More Andrew Cuomo Corruption News - Moreland Commission Edition

Cuomo said the Moreland Commission could look at anybody's campaign fundraising - including his own.

But he's hiding something here:

Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission killed a subpoena to the Cuomo-controlled state Democratic party, the Daily News has learned.

The subpoena was to seek information on the party’s spending from its “housekeeping” account, sources said. The account raised millions this year that was then used to fund ads promoting Cuomo’s agenda during the legislative session.

The subpoena was never sent. Instead, it was replaced by one that went to the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, the sources said.

Commission co-chair William Fitzpatrick informed panel members about the situation at a private meeting last week, the insiders said.

Fitzpatrick told his colleagues that the commission sent subpoenas to the state Senate Republicans and the state Independence Party asking for information on spending from their “housekeeping” campaign accounts, the insiders said.

The Daily News had reported in March that the Senate Republicans --looking to cling to its majority during last year’s campaigns--transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Independence Party, which turned around and bought “issue advocacy” ads in hotly contested districts. 

According to state law, housekeeping accounts are to fund party-building activities, not specific campaigns. Independence Party officials have said they followed the law, but the anti-corruption commission wants to look.

Fitzpatrick told his fellow commissioners last week that “in the interest of balance”, a subpoena seeking records from the state Democratic Party housekeeping account had also been set to go out.

But the sources said that Fitzpatrick told the panel that before the subpoena was served, he decided that it didn’t seem like a proper “balance” to him and he killed it in favor of one that went to the Senate Dems, the sources said. It’s unclear if his two co-chairs signed off as required.

“The Moreland Commission will not comment on ongoing investigations or who receives or does not receive subpoenas,” panel spokeswoman Michelle Duffy said.

The Daily News reported Monday that despite saying it would be an independent body, Cuomo and his aides have exerted heavy influence on the panel, having killed several other subpoenas. One was to the Real Estate Board of New York, a close Cuomo ally. The News previously reported that REBNY, also a close ally to the Senate GOP, gave big bucks last year to the Independence Party.

Fitzpatrick on Sunday called it "categorically false" that the governor's office was dictating what subpoenas could go out, although he acknowledged that some were pulled back or modified on advice of staff. He denied any "nefarious intent."

Cuomo doesn't want his own stuff probed, so he had the subpoena to the state Democratic Party - the entity he controls, the entity that raises funds for him and uses those funds to run pro-Cuomo ads, the entity that has received some of those donations from real estate developers in return for huge tax breaks from the governor - killed.

Will Cuomo get away with this?

He's running around the state making believe he's Sheriff Andy out to clean up all the crooks in Albany.

Meanwhile he's one of the biggest crooks and he's hiding the evidence.

This is one instance when a Comptroller Spitzer would have been an advantage.

You can bet Spitzer would have taken aim at Cuomo over this.

Alas, there is no independent entity with the power or the moxie to take on Cuomo over this.

So he just might get away with making himself look clean while "cleaning" up all the other dirty Albany crooks.