Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York believes that he is being unfairly accused of playing politics with his proposal to hold a referendum on the death penalty. His claim, of course, is naive or disingenuous. For a seasoned opponent of the death penalty to put out a press release calling for such a vote in the middle of a campaign year is by definition a political act. Moreover, it can reasonably be interpreted as an attempt to get off the hook with voters who do not share his opposition to capital punishment.