Why Isn't The Press Covering The Moreland Investigation Any Longer?

Thomas Kaplan reports many people around the state are taking the primary season to publicize their unhappiness with Governor Cuomo:

He has been snubbed by unions representing teachers and state workers. Editorial boards are skewering him. Political rivals are lobbing attacks from his left and his right.

A year ago, it looked as though Labor Day would mark the start of Andrew M. Cuomo’s smooth glide toward a second term as New York’s governor.

Now, Mr. Cuomo’s bid for re-election seems to have become more of a chore than a coronation.

Mr. Cuomo is expected to easily fend off a long-shot challenge by a law professor, Zephyr Teachout, in the Democratic primary next Tuesday. In November, his matchup against a Republican, Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive, could wind up one of the most lopsided elections for governor in the country.

Instead of a nail-biting political contest, this year’s race has produced something else: months of grievances by union members, gun owners, liberal activists and others unhappy about Mr. Cuomo’s time in office.

Cuomo's shills tell Kaplan the complaints will all go away after he's re-elected:

At the same time, interviews with Democratic officeholders, labor leaders and political operatives suggest Mr. Cuomo’s unhappy days may be just that — a period of disquietude that will ultimately be overshadowed by a landslide victory in November.

“Would you rather not go through it? Of course you wouldn’t,” said Keith L. T. Wright, a state assemblyman from Harlem and the chairman of the Democratic Party in Manhattan. “But it’s a cost of doing business.”

Mr. Wright predicted Mr. Cuomo would emerge unscathed from his two electoral challenges. “It’s almost like a mosquito buzzing in your ear,” he said. “The question is, do you get the can of Raid or Off! and spray him? Or do you get the rolled-up piece of newspaper and smack him away? I think it’s a nuisance, because I don’t think either candidate is really up to his level.”

Nearly unstated in the article?

The Moreland investigation that US Attorney Preet Bharara is conducting.

What happens to Cuomo if he's re-elected but one or more members of his administration are indicted?

What happens if Cuomo himself is indicted. as has just happened to Rick Perry in Texas?

The Cuomo people want you to think his re-election is a done deal and once he's safely back in office for four years, he's going to settle all family business, helping the people and groups who helped him and damaging the ones who didn't.

That would be business as usual for Cuomo, but I'm not sure that's where things go.

Cuomo has been severely weakened by Moreland, the best he can hope for out of Bharara's investigation is a report that publicly criticizes him for horse trading away the commission for an on-time budget and there's an outside chance he's going to have deal with criminal cases against either himself or members of his administration.

I don't know why we're getting all these election horse race stories that deal with his re-election as a foregone conclusion but fail to mention the effect the Moreland mess will have on that.

Thomas Kaplan was one of the writers of the July Times story on Moreland that made the summer a very difficult time for Governor Cuomo.

Kaplan is very aware of the possibilities regarding Moreland, yet none of that showed up in the article.

It may be that neither side is leaking, so nothing's making it into the papers.

But what Bharara does with this Moreland investigation will have a large impact on what happens to Governor Cuomo for the next four years.