Cuomo Still Trying To Link Rent Regulations To His Education Tax Credit

Because an autocrat only knows one way to govern:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Thursday that he was trying to get two contentious legislative issues — rent regulations and a tax credit meant to expand access to private schools — approved by the Assembly and the Senate by linking the fates of both.

In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Cuomo said he was trying to play “a mediation role” in the final days of this year’s legislative session, which is scheduled to end Wednesday.

“Part of my job is to get both parties to agree to a solution, right?” Mr. Cuomo said, explaining that the Senate “badly” wants the education tax credit, and the Assembly “badly wants rent regulations increased.”

“I badly want both,” he said. “The mutual interest is: Well, why don’t you do both? The Senate will do this for the Assembly, and the Assembly does the other.”

“It’s not that I support one or the other — I support both,” the governor added. “It’s just, if there is going to be a compromise reached that meets the needs of both houses, those are the two primary needs at this time.”

So far, the Assembly continues to say no to the linkage:

On Thursday night, the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, rejected Mr. Cuomo’s argument that the two issues be tied together. Referring to the rent laws, he said, “Millions of hard-working people and their families depend on these laws, and we just feel in this case rent should stand on its own merit.”

And so it goes - at least until the next shoe drops in the ongoing Albany corruption case.

More later.