NY Times: Cuomo's Patronage Gives State Jobs To Friends, Associates And Donors

The Times takes aim at how Governor Andy pays back his political "friends," associates and donors:

ALBANY — New York State’s economic development agency created a new position last June, and then found a candidate to fill it: a young man named Willard Younger, who had just graduated from Colgate University with a degree in classics and religion. He became a special projects associate, at a salary of $45,000 a year, according to state personnel records. His father, Stephen P. Younger, is a lawyer and power broker in legal circles who was a member of one of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s transition teams. He has also donated $26,000 to Mr. Cuomo’s campaigns over the years, disclosure records show.

The next month, the agency hired 23-year-old Andrew Moelis for another new position, strategic planning associate, at a salary of $75,000 a year. 

Shortly before Mr. Moelis’s first day of work, his father, Ron Moelis, a prominent real estate developer, gave $25,000 to Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign, according to the records.

Since taking office in 2011, Mr. Cuomo has repeatedly pledged to bring a new approach to Albany, where politicians of both major parties have long rewarded supporters with jobs that are not open to the general public. 

But an investigation by The New York Times into hiring by the agency, the Empire State Development Corporation, shows how Mr. Cuomo’s administration has engaged in some of the same patronage practices that have often prevailed here. 

The investigation was based on personnel records obtained through a Freedom of Information request, as well as campaign finance and other state records. Numerous interviews were conducted with state officials, employees and outside experts. 

While some of the new employees at Empire State had experience in economic development, others did not. Some of the jobs were not open to competition, and were filled with little input from the agency itself. 

Empire State has also hired friends of Mr. Cuomo who may help form his political brain trust should he decide to run for president in 2016. 

James P. Rubin, a former State Department spokesman, was hired at the agency in 2011 as counselor on competitiveness and international affairs, with a salary of $150,000 a year. Mr. Rubin’s appointment was seen by political consultants as a move by Mr. Cuomo to add a foreign policy hand to his stable. 

Empire State hired 49 people in the first 20 months of the Cuomo administration, according to personnel records obtained by The Times. Nearly a third were the governor’s political associates, donors and friends, or their relatives, the records and interviews show. 

At least seven of the new hires with connections were placed in newly created positions.

Cuomo is as big a crook as anybody else in Albany.

He is holier than thou, however, and that is going to come back to bite him.

This Times article, which exposes Governor Andy's patronage system quite handily, is just the tip of the iceberg that will aim at the Good Ship Cuomo should he choose to run for president in 2016.

Governor Andy needs just that kind of scrutiny.

He's on record saying his Albany is cleaner than any other in recent memory because he is so above board in his ethics.

Doesn't look like that statement will stand up to scrutiny.

Read the rest of the article and you'll see just how many jobs Sheriff Andy has handed out as political favors.