NY State Fast Tracks $26 million Tax Break For Sony, Cuomo Gets $300,000 From Sony Execs

This sure sounds like a Quid Pro Cuomo:

Just weeks before a California fund-raiser with Sony executives that netted Governor Andrew Cuomo's re-election campaign $300,000, a Sony executive requested the fast-tracking of $26 million in film credits from New York State.

Keith Weaver, executive vice president for worldwide government affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment, wrote to an Empire State Development employee about some "pending production tax credits."

"I need your help, as we need to resolve a number of pending production tax credits by 1/15/14 in order to realize the benefit this year.  Our tax and production finance folks were steadfastly working the process, but now we have approximately $26M in tax credits outstanding…  We most assuredly can’t leave $26M hanging out there for another full year (i.e., next tax filing period)," he wrote on Dec. 20, 2013, according to emails obtained by hackers and published in searchable form Thursday by Wikileaks.

Weaver asked if the E.S.D. employee, Rhonda Glickman, could "help move this forward."

And boy did Glickman ever move it forward - she got back to Weaver that day and Sony got indication it would get the $26 million in tax breaks three days later:

Three days later, Weaver wrote in an internal email that he believed the credit had been expedited.

"I just wanted to send you a quick note about this, as it looks like Gov’t Affairs will be effective in expediting $26M in outstanding film credit claims in time for our 1/15/14 tax filing date… I will know definitively by 1/6, but I just wrapped up a call were some commitments were made. While this a timing issue, our effectiveness will mean realizing a significant cash benefit in 2014 versus the next likely opportunity in 2017," he wrote, in the email released by Wikileaks. "Happy holidays!"

A few weeks after that, Governor Cuomo's reelection campaign took in $300,000 from a California fundraiser.

Preet, where are you?

Cuomo Takes Home $600,000 In Cash Bribes From Hollywood

From the Hollywood Reporter:

A high-wattage gathering of Hollywood moguls feted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Brentwood on Thursday night, raising nearly $600,000 for his reelection campaign and quietly discussing their hope that Cuomo will seek presidency, if Hillary Clinton decides not to run.

Behind Hillary, he's the second pick," said one attendee at the evening gathering, held at the Spanish-style manse of Fox Film chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos and his wife Ann.

Cuomo addressed the crowd -- which included Jeffrey Katzenberg, MPAA chief Chris Dodd and NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt -- from a podium set up in Gianopulos' backyard. About 150 people -- who paid between $5,000 and $25,000 to attend the event -- stood under heaters as Cuomo boasted about his state's tax credit program for movie and TV production, saying he hopes to lure more filming to New York. He also surprised some members of the audience by "trash talking" Eliot Spitzer, saying his predecessor created a mess at the statehouse.

His straight talk delighted the crowd. "It was like we were listening to Mario," said one insider. "He was great," said Katzenberg, whose political consultant, Andy Spahn, helped organize the event.

Co-hosts include a selection of entertainment industry A-listers. Among them: Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, Paramount’s Brad Grey, Sony CEO, Michael Lynton, Disney chairman Alan Horn, CBS CEO Les Moonves, NBC Universal’s Jeff Shell and Ron Meyer, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara and Dodd.

Cuomo hands out the Hollywood tax credit to studios wherein NY State essentially pays them to film in New York and they pay him back by feting him in Hollywood, handing him $600,000 in cash and talking him up for president in 2016.

How is this not quid pro quo?

Cuomo Pays Hollywood To Film In New York

Next time you hear Sheriff Andy lecture about fiscal discipline, remember this:

ALBANY—New York's tax rebates for movie and TV studios are so generous that the state is actually paying them to film here, according to an analysis prepared for—but not published by—one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's tax commissions.

The 137-page addendum to the commission's formal report asserts the Film and Television Tax Credit—which Cuomo has expanded to $420 million a year—now accounts for nearly a quarter of all business tax subsidies the state offers, and should be rolled back.

The analysis was funded by Blackstone founder Peter G. Peterson and commission co-chair Peter Solomon, an investment banker and former deputy to New York City mayor Ed Koch.

Both conservatives and liberals have criticized business tax credits for unfairly picking winners and losers with scarce taxpayer dollars. But the Solomon panel's decision to commission a critical review of their efficacy and recommend the Cuomo administration move in the opposite direction was not in the original script.

Cuomo named the commission late in 2012, a year after he rankled business leaders by renewing most of an expiring income tax surcharge on the wealthy—something the freshman Democrat had pledged not to do. It worked through this year looking for revenue-neutral changes to the state tax code, only to have the governor abruptly convene a second panel to examine ways to cut taxes in October. H. Carl McCall, who chairs the SUNY board of trustees, co-chairs both commissions, which have several members in common. While the governor insisted the commissions would work in parallel, some liberal groups charged he was sidelining Solomon as he scrutinized the tax credits.

“The film production credit, now generally 30 percent of qualifying costs, is large relative to industry profits and tax liability,” the addendum says. “Because the credit exceeds tax liability many times over and is refundable, in effect it is a program of cash payments by the state to credit recipients.”
“It is not clear from our analysis that there is sufficient justification for the size of the film credits. The state should consider scaling back the credits and monitoring the film industry closely to determine the impact on its activities of such a cutback,” the addendum concludes, suggesting a reduction of $50 million per year.

Paying an industry to do business here can be effective, the addendum acknowledges. But why target Hollywood?

The addendum says a similarly tailored credit for manufacturing would offer factories 40 times what they would otherwise owe in state taxes. While film has blossomed in New York—especially since the opening of Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard—the addendum notes that “the industry accounts for less than one percent of the state’s employment” and “many of the film industry jobs are temporary.”

The addendum also questions whether movies or projects, including Steiner Studios, wouldn't have come anyway.

Given how Cuomo handed out million in tax breaks to the real estate industry in return for campaign donations and took a couple of million from the gambling industry in return for legalizing casinos and expanding gambling across the state, it behooves some independent entity not connected to Cuomo to look and see just what Sheriff Andy is getting in return for his Hollywood largesse.