NEW YORK, N.Y. - The New York Post reports U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is investigating the bidding process for multi-million dollar contracts connected to the Buffalo Billion revitalization plan.
The report, which was published Friday, states that a source familiar with the investigation says Bharara's office has subpoenaed several firms in recent weeks.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the 10-year Buffalo Billion program back in 2012.
2 On Your Side's partners at Investigative Post have reported on the lack of transparency when it comes to the Buffalo Billion in the past.
Record requests under the state's Freedom of Information Law were ignored until 2 On Your side and Investigative Post filed a lawsuit.
The documents relate to the selection of LPCiminelli to develop SolarCity's plant at Riverbend in South Buffalo.
On the original request for proposal seeking developers for the job, the specs were written in a way that appeared to favor LPCiminelli. The wording was later revised after competing developers complained.
Two months ago records about the bidding process were finally released. They showed, among other things, that LPCiminelli's proposal was ranked the best among three finalists for the work.
They sure did go to some great lengths to hide how the money got doled out.
More later.
The pattern of "leak, indictment, leak, indictment..." is quite clear. I also think that it will most likely repeat again with these leaks. It will most likely result in an indictment/indictments of people close to Cuomo or on his staff...the actual people that cut deals, hid money, did the quid pro quo thing. In spite of it being in Cuomo's name, the law is such that unless its Cuomo doing the actual deal, and quite clearly, Cuomo himself will not face an indictment. Will it further ding him politically? Sure. But he clearly does not care. Especially on our front, the education stuff, he certainly won't come to reason there as a result of being scared straight!
ReplyDeleteThe only questions, I think, are who on his staff will end of taking the indictment??
Then its done. Preet says "look, I took apart the corruption in NYS government at the highest levels, all the way to the Governor's inner sanctum!" Cuomo says "sometimes people aren't who you think they are, even when they are on your staff." And then he sets to work on a campaign to re-establish himself as the get-something-done governor, and teachers get fist F'd dry again in the next budget cycle.
So it goes.
Smith got seven years in prison.
DeleteBoyland got fourteen.
If Preet gets people close to Cuomo who cut the deals, there will be enormous pressure on them to cop a plea and sell someone out above them.
Again, Smith got seven years.
Boyland fourteen.
They're doling out some serious sentences in these matters.
At the very least, the leak about the Buffalo Billion today puts Cuomo back on the defensive.
They were already on the defensive this week over the Politico NY story about the gender wage gap in the administration.
They were reported to be VERY angry over that story.
Will be interesting to see how they react to this one.
It's a big story.
And I'm not surprised it came after reports that Cuomo had his "mojo" back.
Preet has a way of sticking it to Cuomo with leaks that undercut him - happened after the state of the state and the budget deal.
Could it be that preet is blackmailing andrew? Who could he be serving? What does cuomo have to do or not do? Is this meant to influence commcore decision making?
DeleteThis has nothing to do with Common Core or education policy.
DeleteThe only connection to K-12 education is that a contractor who did work on the $1 billion+ Buffalo Schools Construction Project has received a subpoena related to work in that project.
This is the same contractor who was subpoenaed in the Buffalo Billion project investigation.
This was reported by the Buffalo News.
The latest round-up of news is here:
http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2015/09/update-on-cuomo-buffalo-billion.html
I see the timing and wonder about the political forces behind Preet's crusade. I don't trust either of them.
DeleteThere's nothing to the timing other than every few months we get leaks that lead to criminal charges and indictments. This has nothing to do with Common Core, Common Core reviews, ed policy, etc.
DeleteIt must be related because this stuff forms a whole...it is not like there are distinct compartments for education and judicial activity. Taking what we know about Bhara's lax treatment of financial criminals, and combining it with his remarkable zeal in persecuting state officials we might see a connection to the privatization movement if we choose to think comprehensively.
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