New York Governor and Close Associates Under Scrutiny By U.S. Attorney

Joseph Percoco, VP Madison Square Garden

Photo: AP

[From article]
A former top Cuomo aide who is under criminal investigation for “consulting’’ with companies doing business with the state told potential clients he had the administration’s OK for the work — despite never receiving it, The Post has been told.
Madison Square Garden Executive Vice President Joseph Percoco, who until last January was Gov. Cuomo’s executive deputy secretary and one of his closest friends, “told various clients or potential clients that he had approval from the governor’s counsel’s office to work for them,’’ said a source close to the situation.
“It turned out the counsel’s office did no such thing. It didn’t give any approval,” the source said. “And Joe never gave the clients anything to prove what he said, so the clients didn’t get anything in writing.’’
Public records show that Percoco, who left the state payroll for several months in early 2014 to run Cuomo’s re-election campaign, said he received as much as $125,000 in still-unexplained “consulting’’ fees during that year from two companies, COR Development of Syracuse and Albany-based CHA Consulting, which have longstanding dealings and tens of millions of dollars in contracts with the state.
Percoco’s income from the companies didn’t become public until late last month, when US Attorney Preet Bharara served a subpoena on Cuomo’s office seeking records relating to Percoco’s work, as well as the work performed for those and other companies by influential lobbyist Todd Howe, a Percoco friend and longtime associate of both Andrew and former Gov. Mario Cuomo.
Howe, who sources said helped arrange the consulting work for Percoco, was fired last week by a longtime employer — Albany-based law/lobbying firm Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna — after being barred days earlier by Cuomo from having any contact with the state government.
[. . .]
The subpoena, excerpts of which were obtained by The Post, sought “phone logs, visitor logs, calendar entries between January 2012 and present that show meetings with any’’ entities on a list of 26 individuals and companies.
The subpoena also demanded information on “any actions taken by” Percoco, Secretary to the Governor William Mulrow, state Operations Director James Malatras, Buffalo-area Democratic operative Peter Cutler and other Cuomo aides related to the companies for which Percoco and Howe worked, as well as for several other companies connected to the governor’s high-profile “Buffalo Billion’’ economic-development efforts.
It also seeks “any documents concerning’’ two not-for-profit economic-development companies set up in conjunction with SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and its president, Dr. Alain Kaloyeros, a key “Buffalo Billion’’ adviser.
Sources in the Cuomo administration said the governor appears “increasingly nervous and anxious’’ about Bharara’s probe, and some noted that Cuomo has almost completely disappeared from public view during the past weeks as the scandal began to unfold

http://nypost.com/2016/05/08/cuomo-crony-lied-to-potential-clients-said-he-had-governors-ok-to-work/

Cuomo crony lied to potential clients — said he had governor’s OK to work
By Fredric U. Dicker
New York Post
May 8, 2016 | 11:57pm

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http://nypost.com/2016/05/09/fbi-raids-homes-of-two-cuomo-cronies-amid-corruption-probe/

FBI raids homes of two Cuomo cronies amid corruption probe
By Kaja Whitehouse, Kirstan Conley and Bruce Golding
New York Post
May 9, 2016 | 3:33am

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http://nypost.com/2016/05/02/investigation-of-confidant-could-be-a-career-killer-for-cuomo/

Investigation of confidant could be a career-killer for Cuomo
By Fredric U. Dicker
New York Post
May 2, 2016 | 12:08am

* * *

http://nypost.com/2016/05/05/shady-cuomo-pal-received-nearly-100-financing-on-815k-home/

‘Shady’ Cuomo pal received nearly 100% financing on $815K home
By Kirstan Conley, Reuven Fenton and Bruce Golding
New York Post
May 5, 2016 | 12:55am

* * *

http://nypost.com/2016/05/06/cuomo-linked-lobbyist-fired-by-law-firm-amid-federal-probe/

Cuomo-linked lobbyist fired by law firm amid federal probe
By Kirstan Conley and Aaron Short
New York Post
May 6, 2016 | 4:11pm

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New York Governor Cuomo Resells World Series Tickets To Fund Campaign

[From article]

As The Post reported Tuesday, Gov. Cuomo is using the Mets’ home games in the World Series to raise himself some campaign cash.
His staff picked up a “very limited number” of tickets to this week’s Games 3 and 4 at Citi Field — and is selling the $125 tickets to supporters for as much as $5,500.
The campaign’s offer also includes a ­90-minute private reception with the gov. Cuomo’s not the only pol using the Fall Classic to raise campaign funds: Rep. Grace Meng has a similar scheme — for an only slightly more affordable $2,500 a head.
Now, scalping is perfectly legal in New York; a whole secondary market exists for that purpose. But Cuomo’s charging a major markup: The average Series ticket at Citifield is going for about $1,600 on StubHub.



Worse is the unseemly air of insider access here. It’s far easier for a high-ranking official (or his flunkies) to score seats than it is for the average Joe. Did Cuomo forget the anger when Gov. David Paterson scored Yankees tickets?
And to then milk the prized passes for campaign cash . . .
It’s particularly tacky when Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was so tough on scalpers. Back in 2010, he went after folks who sat in line for free Shakespeare In The Park tickets, then resold them on Craigslist.

http://nypost.com/2015/10/27/cuomos-world-series-scalping-scam-is-outrageous-and-hypocritical/

Cuomo’s World Series scalping scam is outrageous and hypocritical
By Post Editorial Board
New York Post
October 27, 2015 | 7:38pm

Misguided New York State Politicians

Two Plus Two Is This Many

[From article]
“Invest in the future.” In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo follows in a long line of political leaders who, using some version of those words, said that they wanted to invest in jobs and growth—and then did little to follow through. If Cuomo and others really wanted to make such investments, they would have reduced taxes, both for individuals and businesses, and streamlined regulation.
[. . .]
For decades, New York has been one of the highest-tax states in the union.
[. . .]
Governor Cuomo’s “Global NY” initiative, targeting Mexican, Canadian, Israeli, Chinese, and Italian firms, while also paying for the governor to lead a trade mission to Cuba, does not appear to have lured any significant business to the Empire State.
[. . .]
Failure to invest in policies that actually grow the economy, then, demonstrates that the constant talk of investment is pure rhetoric.
More telling still is where the budgetary emphasis has gone. Without exception, spending has grown fastest in areas best described as current consumption.
[. . .]

if New York’s leadership won’t—or can’t—change course, the least it could do is spare voters the lip service.

http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0714me.html

MILTON EZRATI
Don’t Read Their Lips
New York State politicians promise to invest in the future but never do.
July 14, 2015

New York's Governor Hinders Coordination of Police In Search For Prison Escapees

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State

[From article]
“Cuomo’s aides came in and threw out the US marshal, the sheriff [David Favro, like Cuomo a Democrat] and others who were there to help coordinate the search effort.
“And they did it without even saying ‘Thanks for your help,’ or such, just, ‘Get out so his highness can enter.’
“The State Police are trying to make sure that they’re the ones to catch these guys, that they get all the credit, and as a result, they’re not making full use of the assets that are available to them,’’ the source continued.
[. . .]
a potentially dangerous confrontation was narrowly avoided when a group of heavily armed State Police troopers combing the woods near Willsboro unexpectedly came upon several members of a Correctional Services emergency-response team emerging from a patch of forest, startling them.

http://nypost.com/2015/06/14/cuomo-created-a-total-cluster-f-k-in-hunt-for-escaped-killers/

Cuomo created ‘a total cluster f—k’ in hunt for escaped killers
By Fredric U. Dicker
New York Post
June 14, 2015 | 11:23pm

The Governor's Sons

The saddest part of this interview is how great the differences are between Mario Cuomo and his sons. They appear to be clueless about the Constitution and how it applies to the freedoms of Americans. One son, Andrew is the Governor of New York State. The US Attorney keeps getting closer and closer to this governor with his investigations into corruption. Chris Cuomo seen in this clip shows the same apparent ignorance of the meaning of constitutional rights. Not only is this Cuomo son a member of the "but brigade,","I support the First Amendment, but . . . " but he is also an opponent of the second Amendment.

[From article]

Cuomo and Pamela Geller got into shouting match over that analogy. Cuomo went on to opine that the other real problem with the event, in addition to its immorality, was that there is not enough gun control, because a Marine had advised people to bring their guns.
Mr. Cuomo forgot that it was a citizen bearing a legal gun who prevented a massacre in Geller's draw Mohammed contest just a few weeks ago!
Cuomo thinks it is immoral, in itself, to use free speech that offends a differing opinion. But most astonishing was his assertion that "[t]he First and Second Amendments weren't put together to defend each other, that's for sure." Does Cuomo really not see the significance of the sequence of these amendments – the enumeration of rights followed by the right to bear arms to protect them? Can he really believe that the First and Second Amendments are not related?

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/05/where_does_cnn_find_these_idiots.html

May 31, 2015
Where does CNN find these idiots?
By Deborah C. Tyler

New York Governor Cuomo Says Corruption Is Normal In Albany

Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Photo: AP
The very thing that makes voters and taxpayers cynical is accepted by the ruling elite. At a book reading about wholesale corruption of the Boston Field Office of the FBI,  I asked the authors. "Are we are supposed to believe that when (Boston crime boss) James Bulger became a fugitive (for 16 years), all of the gambling  and drug rings operating in the Boston area vaporized, and that all policemen became honest?" They laughed and admitted that the reason Bulger was a problem was that he killed too many people, and corrupted too many police and FBI agents. So as Cuomo suggests, having some corruption is how politicians do business. Bulger's brother William, the Massachusetts State Senate President stated that reformers do not get re-elected. Then there is William Bratton NYC police Commissioner who famously said when Rudolf Giuliani was mayor, "People do not like whistle blowers."  

[From article]
There will always be corruption in government — and Albany is no worse than anywhere else, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
“You’ve always had and you probably always will have some level of corruption,’’ said Cuomo in an interview with New York 1.
“Power corrupts, and government is a source of power, you have it in the City Council, you have it in the state Legislature, you have it in the Congress of the United States, so, that continues.”
His remarks stood in stark contrast to those of US Attorney Preet Bharara, who last week noted that state lawmakers are more likely to be arrested than be tossed out at the polls.
“When you have a degree of corruption that is that deep and pervasive and frequent, that’s a big problem,” Bharara told MSNBC.
[. . .]
Good-government groups say it’s hard to compare Albany’s cesspool of criminality with other houses of power because ethics laws vary by jurisdiction.
[. . .]
Cuomo said there are no plans to hang any photos of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in ignominy after getting caught in a hooker scandal.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/17/cuomo-says-there-will-always-be-some-corruption-in-albany/

Cuomo says there will always be some corruption in Albany
By Aaron Short
New York Post
February 17, 2015 | 12:17am

Journalists Show Bias Regarding Substance of Scandals

[From article]

The Bridgegate affair in New Jersey was a seedy political scandal, in which some staffers and allies of Gov. Chris Christie used their influence with a bi-state agency to tie up traffic around the George Washington Bridge to punish a political opponent. The emerging Moreland Commission outrage in New York State, as set out in a recent New York Times storyabout the efforts of Cuomo administration members to hobble an investigation into political corruption, is potentially far worse. At best, it represents a cynical effort by Cuomo, who ran for election four years ago promising to clean up Albany, to protect friends and campaign donors when investigators began asking them uncomfortable questions. At worst, as U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara suggested last week, it might involve criminal tampering with an investigation probing links between campaign contributions and political favors, like tax credits.
The national media’s response to these scandals has been disproportionate, though not in the way you might imagine. Bridgegate quickly became a media feeding frenzy generating immense coverage nationally. Moreland-gate, by contrast, has produced yawns from much of the national media so far. The Moreland story is still relatively new, but even by this time in the Bridgegate news cycle, the national media had produced perhaps 10 times as much coverage of Christie’s woes.

http://www.city-journal.org/2014/eon0805sm.html

STEVEN MALANGA
A Tale of Two Scandals
Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission episode may prove worse than Chris Christie’s Bridgegate—but you wouldn’t know it from the news coverage.
5 August 2014

Updated: NY Republicans Charge Governor Cuomo With Coverup Of Corruption Probe

Posted July 24, 2014 9:24 PM ET; Last updated July 30, 2014 9:15 PM ET

[From article]
Gov. Cuomo claimed Monday that his tainted anti-corruption panel — now under scrutiny by federal prosecutors — was an “overwhelming success” and said he shut it to save money for taxpayers.
Emerging publicly for the first time since a scathing exposé last week of his administration’s alleged meddling in the group’s work, Cuomo conceded his aides had input into the operation of the 25-member Moreland Commission panel, but insisted it was never told whom or what to investigate.

http://nypost.com/2014/07/29/cuomo-i-did-not-impede-my-anti-corruption-commission/

Cuomo: I shut corruption panel to save taxpayer money
By Pat Bailey and Carl Campanile
July 29, 2014 | 1:52am
New York Post

* * *

[From article]
Political foes of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are calling for prompt criminal investigation of his administration following a news report that his office thwarted attempts by his own special corruption commission to investigate groups with ties to him.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Secretary Larry Schwartz pressured commissioners to stop subpoenas to a media-buying firm Cuomo used and to the Real Estate Board of New York, whose members financially supported the governor’s campaign.
[. . .]
Cuomo’s office tells the newspaper that it would be “a pure conflict of interest” for a commission appointed by the governor to investigate the governor.

http://nypost.com/2014/07/23/calls-for-criminal-probe-after-report-cuomo-thwarted-corruption-investigation/

GOP wants blood after report Cuomo thwarted corruption probe
By Associated Press
New York Post
July 23, 2014 | 11:49am

NY Governor Distorts History, Shows Ignorance

[From article]
The suffragists who famously met at Seneca Falls, N.Y., were ardent advocates for life. They didn't mince words. Elizabeth Cady Stanton condemned the "murder of children, either before or after birth." Alice Paul, who crusaded for the Equal Rights Amendment, called abortion "the ultimate exploitation of women." Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, as Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser pointed out in her review of pro-life feminism, was horrified by the abortion industry and the women who enabled it:
[. . .]
Cuomo insists he "respects" all of the people he dumped on last week. Yet, he continues to willfully mischaracterize their positions and smear them as dangerous haters. It's telling that he employs the partisan pejorative labels "anti-gay" and "pro-assault weapon" alongside "right to life." As if endorsing the "right to life" is in itself an act of bigotry or a horrific, unspeakable crime.
There are no do-overs: Cuomo rolled out the unwelcome mat and announced a new state of intolerance. His undemocratic extremism is as extreme as it gets.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/michelle/malkin012214.php3#.UuS6gd30Czs

Jewish World Review 

Jan. 22, 2014/ 21 Shevat, 5774
Lessons for Shove Guv Andrew Cuomo
By Michelle Malkin

Conservative Filmmaker Claims Political Harassment From NY Gov. Cuomo

[From article]
"In this instance, as we did in 3,500 cases last year alone, the Department of Labor sought this additional information. After receiving no response, DOL issued follow up letters and phone calls. After 6 months of not receiving a response, as a matter of protocol, DOL issued subpoenas to obtain the requested information."
For his part, O'Keefe said in a statement, "Governor Cuomo's shocking words this past week aren't simply words. Governor Cuomo and the New York Department of Labor are on a witch hunt, demanding all documents and financials since our founding. ... His goal, of course, is to harass us and limit our effectiveness by tying us up in court. Just like President Obama used the IRS to target and suppress conservatives, Governor Cuomo is using his Department of Labor to do the same exact thing."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/01/23/conservative-activist-okeefe-claims-cuomo-targeting-his-group/

Conservative activist O'Keefe claims Cuomo targeting his group
Published January 23, 2014

FoxNews.com

NY Gov. Cuomo Urges Conservatives To Leave New York State

[From article]
Liberals, after all, pride themselves on their toleration and open-mindedness, but often they sound like Michael Caine's character in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" who said: "There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch." Cuomo and de Blasio, unlike Caine, don't understand they're the butt of the joke.
[. . .]
Liberals were the least accurate, especially those who describe themselves as 'very liberal.' The biggest errors in the whole study came when liberals answered the Care and Fairness questions while pretending to be conservatives." In other words, moderates and conservatives can understand the liberal worldview and liberals are unable to relate to the conservative worldview, especially when it comes to questions of care and fairness.
[. . .]
Thus conservatives have a far greater capacity to understand the liberal worldview than vice versa--and, applying the theory to the case at hand, Cuomo and de Blasio are simply unable to overcome their own cognitive limits.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303448204579340810953180746?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303448204579340810953180746.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

Why They Wish the Right Left
A social-psychology theory on Cuomo and de Blasio.
By JAMES TARANTO
January 24, 2014

NY Gov. Considers Removing Assembly Speaker

[Last updated Wednesday April 10, 2013, 2:17 PM ET]

Daniel Shapiro Photo

Sheldon Silver, Speaker, NY Assembly

Lenny Bruce observed that the highest motivation among humans is job security. If Cuomo successfully removes Silver as Speaker, one might expect him to retaliate against the Governor. It is one reason  why there is little will to clean up government. Someone  has to lose his job.

[From article]
Gov. Cuomo and his top aides are looking to use last week’s round of embarrassing scandals in Albany to oust Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver — and they’re already eyeing an upstate lawmaker to replace him, The Post has learned.
[. . .]
Every speaker since the Democrats recaptured the Assembly in 1974 has been a Big Apple Democrat.
Silver, who been speaker since 1994, has seen about a dozen Assembly members charged, sentenced or ousted under his watch.
[. . .]
“Shelly’s been the master of gaming the corrupt system for 20 years. He’s made millions off of it, and the coalition that keeps him in power are the ones who feed off the corrupt system,” a Cuomo administration source said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/get_the_shel_outta_here_gov_IBCfiUMciMXkOBFFKxP17O

Gov. Cuomo considering ousting Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver over Albany scandals
By FREDRIC U. DICKER
New York Post
Last Updated: 8:15 AM, April 8, 2013
Posted: 2:47 AM, April 8, 2013
INSIDE ALBANY
* * *
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/we_ain_buying_cuomo_cure_F47yQEfxU3HbBnQxSc7aBP


We ain’t buying Cuomo’s ‘cure’
By MICHAEL GOODWIN
New York Post
Last Updated: 3:27 AM, April 10, 2013
Posted: 1:33 AM, April 10, 2013

NY State Employee Embarrassed by Aide to Governor Cuomo

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/nyregion/top-aide-to-cuomo-rebukes-state-worker-who-talked-to-the-press.html?_r=0

Top Cuomo Aide Delivers Public Rebuke of State Worker Who Talked to the Press
By THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: February 21, 2013
The New York Times

Cuoma and Gore Mislead Civilians

Tuesday October 30, 2012 NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, "for the first time
said he believes the increase in 'extreme weather situations' in
recent years is tied to climate change."

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-death-toll-in-ny-at-26-gov-cuomo-blames-climate-change-for-inc

Al Gore supports this interpretation. Why do politicians insist on
talking about subjects about which they have little knowledge? In Al
Gore's case we know he does it for money. Sandy is a Category One
hurricane, the lowest category. The reason for its extreme effects is
that it met up with a weather system coming for the opposite
direction. Together the two storms created a giant storm with its
extreme flooding and rain and snow. Two days later it is still
spinning over the eastern half of the US from  west of Chicago to east
of New York City over the ocean. It is not the extreme single event
but the unusual occurrence of the event combining two weather systems.

NY Gov. Cuomo Editing State Archives

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/nyregion/cuomo-is-editing-his-years-as-state-attorney-general.html?_r=2

Cuomo’s Archive as Attorney General, Self-Edited
By DANNY HAKIM
New York Times
Published: July 23, 2012

NY Gov. Maligns NYPD

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/eon0607hm.html

HEATHER MAC DONALD
Pot Possession and the Police
Reforming marijuana laws is one thing; demonizing the NYPD is another.
7 June 2012

New York and New Jersey Governors Have Spines

What makes New York and New Jersey's Governors unusual among current elected officials is that they both have working spines.

[From article]
"Unlike their recent predecessors, both governors are strongwilled to the point of being called control freaks, and a struggle between them over running the PA would be something to watch."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/christie_power_play_atWbZ9vvArztmic2ky6kqM

Christie’s power play
Pushing hard on Port Authority
Steve Cuozzo
New York Post
Last Updated: 11:05 PM, August 11, 2011
Posted: 9:52 PM, August 11, 2011

Stellarity is In The Eyes of The Beholder

The Governor does not have such a stellar record is the answer to the wonder. With memory limited to six months it would appear that he has a stellar record. When Secretary of HUD under Clinton, and his earlier political actions in New York, the Governor shows he has flaws like all elected officials. His recent actions reflect the need for practical fiscal restraint to prevent worse economic problems. Not all citizens agree with his support for same sex marriage. Common sense may be rare, but it is different from morality.

[From article]
"One wonders why the governor, who has such a stellar record, would make such an appointment, given the questions raised in the IG's report," said a law-enforcement source with knowledge of the AEG investigation."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/probers_cry_wtf_at_gov_top_aide_HT6BOwABxLuKTFPFxSEcXJ

Probers cry, 'WTF?' at gov's top-aide pick
Fredric U. Dicker
New York Post
Last Updated: 1:42 AM, July 12, 2011
Posted: 12:21 AM, July 11, 2011

Cuomo: NY Gov't is Corrupt; NY Gov't is Best in Nation

[From article]
"Right now, the people don't trust their government, for good reason," Cuomo said recently. Yet in late March, after the Legislature gave him most of the budget trims he wanted, he stood with leaders and said the Empire State had "the best legislative body in the nation."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/no_such_thing_as_halfway_ethical_0lr7Rq4BTCAjZI1VFdFaXO

No such thing as 'halfway' ethical, Andy
Michael Goodwin
New York Post
Last Updated: 3:21 AM, May 18, 2011
Posted: 1:58 AM, May 18, 2011

Ignoring Recent History?

Politician progeny Pelosi promised no deficit spending and the most ethical Congress ever. She delivered enormous deficit spending and the most lawless Congress in history. She remains in leadership of US House. Why should anyone believe Andrew Cuomo, the son of a New York Governor?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/new_gov_opens_fire_on_albany_Fmv4W2lKqYRoJWvYOvOSpI

Cuomo vows more open, leaner, cleaner state
By BRENDAN SCOTT and FREDRIC U. DICKER Post Correspondents
New York Post
Last Updated: 1:18 PM, January 2, 2011
Posted: 2:08 AM, January 2, 2011