ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — They were Albany's most powerful men: the governor, the Senate leader and the Assembly speaker. Together, they negotiated billion-dollar budgets and decided which bills passed and which ones didn't.
Now two face federal corruption charges, and the third — Gov. Andrew Cuomo — appears eager to focus on other issues even as he faces questions about his ties to a major real estate firm at the center of the newest scandal to rock the state Capitol....In the political language of Albany, the governor, the speaker and the Senate leader are known collectively as the "three men in a room," a nod to the longstanding practice of negotiating the budget and other key pieces of legislation behind closed doors. Silver's arrest came the day after Cuomo referred to Skelos, Silver and himself as the "three amigos" during his budget presentation, which contained a depiction of the three men wearing sombreros.Millions of dollars in contributions by New York City real estate interests, mainly funneled through LLCs, have been cited in the cases against Silver and Skelos, who received large contributions from Glenwood Management, a New York City real estate firm headed by Leonard Litwin, Cuomo's top donor.Glenwood has been identified as the New York City company that gave large campaign donations to Skelos using LLCs, allegedly in return for helping continue tax breaks now worth about $1 billion annually to the city's residential developers. Those tax breaks, along with New York City's rent regulations, are up for renewal this year. The complaint against Skelos alleges that he used his influence to pressure a Glenwood executive to arrange payments for his son.Cuomo received $1 million from limited liability companies tied to Glenwood. Cuomo said recently that he never discussed rent laws with the company. Administration records show he met with Glenwood executives three times to discuss rent regulations in 2011, the last year they were up for renewal.Cuomo's spokesman said later that the governor simply forgot the meetings."I don't believe anyone said Glenwood has done anything wrong," Cuomo said about his connections to the company.The developer's generous contributions were scrutinized by the anti-corruption commission appointed by Cuomo in 2013 and disbanded a year later. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of Manhattan, who is prosecuting Skelos and Silver, took them over.Glenwood did not return a message seeking comment.
Perhaps one of Cuomo's attack monkeys can nail the AP for running a "dopey thinkpiece"?
Cuomo is an extremely corrupt politician. There is a large body of evidence to support his indictment. That our legal system is not filing a criminal complaint against Cuomo indicates how corrupt our legal system is right now. We are living in dark times.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was purchased by no New York media outlet. And it appeared nowhere else but the AP website.The New York Times, Newsday, the daily news, the New York Post, all purchase Associated Press stories all the time.yet somehow this with the governor is not reported by an major outlet at all. Reading these outlets would make one think that nothing at all is happening with the governor. Honestly, who reads the Tribune papers (who's editors, by the way, only publish crap against Cuomo on a Friday night -with the trash). Honestly, who reads the AP? It is not a company so as much as it is a cooperative for press sourcing (better to think of them as craigslist for the fourth estate than any type of actual media company. You'd see it more accurately that way) does not need to be scared of Cuomo or the people who fund Cuomo.
ReplyDeletethere is no muck that can be raked, until a majority of New Yorkers are aware of his bad dealings. The bottom line is, in politics, when a tree falls in the middle of the woods and no one hears it, it really makes no sound at all. So unless the metro papers decide to print it -multiple times- this story and those like it simply do not matter. The bottom line is no one, besides us here cares if AP publishes story if it only appears in the APs limited outlet.
Pardon. *Whose not who's. Voice typing
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