate the grievance, create critical mass to get government to pass reform legislation, meaningful change, and then reconciliation between the parties to restore productive relationships.

The Reverend's formula has worked and it has helped New York State achieve its goal of being the progressive capital of the nation. New York sets new precedents in civil rights and equality and then challenges the nation to follow.

We did it when we worked together to pass the best gun control laws in the nation, the highest minimum wage law in the nation, the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the nation, the first special prosecutor for police misconduct in the nation, the first free college tuition program in the nation, the first mandate to reimagine public safety departments in the nation, and when we closed more prisons and developed more alternatives to incarceration at any time in this state's history.

What's the goal at the end of the day? To leave this place a better place. To make the world better for our being here. Reverend Sharpton does that again and again and again. I'm proud to call him a friend.