Cuomo's Control-Freak Style Comes Back To Bite Him

It's a banner day in the newspapers for Cuomo-bashing. Here's another Cuomo-bashing piece, this one from Ken Lovett in the Daily News:

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo's latest woes over his handling of an anti-corruption commission can be traced back to his need for control, insiders say.

Cuomo is privately being called out by some of those he appointed to the Moreland Commission — which he initially promised would be independent — for interfering with their work.
"This was always a risk," said one source. "He has a tendency to try and get involved in everything. He can't help himself."

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has taken control of the short-lived commission's files and vows to follow any unresolved leads. Bharara last week did not rule out probing Cuomo's handling of the commission, criticizing the governor for shutting it down after only nine months in exchange for approval of an ethics package by the Legislature.

...

Former Public Advocate Mark Green, who Cuomo appointed to serve on a commission to probe utilities in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, wrote of similar interference by Cuomo staffers in a Daily News op-ed published Sunday.

Green said Cuomo aides seemed to be pushing the Sandy panel for a pre-ordained result and only stopped when he threatened to quit.

"This has always been Andrew's mini Achilles heel: politics and investigations," said a frequent Cuomo ally. "Either you're a purist or you're not."

Of course he did the same with the Common Core panel - he had his people give the commission what he wanted, then expected all to sign off on it unanimously.

Teacher Todd Hathaway did not do that, going public with the governor's heavy-handed style.

This control freak stuff works for a long time, until it stops working because it gins up to much resentment.

Hard to know if Cuomo has hit that wall yet, but given the multitude of negative Cuomo pieces in the media today and yesterday (most of which I covered here at Perdido Street School), it sure looks like he has.