Cuomo's Office Hobbled State Ethics Inquiries

A high-powered commission created by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to root out corruption in New York politics was hobbled almost from the outset by demands from the governor’s office, which sought to shield his allies from scrutiny, according to an examination by The New York Times.

A three-month review of the panel’s short life and sudden death found that the governor’s office deeply compromised the commission’s work, objecting whenever its investigators focused on groups with ties to Mr. Cuomo or on issues that might reflect poorly on him.

Ultimately, Mr. Cuomo abruptly disbanded the commission halfway through what he had indicated would be an 18-month life. And now, as the Democratic governor seeks a second term in November, federal prosecutors are investigating the roles of Mr. Cuomo and his aides in the panel’s shutdown and are pursuing its unfinished business.

Wow. That does not paint Cuomo in a positive light at all. Read the full article - it is worth your time.

First 4 - 5 paragraphs detail how Cuomo called off a subpoena from a firm that ran ads for him.

Hopefully sh*ts about to get real

i hope they found hes in deep poop and send him up with the river for a very long term.

Check out the comments section. It seems to be full of derpy disenchanted liberals who will be staying home or voting third party this year.

Now if only people still read the NYT.  

It looks like this could be blowing up. I just googled "Cuomo corruption" and it turned up a bunch of new articles inspired by the Times article.

Some of today's headlines:

Governor Cuomo May Have Corrupted His Own Anti-Corruption Commission

Cuomo's office interfered with work of anti-corruption scandal

New York Governor Cuomo's office intervened in corruption probe

Cuomo Allegedly Meddled With Anti-Corruption Panel’s Investigation


May as well throw this in...

good plug for rob a to post that pic with some damming words of tyrant

Oooohh...someone is gonna get fired at the Gray Lady for printing that article!  "Paging Mr. NYT Editor.  You have a call from a Mr. Schwartz on line 2."

I wonder where their intel, especially the email chains, came from.  Was it from one or more of the former Moreland members or did Preet's office leak them?  Either this was intended as a shot across the bow of the 2nd floor by Preet or one of Cuomo's political connections finally got sick of his sh*t and spilled the beans.  

I'm good with either.

And the smoking gun connection to passing SAFE:

"The commission developed a list of promising targets, including a lawmaker suspected of using campaign funds to support a girlfriend in another state and pay tanning-salon bills"

So who was promised cover as part of the SAFE passing?  And now, that promise would be broken if the Moorland Commission blew him in?

I hope they clean house. Having differing political views I can accept. Corruption needs to carry a hefty sentence - and not in the nice part of town either.

yea worked well for Rangel

Astorino expects indictments in Cuomo Administration

Telling fatass to resign was priceless

Astorino & the State GOP have got to make hay on this one. Strike while the iron is hot

"Make hay" for the GOP would mean that they feel the imminent demise of their cash cow Cuomo is at hand so they have no other choice but to make appearances of outrage.  Otherwise, it will be business as usual for them.

Rob has been taking the fight to FUAC for months while Skelos, Paladino, Cox and all of the other losers in the GOP have sat around on their fat asses and done nothing to help him.

It's like Astorino and the GOP are two completely separate entities. I'm glad Rob is getting some positive media coverage out of the recent Christie and Moreland commision stories, because it is painfully obvious that the worthless state GOP is unwilling to lift a finger to help him.

in this state? he and every other corrupt liberal will get reelected. most rinos too

This is one of the comments after the story at the NY Times website.  It was written by some hipster dude (judging by his profile picture).  If he is representative, Il Douchebag may have some tough sledding in Nov.  



 

With the thoroughly nasty environment in and out of the governor's office I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was one of his own pissed off minions who is the source.

The whole works runs on yelling, insults, screaming, browbeating, and out and out threats.  A very unhealthy work environment.

Even Journal News is getting in on it...

Maybe, just maybe this story might stick. I hope so.

Here, i fixed it for you...

Agree, kick hard and repeatedly when down. Rinse and repeat. I am looking forward to some public debates.

This article supports your statement.



...and Princess must really be throwing a fit today.



Nice!!!

Cuomo Silent After NY Times Report Details Restraining of Anti-Corruption Commission


http://www.ny1.com/content/news/212740/cuomo-silent-after-ny-times-report-details-restraining-of-anti-corruption-commission/

I'm wondering which groups his "ethics" committee targeted most...  conservatives or just people he was running against.


sounds like he tried to create his own political army to wipe out opposition and then pretend it was "justice".

The NY Post hit it too

This.  

I am still doing my part frantically stamping every dollar that I get my hands on "Cuomo Must Go, Your Vote Counts" and "Vote Rob Astorino for NY Governor"

I've gotten a lot of handshakes from cashiers and clerks.

Get yours here

Don't forget, out best angle, IMO is the "Stop Common Core" thing.  That's key and our side really needs to harp on that too.

Trust me on this, when it comes time for the newspapers to endorse their messiahs, I am sure the New York Times will choose Cuomo over Astorino.  They will cover themselves with the usual he has grown in the position and has ample opportunity to correct previous mistakes.  Same old BS.

Shouldn't he be on probation then?

That all depends on how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Nothing will stick, nothing will change.  Move along.  

Common Core is the great unifier. Gun rights in NY rank low but even the teachers hate Common Core.

Good prices on those stamps.  I've been just getting custom ones made at rubberstampchamp.com.

The Feds are rooting around in all the investigations Cuomo either failed to proceed with or ended abruptly. This has the same feel to it as Client 9 did.

Maybe nothing will come of it, but this is an election year.

Reuters has it, as does Huff Post and the headline on Daily Kos reads, "Yup. Confirmed. Andrew Cuomo is one corrupt bastard."

Jon Stewart carried the story on The Daily Show.

This isn't going away, time to press the advantage for Astorino.

They need to beat the drum on this.

All Astorino needs to do is keep repeating this. And that NY is broke. And has the highest taxes. And is the least business friendly. And doesn't respect people's rights.

Tell the truth. Keep telling it.

There is this article in Newsday today whose assessment I am sad to say I agree with.  This is not going to go anywhere.  A large number of New Yorkers, mostly the FSA, do not give a hoot about corruption or scandal.  Just look at Charlie Rangel getting re-elected yet again this November despite being censured by the House of Representatives for "lapses" that would have sent anyone else to prison.  The same with various state politicians.  There were active scandal investigations with various Senator's AND THEY WERE STILL BEING RE-ELECTED.  Frankly, with a few exceptions, you run for office in New York to enrich yourself.  Plain and simple.



The text of the above article for those locked out.  I note the reference to those of us on Long Island.  I am hard pressed to find people around here who dislike Cuomo.  Sorry but that is a fact of life here and the observation in the article is correct. Yes I am sure there are anti-Cuomo people but they are probably as numerous around here as the pro-Cuomo people are upstate:



Experts: Cuomo ethics controversy won't stir voters



Originally published: July 24, 2014 6:13 PM

Updated: July 24, 2014 9:57 PM

By MICHAEL GORMLEY  [email protected]



ALBANY -- While good-government advocates and political opponents are criticizing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over a report that he improperly interfered with his corruption commission, some experts said the issue at this point isn't likely to anger or shock voters.



"It doesn't translate easily into a scandal people are going to be up in arms about," said Lee Miringoff, a political science professor and director of the Marist College poll.



"This is not enough to change election outcomes," agreed Gerald Benjamin, distinguished professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz. "It doesn't establish a nexus or chain of causality that demonstrates illegal behavior yet, certainly not in the executive, as far as I can tell and as far as I have read."



On Wednesday The New York Times reported instances in which Cuomo and his top aide, Lawrence Schwartz, strategized with the Moreland Commission, which Cuomo created and promised would be independent. The report cited internal emails indicating the administration dissuaded the commission from issuing subpoenas and investigating big donors and supporters of Cuomo.



Cuomo has insisted he and his top aide weren't meddling but providing necessary advice to the commission, which by law reports to him. They insist no entities related to Cuomo were given a pass. Cuomo wouldn't comment Thursday.



Cuomo's political opponents, Republican Rob Astorino and Zephyr Teachout, who is challenging Cuomo in a Democratic primary, have called for Cuomo to explain himself or resign.



"Mr. Cuomo has perpetrated one of the greatest breaches of public trust in New York history, and that's saying something," Astorino, the Westchester County executive, said Thursday.



But Astorino's lack of funding, lack of an extensive campaign support organization in the heavily Democratic state, and lack of name recognition might hurt his ability to make his message resonate with voters, even if they are listening.



Suburban voters, dominated by Long Islanders, are critical to any strategy to defeat Cuomo, who has strong poll numbers and an almost unassailable campaign fund.



Cuomo had $35 million in the bank as of July 15, after raising $8.5 million and spending $6.8 million over the last six months. Astorino had $2.4 million, after raising $3.4 million and spending $1 million.



"Unless somebody in the administration is led away in handcuffs or indicted on something that would strike a typical person as unambiguously wrong, I don't see this having a major impact on the campaign," said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University's National Center for Suburban Studies.



"In a place like Long Island, where Cuomo has managed to be seen as a force for good in terms of recovery from Hurricane Sandy and heading off the Long Island Rail Road strike, this story won't dissuade many people about their feelings for him as a leader," Levy said.



Miringoff, Benjamin and Levy agree that all could change if U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who has picked up the unfinished Moreland Commission investigations of legislators, indicts someone within the Cuomo administration. Bharara has criticized Cuomo's scrapping of the commission in exchange for a political deal with the legislature to achieve some ethics measures.



"If other people aren't going to do it, then we're going to do it," Bharara said of investigating government corruption, speaking on the PBS program "Charlie Rose."



Steven Greenberg of the Siena College Research Institute poll said the long-term impact of the issue depends on whether it is kept alive by newspaper editorials and more news stories with more developments.



"Does it become water cooler conversation? It hasn't reached that point by any stretch of the imagination," Greenberg said. "Could it? Absolutely. Will it? Who knows?"

The above article is a bullshit attempt by Cuomo's paid lapdogs to downplay the scandal.

Just like the bullshit polls they had showing Blomberg with a 30 point lead over Thompson. In reality Mike won by less than 5%. How many people gave up because of the poll numbers?

Bottom line is, don't underestimate the importance of this scandal. Do not repeat media lies. Cuomo is going down and he knows it.

Wait, wut?


Really?   Il Duce used their recovery funds to pay for his bullsh^t StartUpNY tv ads!  Not to mention that Tom DiNapoli already issued a report extremely critical of Cuomo's mismanagement of the response.  



Ya think?!

Not to mention that Astorino now has the support of such powerhouse Republican Governors as Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal.  Krispy Kreme's snub aside, the Astorino train is clearly picking up steam as Cuomo and his minions face serious criminal charges.

Corruption and Lies by Libs seem to always trump Honesty and Truth by Cons.



Whatever is seen on TV is the truth to the slobbering mouth-breathers known as the "typical" voters.



Neckbeards will also play a role in letting the state sink further into socialism.

And another aside...



"Executive Orders" should be outlawed.  

The biggest problem for us with all of these scandals is the timing.  What I'm afraid of is the typical no-information voter (that doesn't necessarily mean just the FSA, but anyone who believe blatantly anti-Astorino propaganda presented as "news") will either forget all about it by November, or will be so sick of hearing about it they'll just tune the whole thing out.

It would be much better for us if these scandals were all breaking late September or early October so that they were fresh in people's minds when they went to vote.  I have little doubt but what the leftist MSM knows this too.

The first step is to stop reading Newsday.

Unfortunately the "real" Long Island Press went out of business decades ago.  That was the best alternative.



 

Preet's not letting this go
Still NYTimes: http://nyti.ms/1ocZvLm

Cuomo needs to do the prep walk over the state if he interfered with witch hunt.

Yeah, and the PERP walk too!

andys going to jail.

What if this is all just a well planned game, right from the set up of this group? Andy sets up his own group, makes waves with a fake investigation that makes it look like Andy "could" be involved with a bunch or crap. Then there is a big Cuomo has been cleared of all allegations and is the greatest guy in the world blah blah blah party. Just a thought. Dog and Pony show comes to mind.