The Relationship Between Andrew Cuomo And Rupert Murdoch

A very interesting piece in the Gotham Gazette about the close ties between Governor Cuomo and the NY Post - in particular, Post political reporter/editor Fred Dicker.

The gist is that Cuomo uses the Post to get out his message and the Post, because Cuomo is giving them all the good juice, is willing to carry Cuomo's water for him.

It was interesting to see the Post editors twist themselves into knots to not criticize Cuomo's LIFO proposal even as Bloomberg's people were calling it a scam, especially after the Post had spent so much time and space to promote the Bloomberg proposal.

A Democratic governor and the Rupert Murdoch-owned NY Post - best buds and bed mates.

And of course the Post doesn't mind engaging in some hypocrisy to protect Cuomo:

Cuomo announced early on that if labor challenged his position on budget cuts, he would a counter with his own ad campaign. Through the Committee to Save New York he has done just that. Meanwhile people who disagree with Cuomo publicly can expect a quick -- and harsh -- response.

All this -- and the Post's role -- came together in a dispute that involved the Committee to Save New York. It became known earlier this year that the group was not registered as a lobbying organization.

From the start, the Post rushed to the defense of the Cuomo administration and the Committee to Save New York. When Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group brought up the fact that the committee was not registered as a lobbying group even though it was technically functioning as such, the Post reacted with an editorial titled "Cynical Moralists," slamming Horner.

"So the committee's enemies -- backed by an ostensible voice of reform, the New York Public Interest Research Group, and other so-called good-government groups--are muttering about a supposed unholy secret alliance between the new governor and the business community," the editorial read.

The Post wasn't terribly concerned that the Committee to Save New York was not registered as a lobbyist and attacked Horner for pointing it out. But it took a very different stand when Billy Easton of the Alliance for Quality Education protested Cuomo's budget cuts. The Post's editorial "Pigs in Saints' Clothing" pointed out that Easton is not registered as a lobbyist.

"Walk just about any capitol corridor in Albany, and odds are you’ll trip over lobbyist-without-portfolio Billy Easton, of the fraudulently mislabeled Alliance for Quality Education," said the Post. "We say without portfolio because, while rare is the legislator whom Billy hasn’t buttonholed lately, he has yet to register as a lobbyist this year."

Sure, the Committee To Save New York is a lobbying firm that isn't registered as a lobbying firm - but it's ON Cuomo's side.

So the Post doesn't care.

Easton, NOT on Cuomo's side, is scum.

This is what passes for political journalism at the Post and political leadership from Cuomo.

Not enough bad stuff can happen to BOTH of these entities.