Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today he didn’t know that an assessor wasn’t allowed into the Westchester County home he shares with TV cooking star Sandra Lee.
“I don’t know how the town system works itself,” Cuomo told reporters this afternoon in Peekskill, Westchester County. “But generally the way it works is the town does an assessment, the homeowner then reviews the assessment, if the homeowner wants to question the assessment, they do, and that situation would apply here.”
Republican gubernatorial foe Rob Astorino today accused Cuomo of potential tax evasion after the Journal News reported yesterday Lee’s property taxes on their New Castle, Westchester County, are set to jump by 29 percent after the assessor increased the value of the Bittersweet Lane home from $936,000 to $1.2 million.
The re-assessment came after The Journal News reported Lee, the owner of the home, didn’t obtain building permits for renovations inside the home, which were detailed in USA Today and other outlets.
The Journal News reported that the assessor wasn’t allowed in the house to do a full accounting of the upgrades to determine the home’s value.
Cuomo said he was unaware that the assessor wasn’t allowed in.
“I don’t know that the assessor wasn’t allowed in,” Cuomo said. “I think that’s how it works, isn’t it?”
He later added that,”In terms of local rules, I’m not all that familiar with it.”
As for Astorino’s criticism, Cuomo said “I have no response.”
Cuomo was asked what’s in the home’s basement because it is believed to have been remodeled, but apparently is not on the assessment records.
“Last time I was there, nothing,” Cuomo responded.
Can you imagine what Cuomo would say to the media if one of his political enemies were pulling the same jive about tax assessments?
If I'm Astorino, I keep going at Cuomo over this, calling him a tax deadbeat, reminding voters that if they pulled the same jive Cuomo and his consort Sandra Lee pulled, they'd be in big trouble.
One set of rules for the rich and powerful in this state.
Another set of rules for everybody else.
And that's how Andrew Cuomo and Sandra Lee like it.
That would be the ad I ran over and over on Cuomo, tying it to Moreland, tying it to his campaign finance hypocrisy, tying it to all the other shady stuff Andy has done as governor.
You bet that would ring a bell for a lot of people out there.
He's not only a crook, but a cheap, nickel-and-dime crook.
ReplyDeleteMuch like the politician he most resembles, Richard Nixon.
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