Preetmas Eve

Various outlets on the Cuomo corruption story today - first the NY Times:

Federal corruption charges were announced on Thursday against two former close aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a senior state official and six other people, in a devastating blow to the governor’s innermost circle and a repudiation of how his prized upstate economic development programs were managed.

The charges against the former aides, Joseph Percoco and Todd R. Howe, and the state official, Alain Kaloyeros, were the culmination of a long-running federal investigation into the Cuomo administration’s attempts to lure jobs and businesses to upstate New York’s limping economy by furnishing billions of dollars in state funds to developers from Buffalo to Albany. Mr. Howe is cooperating with the investigation, according to a 79-page criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday.

The charges stemmed from “two overlapping criminal schemes involving bribery, corruption and fraud in the award of hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts and other official state benefits,” federal prosecutors said in the complaint.

Politico NY:

ALBANY— Alain Kaloyeros, the now former CEO of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, has been charged with three felony counts in connection to an alleged bid-rigging scheme, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday.

The complaint against Kaloyeros, 60, alleges he steered, or agreed to steer, the awarding of contracts to favorable companies, including Columbia Development, a real estate firm with extensive ties to the Capital Region.

The complaint alleges Kaloyeros improperly used the Request for Proposal process to direct contracts to certain firms for the construction of facilities for SUNY Poly. 

“A year-long investigation by my office found that Alain Kaloyeros allegedly used his perch atop SUNY Polytechnic [and] engaged in brazen bid-rigging, using taxpayer dollars and abusing his power to enrich himself and his cronies,” Schneiderman said at a press conference in Manhattan. “According to our criminal complaint, Kaloyeros gave insider information to friends and fixed the bidding process to ensure his cronies lucrative contracts, funded in part by the state of New York.

Kaloyeros, who is expected to be arraigned in Albany City Court on Friday, has been charged with three felony counts of Combination in Restraint of Trade and Competition. Joseph Nicolla, the head of Columbia Development, has been charged with one felony count of of Combination in Restraint of Trade and Competition and is expected to be arraigned on Monday.

Is Cuomo himself implicated in any of this?

Bharara was asked if Cuomo himself has any involvement in the case by a reporter who noted that he had once issued a statement absolving the governor of wrongdoing in connection with the early demise of the corruption-busting Moreland Commission. His reply:

“What I can say at this moment is that there are no allegations of any wrongdoing or misconduct by the governor anywhere in this complaint. That’s all I’m going to say.”

When pressed on whether it’s “realistic” to believe that the governor, who has a reputation of being something of a micromanager, did not know what his top aide was up to, Bharara said simply: “It’s not my job to comment on what is realistic or unrealistic.”

Bharara also said that this investigation, “as a general matter,” remains open.

Politically there's going to be some serious fallout for Cuomo and he's never going to want Sandra Lee to make "ziti" every again, but he appears to be skating on criminal charges, at least for now.

Whether that changes as a result of any of the fellows charged today dishing dirt on him, we'll just have to wait and see.

In any case Happy Preetmas Eve everybody.

Next up in the NY Corruption Season - Bill de Blasio and those donors.

Cuomo Closely Tied To Politico Indicted For Bribery/Extortion

Fred Dicker reported Governor Cuomo's close ties to indicted Western New York power broker Steven Pigeon in yesterday's New York Post, noting that Pigeon was so tied to Cuomo last election cycle that the governor had him attending both election strategy and policy meetings:

Cuomo was so close to Pigeon — charged last week with nine felonies in connection with the alleged bribing of a state Supreme Court justice — that he gave him a key role in his 2014 re-election campaign despite objections from more important political aides like Joseph Percoco and Larry Schwartz, who considered him “untrustworthy and a little sleazy,’’ a source close to the campaign told The Post.

Cuomo directed Percoco, the focus of an ongoing probe by corruption-fighting US Attorney Preet Bharara, and Schwartz, Cuomo’s former chief of staff, and a handful of other trusted aides to allow Pigeon to attend key strategy meetings at the campaign headquarters from which virtually all other political operatives were excluded, said the campaign source.

“They objected, but the governor forced Pigeon on them,’’ according to the source. “At first Pigeon started to just show up at campaign strategy meetings, even though no one knew who had invited him to come.

“But it turned out that it was the governor who invited him to be there because the governor had come to believe that Pigeon was some kind of a political genius,’’ said the source.

Cuomo sought re-election obsessed with racking up a big vote in Buffalo and Erie County, Pigeon’s bailiwick, which he had lost four years earlier to Republican Carl Paladino, the source said.

Pigeon, the longtime Erie County Democratic chairman, “was the guy who Andrew was taking counsel from as to how to win in Buffalo this time around, but he was also taking his counsel on broader statewide issues,’’ the source said.

A second source said Cuomo was so close to Pigeon that in 2010, Gov. David Paterson refused to allow then-Attorney General Cuomo to name a special prosecutor to investigate election-related corruption charges being made against Pigeon — because he felt Cuomo “couldn’t be trusted to authorize a fair probe.’’

“Everyone knew at that time how close Cuomo was to Pigeon,’’ said the source.

Dicker writes that Cuomo was partly behind the 2009 Senate coup by turncoat Dems that Pigeon helped engineer, with Cuomo and Pigeon in close communication as the coup unfolded and control of the state Senate went to Republicans after turncoat Dems like Pedro Espada and Hiram Montserrate threw their lots in with Republicans (both men ended up in prison for corruption charges unrelated to the state Senate coup.)

Just as Cuomo has tried to distance himself from his former aide and lobbyist pal, Todd Howe (now squarely in the sights of federal prosecutors for corruption), Cuomo wants to distance himself from the now-indicted Steve Pigeon and make believe like he barely knows him.

But the record, when fully examined, shows Cuomo was as close as could be with both Pigeon and Howe (see here how Howe kept showing up at Cuomo functions and/or raising money for the governor simultaneous to the time Cuomo claims not to know what Howe was doing.)

Same goes for Pigeon - see the Buffalo News piece on Pigeon from 2013 as well as yesterday's Dicker piece.

You can bet if investigators look real close at the Cuomo relationships with his corrupt associates - Pigeon, Howe, former aide Joe Percoco, SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros - they will find some interesting things, some of which may turn out to be criminal.

Whether they go that far, well, that's hard to say.

But Preet Bharara has warned executive branches in the state that malfeasance in the executive will be rooted out.

So Cuomo shouldn't get to comfortable thinking all he's got to do to keep himself from scrutiny is just keep repeated "I don't know these people, I don't know these people..."

Bharara Warns Cuomo And De Blasio He's Coming For Them

Preet Bharara was on ABC this morning with a warning for both Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio:

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara publicly put Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo on notice Sunday that he’s actively searching for evidence of corruption in their branches of government.

“We have found that corruption is rife in a lot of institutions in New York and throughout New York,” Bharara said during a national TV interview.

“That’s true in the legislature. It’s also the case that there’s corruption, we believe, in the executive branches as well. And we’ll ferret it out wherever we find it.”

Bharara’s stinging comments on ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” come amid probes by his office into fund-raising efforts by Mayor de Blasio and suspected bid-rigging in state-funded development projects.

They also followed an interview last month in which Bharara bristled at the suggestion that Cuomo had been cleared of wrongdoing when Bharara declined to charge him for unexpectedly shutting down the anti-corruption Moreland Commission in 2014.

“Nobody gave a clean bill of health to anybody. A non-indictment is not an endorsement of anyone’s conduct,” Bharara told the New Yorker in what the magazine described as “an uncharacteristically icy tone.”

Cuomo's administration is the subject of a massive federal investigation into his economic development projects all over the state.

Cuomo's top former aide, Joe Percoco, is one focus of that investigation.

A second is another former Cuomo aide and close associate, Todd Howe.

A third is SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros, Cuomo's man in charge of the economic development projects.

As the Post piece notes, de Blasio is the subject of a few investigations too.

The election is coming in November, so if anything is going to come of these investigations, it will come before then.

It's not a mistake that Bharara was on ABC News this morning to talk about corruption in the executive branches in this state.

That's a little head nod that something's coming soon.

We know that one of de Blasio's fund raisers is cooperating with the feds, so my guess is, the de Blasio investigations will get movement first.

But there's a lot going on with the Cuomo investigations too.

There's no certainty that Cuomo's going to go down, but given the subpoenas that went out across the state as part of the investigation into his economic development programs, you can pretty much bet some of those associates of his are going down.

And there's an outside chance that after some squeezing, some of those associates will have tales to trade to prosecutors for lighter sentences.

One way or another, it's beginning to sound a lot like Preetmas.

Cuomo's Worried About The Corruption Probes

That's the takeaway I get from the two pieces out in the Wall Street Journal and the NY Times this morning about Joe Percoco and the Cuomo administration.

They're appearing simultaneously and have a very Cuomoesque slant to the corruption investigation (i.e., this is all the fault of former aides Todd Howe and Joe Percoco.)

They appear to have come directly from the Cuomo administration itself.

In addition, Fred Dicker has a piece out today saying the Scheiderman raid of SUNY Polytechnic was encouraged by the governor in order to throw SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros under the bus:

Cuomo’s reaction to Bharara’s probe — which focuses in part on two of his closest friends and longtime associates, former aide Joe Percoco and lobbyist Todd Howe — was to push Kaloyeros aside and hire a special outside investigator, Bart Schwartz, to oversee the development projects going forward.

...

Bharara has been focusing his attention on Percoco and Howe — who were paid by major companies doing state business — and large state-hired construction firms that contributed to Cuomo’s re-election.

Schneiderman is focused more narrowly on possible bid-rigging and a violation of a state antitrust laws in relation to a SUNY Polytechnic dorm-construction project.

Schneiderman’s raid — to which some journalists were given notice even before investigators seized materials from an office once used by Howe — was described by a source close to SUNY as having been “clearly conducted with Cuomo’s encouragement’’ in an attempt to shift blame away from the governor to Kaloyeros.

“Cuomo and his people are trying to save their asses at the expense of everyone else,’’ the source said.

Kaloyeros did not return calls seeking comment. Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi insisted the sources “clearly don’t know what they’re talking about’’ and denied that the governor was involved in trying to undermine Kaloyeros.

Dicker also says Schwartz is slowing down work in the Buffalo Billion Project "to a crawl" in order to scrutinize everything.

The Cuomo admin responded with this doozy:

So this is going well. Cuomo spox now reduced to "sources don't know what they're talking about."#BuffaloBillion https://t.co/xtLyBRF6kp

— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) June 14, 2016

Put it all together and what you have here is Cuomo going on the PR offensive in the Times and WSJ against Percoco and more evidence that Cuomo, despite talking more cautiously in public about Kaloyeros than he has about Percoco and Howe, looking to throw Dr. Nano under the bus as well.

This says he's very worried about what's going to come out of the Bharara probe and is going on the offensive once again to try and distance himself as much as possible from Percoco, Howe, and Kaloyeros.

Good luck with that, Andy.

The pattern - donors donate to you, get contracts/grants/subsidies/favors in return - remains.

It's Pay-To-Play All The Way With Andrew Cuomo

Jon Campbell takes an extensive look at Governor Cuomo's economic development programs and finds the following:

Two of New York’s most-powerful landlords are little-known nonprofits with deep pockets, well-connected boards of directors, ties to Rochester contractors and a growing portfolio worth billions that has attracted attention from federal prosecutors.

Meet the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. and Fuller Road Management Corp., owners of an increasing number of the facilities at the center of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s push to revitalize upstate New York’s long-lagging economy.

The two nonprofits act as the real-estate arm of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, the Albany- and Utica-based college whose clout has spread as Cuomo entrusted founding president Alain Kaloyeros with overseeing the Buffalo Billion development program, a $600 million photonics institute in Rochester and facilities in Greece, Canandaigua, Utica and Syracuse.

The nonprofits have awarded lucrative contracts to big-money donors to Cuomo’s political campaign, including two Rochester-based contractors. Board members at various points have seen their companies or clients receive leases and deals, a review by Gannett’s Albany Bureau shows.

For years, Fort Schuyler and Fuller Road have operated with little scrutiny — largely faceless, quasi-public organizations existing as a mechanism to comply with IRS rules when transferring billions in state funds to facilities that house private companies.

That has changed: U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman are separately investigating contracts awarded by the two entities, with Cuomo’s administration acknowledging the federal investigation is examining possible “improper bidding.”

Here's the way this worked:

Contractors submitted bids (often rigged by the state so that only one local contractor could win), then submitted contributions to Cuomo, then won the contracts - whee!!!!

How often did this happen?

A lot - take the Rochester contracts, for example:

As their portfolio grew, Fort Schuyler and Fuller Road have doled out construction contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. Often, those contracts went to Cuomo campaign donors, records show.

In Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and Plattsburgh, Fort Schuyler put out separate requests for proposals for a “qualified local developer” to develop a “strategic partnership” with.

The requests for proposals were detailed and extensive, requiring a locally based contractor with at least 15 years experience and the ability to build high-tech infrastructure such as clean rooms and smart classrooms.

Fort Schuyler’s contract in Rochester went to LeChase Construction and The Pike Co. in 2014, meeting minutes show.
...

On Sept. 24, 2014, eight days after Fort Schuyler’s board was informed of the Rochester bids, LeChase CEO Wayne LeChase contributed $25,000 to Cuomo’s re-election campaign, state records show. The same day, Pike President Rufus Judson contributed $10,000.

Five days later, Wayne LeChase contributed another $11,181.

And the Buffalo contracts:

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is probing the process by which three developers who are Gov. Cuomo donors came to get the bulk of a billion dollars in state contracts to develop major projects in Buffalo. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, the president of which, Alain Kaloyeros, oversees the Buffalo Billion program. The program is supposed to generate thousands of upstate jobs through the tech, clean-energy, and pharmaceutical facilities the Cuomo cronies were tapped to build with $855 million in taxpayer money.

Pressed earlier this summer by a reporter for Buffalo's Investigative Post who was seeking details of the bidding process and faced illegal stonewalling across multiple state agencies and state-run nonprofits, Kaloyeros said, "We are not political operatives nor do we respond to perceived threats and terrorism." That "terrorism" apparently consisted of repeated phone calls, emails, and Freedom of Information Law requests.

Still, little is known about the selection process. What is clear, according to the Investigative Post, is that developer McGuire Development scored the $55 million contract to renovate skyscrapers in Buffalo to accommodate IBM, then three months later, donated $25,000 to Cuomo's campaign. The firm LP Ciminelli scored a heftier $750 million contract to build a solar-panel factory. Its president, Louis Ciminelli, is one of Cuomo's biggest donors in the region, having contributed $96,500 to the governor's two campaigns. Until competitors balked, the request for bids was written with the requirement that bidders have 50 years experience working in Buffalo, which only LP Ciminelli did. That company and Ciminelli Real Estate, run by Louis Ciminelli's brother, won the $50 million contract to build drug research space at a Buffalo medical campus. Paul Ciminelli's $10,500 to Cuomo and $5,000 to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul cannot have hurt.

And the Syracuse contracts:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- COR Development, the politically connected company developing the state's nanotechnology hub in DeWitt and Syracuse's Inner Harbor, gave Gov. Andrew Cuomo $50,000 in the past six months, making them Cuomo's top donor in Central New York.

Cuomo has $16 million in his campaign account, according to a campaign finance report he filed Friday.

Cuomo received $25,000 last week, on Jan. 12, from a COR Development subsidiary, Clay South Development Co., and four COR executives, including President Steven Aiello, Executive Vice Presidents Joe Girardi and Paul Joynt, and Julie Aiello, the wife of Executive Vice President Jeffrey Aiello.

That came on top of $25,000 that COR Route 31 Co. LLC gave to Cuomo on Aug. 24.
COR has been the governor's biggest contributor from the Syracuse region since Cuomo was elected governor in 2010, giving him more than $300,000.

The company has received contracts from the state for numerous projects under Cuomo. COR built a $15 million film hub for New York state in 2015 on land it owns in DeWitt. Cuomo announced COR would also build a $90 million facility for Soraa, an LED lighting manufacturer at the same nanotechnology hub.

And the timing of the donations?

Often coordinated:

COR Development, its subsidiaries, four partners and their wives are among the largest Cuomo donors in Central New York. They have given a combined $337,500 to Cuomo's election campaigns between October 2010 and January 2016.

Partners and family members write checks to the governor's campaign for as much as $25,000, sometimes on the same day, records show. A statewide candidate can accept up to $44,000 per individual for the four-year election cycle. An individual donor is limited to $150,000 in combined contributions to all candidates in a calendar year, according to the NYS Board of Elections.

A clear pattern - RFP's rigged so that only one or two contractors can win them, proposals submitted by the contractors, donations sent to Cuomo concurrent to the proposals, contracts doled out to the donors.

Now whether Bharara is able to tie Cuomo to this, make a criminal case out of it and take him out in handcuffs is another matter.

But the pattern throughout is quite clear - it's pay-to-play all the way with Andrew Cuomo.

Iphone Of Cuomo Crony Kaloyeros Scrutinized

Just in case you think SUNY Polytechnic head Alain Kaloyeros, the man Andrew Cuomo tasked with so many economic development projects across upstate, isn't in trouble with the law, there's this news:

ALBANY — Investigators from Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office are examining an iPhone belonging to Alain Kaloyeros, the president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, according to people familiar with an ongoing investigation of the school’s contracting practices.

The phone is coming to Schneiderman after state investigators searched an office at SUNY Poly’s Albany campus that was used by Todd Howe and other employees of Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, the law firm that had employed him.

The surprise search occurred on May 26, and investigators downloaded files from a computer and listened to Howe’s voicemail. Kaloyeros’ phone was surrendered subsequently, the people said.

An official told POLITICO New York that Howe was the “de facto chief of staff” to Kaloyeros. David Doyle, a spokesman for SUNY Poly, previously said that Howe “provides services in assisting in establishing contacts and partnerships in the private sector and between the private and public sector.”

...

 

Schneiderman’s investigation is centered on a dormitory that SUNY Poly was planning to build adjacent to its flagship campus in western Albany. The developer, Columbia Development, began purchasing land several months before the school formally asked for construction proposals. Columbia has said it did “nothing improper.”

Cuomo has said he stands by Kaloyeros and SUNY Poly’s efforts, which have been the cornerstone of the governor’s efforts to revitalize the upstate economy.

Only a matter of time for Howe, Kaloyeros and Percoco.

Federal Probe Into Cuomo Administration Casts Wide Net

Yancey Roy in Newsday:

ALBANY — The federal probe of New York development initiatives is broader than the Buffalo Billion projects, the highest-profile piece of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s upstate economic strategy.

Investigators have subpoenaed the governor’s office for records of communications with about 20 companies, a source confirmed, that were involved in projects in Buffalo as well as in Syracuse, Albany and the Hudson Valley. They’ve sought communications from high-ranking Cuomo officials, including Bill Mulrow, the governor’s secretary and top adviser; Jim Malatras, the director of state operations; and Gil Quinones, head of the New York Power Authority, the source said.

Beyond the governor’s office, investigators have subpoenaed agencies that regulate solar power and implement solar initiatives, the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, which has been the guiding force in a number of state-backed high-tech ventures, and Empire State Development Corp., the state’s economic-development arm.

The named companies have been engaged in ventures ranging from a major solar-panel factory in Buffalo to a film hub in Syracuse to a dormitory in Albany to a power plant in Orange County. They also touch on a proposed “inland port” and redeveloping an old NYNEX building in Syracuse and loft apartments in Albany.

The companies, according to a source and to companies that have acknowledged separate subpoenas, include: six full-service development and real estate companies, three real estate firms, three engineering/architecture firms, two manufacturers, two lobbying firms, a power-plant company, a construction firm and a cellphone tower/communications company.

And the companies:

Federal investigators, probing state-backed economic initiatives, are seeking information regarding companies and New York State agencies, according to a source and some of the entities themselves, include those listed below.

• LPCiminelli, a Buffalo-based developer
• SolarCity, a solar panel company
• Carnegie Management, a NYC-based real-estate company
• Center Armory Associates, a Syracuse real-estate and development company
• CHA, an Albany-area engineering firm
• Columbia Development, an Albany-area developer
• Competitive Power Ventures, a Maryland-based power-plant company
• Conifer Realty, a Rochester real-estate and development company
• COR Development, a Syracuse developer
• Hueber-Breuer Construction, a Syracuse construction company
• Norstar Development USA, a Buffalo developer that also managed another company, Swan Street Lofts LP, named in a subpoena
• Pemco Group, a Syracuse real-estate company
• Potomac Strategies, a Maryland lobby and strategy firm
• Pyramid Netword Services, a Syracuse telecommunications systems company
• STV Group, a NYC engineering and architectural firm
• Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna/W.O.H. Solutions, a Albany law firm and lobbying subsidiary
• 3Gi Terminals, a company formed to develop Syracuse’s harbor
• Empire State Development Corp.
• New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
• NYS Department of Public Service (energy and utility regulator)
• State University of New York Polytechnic Institute

Cuomo has said repeatedly that the investigation is only focused on two of his former aides, Joe Percoco and Todd Howe, but given the multiple reports we have that the investigation is looking far and wide into Cuomo's economic development programs (see here and here, for another example), that Cuomo assertion is absurd.

In addition, there's a reported pattern of bid rigging in state contracts, with proposals written in such a way that only a specific contractor - always a Cuomo donor - can win them.

Subpoenas have gone out to the entities and individuals involved in those contractual relationships, and while it's possible that it was only Percoco and Howe pulling these shenanigans, given the number of subpoenas that have gone out, that seems unlikely.

A source close to the investigation told Fred Dicker that the public will hear something about all of this in July or August.

For now, Cuomo's got the public thinking he's an ethical prince, but given the scope and breadth of this investigation, it's very likely that when arrests come - and they will - Cuomo's going to have some very bad news cycles.

SUNY Office Raided, Net Closes In On Cuomo Cronies

State law ebforcement agents at SUNY polytechnic today, after serving search warrants on Todd Howe's office. pic.twitter.com/Od8qoGwhoR

— Jesse McKinley (@jessemckinley) May 26, 2016

From the NY Times:

ALBANY — Agents from the state attorney general’s office conducted a search at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute here on Thursday, scouring an office once used by a lobbyist as part of an inquiry into possible bid rigging.

Agents arrived with search warrants and looked through an office used by Todd R. Howe, who has past ties to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat. Mr. Howe had worked as the president of the lobbying arm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, a prominent Albany law firm which had SUNY Polytechnic as a client. Agents also served a warrant to examine communications from Alain E. Kaloyeros, the school’s president.

Mr. Howe and Mr. Kaloyeros have recently emerged as central players in a multipronged federal investigation led by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, surrounding the Buffalo Billion, the governor’s signature upstate economic initiative. Mr. Howe was fired from Whiteman after news of the federal investigation broke last month.

The search — conducted by several agents, who looked into electronic files and removed at least two boxes of material — focused in part on a plan to build a dormitory near the university’s sleek campus. But according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, agents were also looking into other projects connected with SUNY Polytechnic, as well as several developers who had worked with the school.

They're looking at bid-rigging - that the proposal for a dormitory project was written up in such a way that only a Cuomo donor (Columbia Development, $195,000 to Cuomo since August 2013) could win it.

This would follow what appears to be an emerging pattern of rigging proposals for Cuomo donors, as happened with LP Ciminelli in the Buffalo Billion Project or NAH for a proposed for-profit charter school that got backdated under older rules that still allowed for for-profit charters.

Investigators are also looking at the relationship between Cuomo administration officials and COR Development, which gave the governor $325,000 through various individuals and entities and received $100 million in state contracts.

Something similar is happening with Cuomo's vaunted LaGuardia Airport redo, where Cuomo donors stand to do very well in plans set forth by the Cuomo administration, though there's no indication that investigators are looking at that - yet, at any rate.

Yesterday's raid suggests former Cuomo aide/Cuomo hand model Todd Howe is done for - it's only a matter of time before he's picked up and squeezed by the feds.

And since he acted as a "de facto chief of staff" to SUNY Poly guy Alain Kaloyeros and the feds are looking at Kaloyeros too, well, you'd have to think it's only a matter of time before the highest paid state employee gets picked up too.

Cuomo threw Howe and Kaloyeros under the bus this week, along with former aide/confidante Joe Percoco, saying that the the investigation was really limited to those individuals, but with news that the investigations by the U.S. attorney and the attorney general continue to widen (see here, here and here), that appears not to be the case.

There is still no evidence that this will reach as high as Cuomo, but here's the thing that should give some hope on that.

There's one string that links all of this disparate strands together and it is this: Cuomo donors gave money to Cuomo and got state contracts, grants, subsidies and/or other help in return.

This happened not once or twice but seemingly over and over and over.

Maybe Cuomo's got a firewall between himself and the rest of his cronies pulling these shenanigans, but he'd better hope it's a very strong firewall.

Because the authorities are looking not just at some corrupt individuals in basically a good system - they're looking at some corrupt individuals operating in a just-as-corrupt system.

And no pol has taken advantage of that system more than Cuomo, who had a huge war chest for his last re-election and even now is sitting on $16 million raised from dubious sources.

Federal Probe Appears To Go Right At The Way Cuomo Administration Works

Scott Waldman at Politico NY:

ALBANY — U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s inquiry into the state Department of Public Service has broadened in recent days, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.

A federal subpoena is now seeking all communication, including records of emails and in-person meetings, between senior state energy officials and top Cuomo administration officials, according to the sources. It seeks information on interactions between Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s former senior aide, Joseph Percoco, Department of Public Service chief of staff Tom Congdon, New York Power Authority president and CEO Gil Quiniones and Len Walker, who has worked as a director of special projects at NYPA.

The subpoena also seeks information about the organizational structure of the Department of Public Service from January 2012 to December 2015, sources said. That period includes most of the tenure of DPS head Audrey Zibelman, who was confirmed in June 2013. She is also chairwoman of the Public Service Commission.

Under Zibelman, Cuomo’s executive branch has taken a more direct role in the inner workings of the DPS and the decisions that come before the PSC, insiders say. At the behest of Cuomo, Zibelman is now conducting a series of investigations into energy companies in New York, including the Indian Point nuclear center. She is not named in the subpoena.

Cuomo wants you to think these investigations are only focusing on the malfeasance of two associates of his - he said so again yesterday:

Cuomo said the federal investigation is focusing on whether two people committed wrongdoing, his former deputy secretary Joseph Percoco, and lobbyist Todd Howe.

...

"I come from a tradition, started by my father, of 100 percent integrity in public service," Cuomo said.

"If there's any violation, I will be the first...I literally have put people in jail. No one is stricter than I am," he said.

But given the widening of the subpoena to include "all communication...between senior state energy officials and top Cuomo administration officials," it seems Bharara is looking at more than just malfeasance by Percoco and Howe.

And note that his investigation of DPS is looking at the "organizational structure" from January 2012 to December 2015, a time period when Cuomo subsumed much control of DPS through the hack he installed there, as well as that"decisions that come before the PSC."

That suggests Bharara's investigation has gone well beyond Percoco and Howe and right to the root of the way the Cuomo administration works - including the way Cuomo's executive branch seems to control decisions at entities that are allegedly independent of it.

In other Cuomo corruption news yesterday, Cuomo not only threw his two aides, Percoco and Howe, under the bus (as detailed in the quote above), but also Alain Kaloyeros at SUNY Polytechnic.

Cuomo was making an announcement in Syracuse when he was asked about the $325,000 in donations he took from one of the companies at the center of the U.S. attorney's investigation into his economic development programs:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday he had no input into SUNY Polytechnic Institute awarding $100 million in contracts to his top campaign contributor in Central New York, COR Development.

He said the more than $325,000 in campaign contributions that COR Development, its executives and COR subsidiaries gave to him had no influence in the awarding of contracts to COR.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in April subpoenaed Cuomo's office for records related to contracts given to COR Development as part of the prosecutor's investigation into Cuomo's marquee economic development projects in Upstate New York.

Bharara, the prosecutor who has already won convictions against former Senate leader Dean Skelos and Assembly leader Sheldon Silver, has issued subpoenas for records related to the Buffalo Billion projects, state contracts with COR Development for Central New York projects, and for a controversial energy project in Orange County, among other things.

Cuomo said the federal investigation is focusing on whether two people committed wrongdoing, his former deputy secretary Joseph Percoco, and lobbyist Todd Howe.

"The way it worked...the state didn't do any of the contracts," Cuomo said when asked about the COR contracts and donations. "It's all done through SUNY, the state university system. They are the ones that actually managed the contracting process."

"They are the ones who ran the contracts, ran the competitions, made the selections," he said. "I had absolutely nothing to do with that."

"It was done by SUNY," the governor said.

Shorter Cuomo: Hey, nothing to do with me, look at Alain Kaloyeros, the head of SUNY Polytechnic,

And yet, look at all the money awarded to COR directly through Cuomo:

SUNY Polytechnic Institute is run by Alain Kaloyeros, the highest paid state employee at $1.1 million in 2015. A board of directors that ran a nonprofit subsidiary set up by SUNY Poly requested proposals to build a nanotechnology building in the Syracuse area.

COR Development was the only company to submit a bid. The SUNY Poly subsidiary awarded COR a $15 million contract to build the Central New York Hub for Emerging Nano Industries, commonly called the film hub, in DeWitt.

Cuomo then awarded Central New York a $500 million award as part of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative contest between seven Upstate regions.

From that award, Cuomo directed that $90 million be used to pay for another contract to COR, to build a factory for Soraa, an LED lighting manufacturer, adjacent to the film hub.

Through his annual awards to regional economic development councils, Cuomo has also approved state grants of about $4 million to COR to demolish the former Kennedy Square housing project in Syracuse and about $4 million to COR to redevelop the former Mercy Hospital site in Watertown.

Cuomo is throwing as many of his cronies as he can to the wolves in order to save himself - it's Percoco, it's Howe, it's Kaloyeros!

Doubtful that this kind of "Not me, them!" thing will fool federal investigators looking into all of this.

And with news coming almost weekly that the investigations into Cuomo's economic development programs are widening, it's doubtful too that Bharara is just looking at Percoco, Howe and Kaloyeros for malfeasance.

As the NY Times reported yesterday, the link between all of this is quite simple - Cuomo donors gave money to Cuomo, got contracts, grants, subsidies or state help in return.

That's at the center of all of this, and while Cuomo wants you to believe that if there's any malfeasance in the donors/state contracting relationship, it was conducted by his under-investigation associates, not him, that seems absurd.

If this kind of thing only happened once, twice, even three times - you might say, "Oh, OK, sure."

But it's pretty clear that this kind of thing happened again and again and again, with Cuomo donors giving money to Cuomo and getting contracts, grants, subsidies or state help in return.

At some point, the feds are going to say, "How is it this happened again and again and again and Cuomo didn't know?

Cuomo Continues To Defend Buffalo Billion Project Despite Federal Investigation

Andrew Cuomo says the Buffalo Billion Project, currently under investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara,, is still the swellest thing ever:

It's a fine line for the governor to walk. While he has sought to distance himself from certain people being probed in connection with the "Buffalo Billion" economic development program, he also continues to defend it because it's a centerpiece of his upstate agenda.


Cuomo spoke to reporters in Rochester.

"Also remember, it is a vitally important program," the governor said. "It's doing great work in upstate New York. Buffalo has turned around dramatically. Job growth is way way up. Dr. Alain Kaloyeros' work has been extraordinary."


Kaloyeros helped develop the nanotechnology industry in upstate New York. He is currently under investigation, along with former lobbyist Todd Howe and former longtime Cuomo aide Joe Percoco, for possible bid rigging and inappropriate lobbying. No one has been charged.


But recognizing there are questions about their conduct, the governor has ordered his own internal investigation.


"These are questions at this point," Cuomo said. "I am the former attorney general. I got a lot of "tips," quote unquote, and I did a lot of investigations. Frankly, most investigations turned out to be nothing."

Oh, so few lines from the governor, yet so much here to contemplate.

Job growth is way up in Buffalo as a result of the Buffalo Billion Project?

Where, exactly?

Dr. Alain Kaloyeros' work has been extraordinary?

Surely it has, if by extraordinary he means extraordinarily secretive and non-transparent.

As for Cuomo's saying he got lots of tips as attorney general but the investigations never turned into anything, that was one of the big criticisms of Cuomo from back in the day - that he was only interested in investigations that would help him politically and garner big headlines.

In fact, Cuomo's record as attorney general was overall pretty mixed, as the NY Times reported in 2010, so maybe Cuomo ought not to compare the work of a U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the former assembly speaker and former state senate majority leader to his own lackluster days as A.G. when it comes to talking about the investigation into his economic development programs that has widened in the past few weeks and seen subpoenas go all over the state to different individuals and entities involved with the Cuomo administration and/or state business.

Cuomo's defense of his scandal-scarred administration gets weaker and weaker by the day.

Fred LeBrun: Bharara Is Focused On Governor Cuomo's Office

Fred LeBrun in the Times-Union this morning:

A week ago Friday late in the day, Preet Bharara finally dropped the other shoe on Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

A flurry of subpoenas from federal prosecutor Bharara, the first served on the governor's office, left no doubt New York's chief executive and his extensive inner circle are now included in an ever broadening corruption inquiry involving the letting of state contracts and illegal conflicts of interest and lobbying.

...

We already know there's more than smoke here, in terms of improprieties by the governor's people, although the governor's office has been trying desperately to distance itself from both Howe and even Percoco.

There's been a blizzard of damage control to cover a flurry of subpoenas. A leak to a downstate tabloid to try to control the inevitable bad news from the onset broke the news.

A deliberate attempt to blur the focus of the inquiry from primarily the governor's office to include nine-month old inquiries into Buffalo contractors and the SUNY Polytechnic Institute followed.

That's all misdirection. Preet Bharara's focus is on the second floor of the Capitol.

When Cuomo has talked about the problem of corruption in the past, he always talks about it as if it has nothing to do with the executive branch and is only located in the legislature.

The news of the investigations into Cuomo's people - both current (Alain Kaloyeros at SUNY Poly) and former (Todd Howe and Joe Percoco) - exposes what jive that is.

As for the governor himself, well, there is certainly the appearance of corruption in his campaign fundraising, as Chris Bragg and Casey Seiler at the Times-Union reported this morning:

The federal subpoena received by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration in late April seeks information about any actions taken by certain Executive Chamber officials that might have benefited several major developers in New York, according to a person with knowledge of the subpoena.

The companies include Conifer Realty of Rochester, COR Development of the Syracuse area and Norstar Development, a company based in Ontario, Canada, that has significant operations in Buffalo. Several other companies were identified in the subpoena, which was issued by the office of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara.

...

While each of the companies is engaged in a wide range of projects with state and local governments, all three are involved in the development of affordable housing — an industry that has quietly proven to be among the governor's most generous supporters.

Read the piece and you see the pattern - Cuomo gets donations, donors get subsidies, tax benefits and/or contracts.

Steve McLaughlin pointed out this morning that this pattern with Cuomo is not new:

Cuomo's corrupt #Pay2Play tactics are not new. It's all he knows. Want a state contract, tax break or grant? Pay him https://t.co/Cl8ZoTY3Io

— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) May 8, 2016

Some people think that Bharara will never get as far as Cuomo, that Cuomo is too smart to get caught in all of this, even as his minions like Kaloyeros, Percoco and Howe appear to be going down (and maybe Steven Pigeon in Buffalo too), but Fred LeBrun writes that is still to be determined:

After two terms of watching how this governor works, in the shadows, with as little accountability as he can get away with, it is small wonder the culture he's created hasn't caught up with him earlier.

And, it's hard to imagine a notorious micromanager like Andrew Cuomo being caught totally blind by the doings of his brother Joseph, and very old friend Todd. That just doesn't pass the sniff test. Again, to be determined though.

And just in case you aren't convinced that Preet Bharara has expanded his probes beyond the legislature, well, there was this warning from the U.S. attorney a few weeks back:

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara issued an executive warning Tuesday, making clear that his push to clean up corruption isn’t limited to the state Legislature.

“We will keep looking hard at corruption in our legislative branch, as we have been,” Bharara said during a keynote speech at Common Cause New York’s annual gala at the University Club in Midtown. “But not just there: in the executive branch, too, both in city and in state government.

“Executive offices in government are far from immune from the creeping show-me-the-money culture that has been pervading New York for some time now.”

Given how many stories there are of Cuomo donors getting contracts, grants, tax breaks, subsidies or even vetoes around the same time they're giving money to the governor, at the very least the appearance of a show-me-the-money culture pervades Cuomo's administration.

Whether Bharara can connect any of this to Cuomo, as LeBrun writes, that's to be determined.

But make no mistake - that's exactly what Bharara is trying to do.

He said as much back in April.

Investigative Post Finds More Double Dealing In Cuomo's Buffalo Billion Project

I'm posting three, four, five times a day and I'm STILL not able to keep up with all the Cuomo corruption news.

Here's another item, courtesy of Investigative Post (which broke the Buffalo Billion story initially and may have interested the US attorney in investigating it):

Questionable dealings by officials managing the Buffalo Billion didn’t begin or end with the selection of a politically wired developer to oversee the construction of the SolarCity plant in South Buffalo.

In fact, before LPCiminelli started developing the SolarCity facility, the state-affiliated development corporation managing the Buffalo Billion awarded a $20.3 million contract to design the plant to an architecture firm whose president, Thomas Birdsey, sat on the board of a closely related entity.

Both development corporations were controlled by Alain Kaloyeros, the so-called nanotech guru and Gov. Cuomo’s point person on upstate economic development projects.

It wasn’t the first time EYP Architecture & Engineering had been chosen by the development corporations to work on major projects. Since 2013, the firm has been awarded work on at least five projects across upstate, both during and after its president’s stint on one of the development corporation’s boards.

“For any non-profit, it’s a huge red flag for self-dealing and corruption to have board members doing significant business of any kind whatsoever,” said John Kaehny, executive director of good government group Reinvent Albany.

Meanwhile, the law firm of Whiteman Osterman Hanna has been collecting fees from both the state-affiliated development corporations and the companies they were doing business with.

In the case of the Buffalo Billion, the firm has represented both LPCiminelli, as lobbyist, and the Fort Schuyler Management Corp., which has overall responsibility for the SolarCity project, as attorney.

The law firm’s government relations subsidiary is headed by Todd Howe, a longtime Cuomo associate currently under scrutiny from U.S Attorney Preet Bharara as part of a wide-ranging investigation.

The takeaway from all this?

“There’s all sorts of overlapping ties and roles in the SUNY Poly empire. Everywhere you turn it seems you bump into the same set of consultants and companies,” said E. J. McMahon, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy.

Go on over to Investigative Post and read the whole piece by Charlotte Keith.

It's more evidence that the further investigators and journalists dig into Cuomo, his donors, his minions, his contracts and his projects, the more interlinking stuff they find - all of it dubious at best.

SUNY Poly Scrubbed Dorm Project After Subpoenas

Gee, this doesn't have the appearance of a problem:

ALBANY – Officials say SUNY Polytechnic and its leader, Alain Kaloyeros, one of the point people for the Buffalo Billion program, is under investigation by the state attorney general over a contract awarded for a new dormitory building at the public college he runs in Albany.

A person familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is looking at possible bid-rigging violations after just one company – Columbia Development – put in a proposal to build the dorm.

The project, which included a signed contract with Columbia, was canceled last fall after SUNY Polytechnic officials said the construction effort was going to be rebid. It appears the scrubbing of the deal came about two months after Schneiderman issued subpoenas to the public college and the developer for information about the contract process.

 Kaloyeros has been a close advisor to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on upstate economic development issues, and Cuomo personally tapped him to handle mega-projects such as the SolarCity plant under construction in South Buffalo. Columbia is a large developer and builder of projects in the Albany area, including a sprawling new building at the SUNY Polytechnic campus on the west side of Albany. Between corporate contributions and those from individuals tied to the company, it has been a reliable donor to Cuomo in recent years.

Hey, you know that project we were going do but we got subpoenas on it?

Let's not do that anymore, okay.

And there's more trouble in CuomoLand:

The source who spoke to The News said the dorm contract award is not the only matter Schneiderman is looking at involving SUNY Polytechnic; the source declined to elaborate. Also, the person said U.S. Attorney General Preet Bharara is aware of Schneiderman’s probe and that the state investigation of the dorm project and Bharara’s expanding Buffalo Billion investigation is “all inter-connected.” In the Buffalo Billion probe that began with an inquiry after the awarding of the RiverBend project that will house a future SolarCity plant, Bharara issued subpoenas to SUNY Polytechnic and Cuomo’s economic development agency, as well as Buffalo firms LPCiminelli and McGuire Development.

Key takeaway from all of this?

"Schneiderman’s probe and the state investigation of the dorm project and Bharara’s expanding Buffalo Billion investigation is 'all inter-connected.'”

At the very least, Cuomo's going to have some serious political fallout to deal with when all the "interconnected" investigations come to a close and some of Cuomo's closest allies and former aides get carted off in handcuffs.

Investigation Into Another Cuomo Ally Broadens

This was reported late yesterday afternoon, but just in case you missed it:

The New York attorney general’s office is investigating possible bid-rigging related to a proposed dormitory at a State University of New York campus in Albany, part of a broader probe of contracting issues involving an ally of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The office of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is examining whether Alain Kaloyeros, the president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute and a powerful force in state economic-development projects, improperly coordinated with real-estate firm Columbia Development, in possible violation of state antitrust laws, the person said.

Subpoenas on the matter were sent in September to SUNY Polytechnic, Columbia Development and Fuller Road Management Corp., a SUNY-affiliated nonprofit responsible for considering the bidding on the dorm project, the person said.

...

The probe comes amid heightened scrutiny of Mr. Cuomo’s upstate redevelopment initiatives, many of which involve SUNY Polytechnic and one of which, the Buffalo Billion project, is under investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office.

EYP Architecture & Engineering, another firm involved in Buffalo Billion, was also subpoenaed by the attorney general’s office in the dorm-bidding probe, the person familiar with the matter said. It wasn’t immediately clear what the firm’s role was in the dorm project.

The fallout for Cuomo?

The investigation is the highest-profile one to date by Mr. Schneiderman into people and projects close to Mr. Cuomo, a fellow Democrat.

And it comes as Mr. Cuomo’s orbit has been shaken by the Buffalo Billion investigation, part of which has become focused on one of the governor’s longtime aides and others close to Mr. Cuomo.

...

Many of the entities and individuals involved in both the state attorney general and U.S. attorney’s investigations have overlapping connections.

There are now multiple tentacles in the investigation into Cuomo administration corruption.

There's the initial Buffalo Billion investigation into bid rigging for Cuomo donors.

There's the Percoco matter wherein Cuomo's former top aide is being investigated for payments from companies with business before the state.

There's another former Cuomo aide, Todd Howe, being investigated similarly.

And there's the Kaloyeros matter, connected to both the Buffalo Billion Project and to the SUNY dorm project.

Count 'em and you've got four separate but interlinking strands of Cuomo corruption investigations.

Nothing yet reaching the governor, but interwoven with all of these scandals is one constant:

Cuomo donors are always involved.

Schneiderman Investigates Cuomo Ally For Rigging Bid For A Cuomo Donor

Another day, another corruption investigation involving a Cuomo ally and/or associate:

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office is investigating potential bid-rigging in the development of a dormitory on the campus of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

SUNY Poly’s CEO Alain Kaloyeros, the state’s highest-paid employee and a major player in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s upstate high-tech development blueprint, is a key focus of the investigation, according to the source.

Subpoenas were issued in September to SUNY Poly as well as its development arm, Fuller Road Management Corp., as well as two Albany-based companies involved in the dorm project, Columbia Development and EYP Architecture & Engineering.

...

The Attorney General’s subpoenas were not the only ones received by SUNY Poly last fall.

The same month, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara’s office subpoenaed records from the school as part of its investigation into the Buffalo Billion program.

At the time, Cuomo said, “You can have investigations but that does not mean there’s any ‘there’ there, or that anyone did anything wrong.”

This SUNY case mirrored the Buffalo Billion case wherein a bid was rigged for a Cuomo donor to win:

A request-for-proposals issued by the school asked that the dorms be located within a 10-minute walk of SUNY Poly’s Fuller Road campus and required that the developer be based in the Capital Region and have experience in dorm construction.

The requirements matched the abilities of Columbia Development, which had been buying land along Loughlin Street adjacent to the SUNY Poly campus. Columbia is also the lead developer of the $190 million ZEN building on the campus, and the company said that it planned to become a tenant in that building.

SUNY Poly later said that Columbia had won the bid and would likely build three dormitories and parking on land that included the Loughlin Street properties.
...
 Columbia and its various entities have given the governor’s campaign at least $200,000 over the past three years. Half of that sum was donated to Cuomo’s political operation on a single day — June 17, 2014 — by two Columbia LLCs that each made $50,000 donations.

The same day, Nicolla’s wife, Jessica Nicolla, made a $50,000 donation to the governor’s campaign that, according to Board of Elections records, was made using her maiden name and an address in Muncie, Ind., her home town.

The same scam was worked in the Buffalo Billion with LP Ciminelli:

 Not content with just building a factory for Solar City, the Cuomo administration appears to have rigged the bid by putting in the RFP (request for proposals) a stipulation that only a company with 50 years in business could bid. Well..... interestingly there is only one company in Buffalo that fit that bill, L.P. Ciminelli. Even more interesting is that Ciminelli is one of Cuomo's top 100 donors. Wow! What a coincidence!

When the information came out about the 50 year requirement the excuse was that it "was a typographical error" and it had been corrected and it should have said 15 years. But, Ciminelli was still awarded the contract.

Take a look at your keyboard. How does someone mistakenly type

50 instead of 15? I believe that excuse like I believe Cuomo supports education or your 2nd amendment rights.

Ciminelli was of course a Cuomo donor:

LPCiminelli, whose chairman and chief executive, Louis P. Ciminelli, is a financial backer of Mr. Cuomo’s, was ultimately selected to construct the SolarCity factory.

Records show that the Ciminelli family was supportive of the governor’s campaign during the period when developers were being sought for Buffalo Billion projects.

On Nov. 19, 2013, Mr. Cuomo traveled to Buffalo for a fund-raiser. Campaign finance records show that Mr. Ciminelli’s wife provided facilities or services to the Cuomo campaign that day worth $2,350 — known as an in-kind contribution. A Cuomo campaign spokesman said the contribution paid for a private gathering that Mr. Ciminelli hosted for the governor that night.

Three weeks later, on Dec. 10, LPCiminelli submitted its proposal for development work as part of the Buffalo Billion. In early January, Mr. Ciminelli and his wife gave more money to the governor — $29,200 in total. Mr. Ciminelli was so generous, he donated more to Mr. Cuomo than was allowed by law, so a portion of his donation was refunded.

Later that month, LPCiminelli was selected as one of the winning developers, and would eventually build the SolarCity factory.

The subpoena to SUNY Polytechnic sought records related to monetary and in-kind donations to any state elected official.

A pattern of quid pro quo - bid rigging for Cuomo's donors, donations coming Cuomo's way?

How Could Control Freak Cuomo Be Unaware Of Buffalo Billion Malfeasance?

So the "control freaks control freak" somehow has no idea what's going on in his office? Gimme a break #CorruptCuomo https://t.co/8dM5vko5RG

— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) April 30, 2016

That's Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin tweeting what everybody in Albany knows about Andrew Cuomo - that NOTHING happens in his administration that he doesn't know about.

Here's Glenn Thrush in the Washington Post hitting a similar note in his review of the Shnayerson biography of Cuomo, The Contender:

Cuomo’s 2010 landslide election as governor revealed him to be a control freak’s control freak — in the inside-government parlance of D.C. and Albany, a principal who behaved like staff. During the best of times, that approach served noble purposes: To squeeze the final six votes needed to pass same-sex marriage in 2011, he offered a Mario-like appeal to posterity and morality. “Where in history do you want to be in this story?” he asked one Democrat who eventually voted for the measure.

This is what Americans allegedly want in a leader: someone who is willing to break gridlock and impose bipartisan order on chaos. But they don’t want too much of it, and Cuomo too often skirts the line between management and mania.

Compared with President Obama, who is so allergic to chatting up legislators that aides have to hector him to pick up the phone, Cuomo is admirably hands-on and willing to stake political capital on bold action (although Shnayerson’s repeated comparisons to LBJ are over the top). But Cuomo’s style can be too overtly manipulative — it’s not enough to wield power; he seems to want lesser men and women to bend to his will.

If one single action defined — and diminished — Cuomo, it was his ham-fisted attempt to control the Moreland Commission, an anti-corruption panel he created to probe misdeeds in the ever-corrupt state legislature. In 2013, he promised the commission unfettered investigative power — only to kill it a year later, after it began to probe the political dealings of his top aides. Shnayerson concisely details this crucial part of the story, arguably the most important episode of Cuomo’s three-decade career, but offers little new information to augment the excellent newspaper coverage.

No charges have been filed against any of Cuomo’s aides. But a serious presidential contender would be certain to face relentless questioning on the matter. Cuomo would also face scrutiny of his recent decisions to purge the state’s e-mail servers and exempt his live-in girlfriend from state financial-disclosure laws.

This compulsion to control everything around him isn’t limited to governing. Shnayerson should know. In 2012, the governor summoned him to an oyster bar on the East Side of Manhattan to make a stunning offer: Ditch the idea of writing an independent biography, Cuomo said, and co-write my book — I’ll give you complete access to my family, staff and former business associates. “Thank God I didn’t do that,” Shnayerson told the Wall Street Journal this month. “I think it would have been a hellish experience.”

Shnayerson made the right call. But it would have added greatly to this interesting, if incomplete, portrait of a power-obsessed politician if he had included that story in his book. 

The governor's office was just hit with a subpoena related to Preet Bharara's investigation of Cuomo's vaunted Buffalo Billion Project and news that two of Cuomo's former aides - including someone whom he described as so close to his family that his father considered him a "third son" - are under the microscope for corruption.

After news broke Friday about more Buffalo Billion subpoenas and the feds eyeing Cuomo's inner circle, Cuomo's office issued the following press release that acknowledged there was indeed a problem with his Buffalo Billion Project:

“The state has reason to believe that in certain circumstances and regulatory approvals they have been defrauded by improper rigging and failures to disclose potential conflicts of interests by lobbyists and former state employees,” stated Bart M. Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor retained by the Cuomo administration.

This was quite an admission, since for a long time now, Cuomo and his minions were claiming the Buffalo Billion Project was the swellest thing since the Hoover Dam (see here and here, for example) - this despite multiple reports of a federal investigation into the project by Preet Bharara for alleged bid rigging and associated corruption (though to be fair, Cuomo did acknowledge back in September that he would be open to changes to the state contracting business if Bharara's probe found any malfeasance.)

Cuomo even wrote about the Buffalo Billion in his own book, All Things Possible, claiming it was a model program for revitalization for other upstate and western New York urban areas:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new book spends three of its nearly 500 pages espousing his focus on improving Buffalo, which he says has been "New York's biggest economic challenge."

The books rehashes most of his argument why Buffalo needed $1 billion in state aid more than other upstate cities, which are also struggling. He also reiterated a point he's made recently: He wants to focus his attention to other upstate cities in a second term.

He continues, "Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Watertown and others merit their own version of the Buffalo model. Buffalo showed that the approach works -- in the most difficult application. These intensive economic models take tremendous time, energy, and expertise, and my administration is committed to them."

...

Cuomo reiterated his points in the book to reporters last month, saying Buffalo is a template of what can be done across upstate. He said Buffalo's problems -- the city is about half the size it was in the 1950s -- was most acute.

"You saw young people leave, you saw companies leave, and there was a general assumption that the upstate New York economy was irredeemable," Cuomo said. "And we said, ‘We deny that assumption and we’re going to prove it,' and we went to the hardest hit economy in the state of New York, and that was Buffalo.'"

He said he's put more focus on upstate New York than any other governor in recent times, saying as the economy struggled and the population dwindled, the area had lost its clout with New York political leaders.

"It’s undeniable that upstate New York is doing better. It’s undeniable. It’s in the numbers," Cuomo continued. "I want to use that next year and bring that same kind of intensity to the other cities."

Given how much time, energy and words Cuomo has given to defending the Buffalo Billion Project and given his penchant for controlling everything that happens in his administration, it is curious that somehow Cuomo was unaware of the malfeasance that he now acknowledges via a statement that “The state has reason to believe that in certain circumstances and regulatory approvals they have been defrauded by improper rigging and failures to disclose potential conflicts of interests by lobbyists and former state employees."

How could Andrew Cuomo, the "control freak's control freak," the man who "skirts the line between management and mania" with a compulsion to control everything not know what was going on in his signature Buffalo Billion Project?

You can bet Andrew's spending the weekend in his darkened room trying to figure out a plausible way to answer that very question, because it is one that is not only being asked by Cuomo agnostics like Steve McLaughlin or bloggers like myself, but by federal investigators looking into the mess and hitting his office and others around him with subpoenas.

Alas for Andrew, the investigators looking into the scandal are less likely to buy his bullshit than the public at large so far when it comes to claims of ignorance over Buffalo Billion malfeasance and corruption.

Cuomo: "You Almost Have To Pinch Yourself"

Karen DeWitt at WXXI, quoting Governor Andrew Cuomo at a September 2015 ceremony at the Solar City factory in Buffalo that is the centerpiece of his scandal-plagued Buffalo Billion Project:

“Wow, wow, wow,” the governor said at the time. “You almost have to pinch yourself, right, that this is too good to be true.”

Indeed you do.

On Friday, we learned that Governor Cuomo's vaunted Buffalo Billion Project appears to be riddled with fraud - and that's from the Cuomo administration's very own statement. 

We also learned that two of Cuomo's former staffers and close confidantes, Joe Percoco and Todd Howe, are under investigation for corruption, along with a third associate, the head of SUNY Poly, Alain Kaloyeros.

Cuomo is said to be stunned, flabbergasted and devastated by the news.

Almost makes me want to say "Wow, wow, wow...You almost have to pinch yourself, right, that this is too good to be true."

There's a nice round-up on all the Buffalo Billion/Cuomo scandal news here.

Head on over, read it and pinch yourself.

January 2nd Comes, But No Cuomo Indictment

The Buffalo Chronicle posted last month that Preet Bharara planned "to indict Governor Andrew Cuomo on January 2nd — along with a half dozen associates and former staffers — on public corruption, racketeering, conspiracy, and honest services fraud."

Well, it's January 2 - a Saturday - and the courts are closed, US Attorney Preet Bharara is getting ready to address the Kentucky legislature next week over ethics and Governor Cuomo's schedule reads:

Governor Cuomo is in Albany 

The day's not over yet, of course, but you'd have to be loopy from Easter egg hunts at the governor's mansion to think a grand jury is going to indict the governor on a Saturday, one day after New Year's Day, or that a previous indictment will be unsealed today and revealed publicly.

So much for the Buffalo Chronicle story.

That said, this doesn't mean those looking for Cuomo to follow his two amigos, Shelly Silver and Dean Skelos, to criminal court should lose heart.

There are plenty of reasons to keep a close watch on where Preet Bharara goes next now that he's got Shelly Silver convicted on seven corruption counts and Dean Skelos on eight corruption counts.

The first reason is the reported investigation into Cuomo's alleged tampering with the Moreland Commission, for which Cuomo lawyered up, hiring "prominent white-collar criminal defense lawyer Elkan Abramowitz" to represent his office in the investigation.

The second is the investigation into Cuomo's Buffalo Billion Project - with subpoenas having gone out to Cuomo donors and state entities involved in what appears to be a rigged bidding process.

The third is how defensive the Cuomo administration is about the investigation (see here and here).

The fourth is the probability that if the feds start nosing around into Cuomo's donor base, they're going to find an awful lot of interesting stuff there, especially around all that Glenwood largesse.

The fifth is Bharara's refusal to let Cuomo off the hook publicly when asked if he's investigating the governor.

There you have five good reasons to keep watching the news wires for leaks about the Moreland investigation or the Buffalo Billion Project investigation that indicate the governor could have some legal trouble coming down the Thruway.

There are no guarantees on any of this, of course, and Bharara may decide that he doesn't have anything in either investigation and nothing comes of any of this.

But Bharara has a way of working with leaks that tends to set the stage for coming events (i.e., eventual criminal charges.)

He did it with Shelly Silver (leaking news of a federal investigation into the speaker one month before the criminal charges were filed in January), and he did it with Dean Skelos (leaking first in January, then again in May right before the criminal charges were levied against Skelos.)

The September leaks about the Buffalo Billion investigation and the subpoenas to Cuomo's donors and state entities involved in the Buffalo Billion Project bidding process were not good signs for Governor Cuomo's administration, that's for sure.

Those leaks didn't spout up from nowhere and if the pattern in the Silver and Skelos leaks is followed here, they're not the last we're going to get.

So keep hearts, folks - January 2nd may have come without a Cuomo indictment, but the governor's not out of the woods yet by a long shot.

We may have a Merry Preetmas yet.