Quid Pro Cuomo's Fundraising Track Record: Collect Cash, Dish Out Favors, Contracts And Legislation

Bill Mahoney at Politico NY anticipates Governor Cuomo's release of his last six months of fundraising with an analysis of last year's haul:

POLITICO New York examined each of the 454 checks Cuomo collected in last year’s July filing period. More than 90 percent of his money, or $4.5 million of the $5 million he raised, came from advocates for legislation or donors with business directly before the state.

This includes $268,250 from registered lobbyists and the firms for which they work. Clients for these lobbyists accounted for an additional $2 million, and companies that were identified as recipients of executive branch contracts by the comptroller’s Open Book New York site gave $393,500. The rest of the money primarily came from appointees to various state posts, companies that received contracts from authorities or individuals who were the principal funders of lobbying campaigns.

Mahoney shows how Cuomo collected the money at roughly the same time he was doling out favors, contracts or legislation in return.

For example:

The Cleveland-based NRP group was one of two companies involved in an affordable housing development in Corning. On May 12, the governor announced a $4.7 million state grant for the development. On May 13, the developer gave $25,000 to the governor. (In Cuomo’s first term, that company loaned the governor a private jet for campaign purposes and it received $3.3 million to construct housing in Ballston). 

Or this:

New York State Homes and Community Renewal joined MacQuestern Development to break ground on a Mount Vernon project on March 27; the company and its executives gave Cuomo $30,000 over the succeeding five days and an additional $30,000 in July.

Or this:

An executive at Triangle Equities, to whom the Cuomo administration proposed giving $16.5 million in subsidies for work in Staten Island, gave $25,000. And as the Times Union previously reported, Steven Aaron — whose LLCs gave the governor $25,000 during this six-month stretch and much more in prior years — received millions from the Division of Housing and Community Renewal for work in Schoharie after Cuomo-appointed commissioner Darryl Towns “bypassed competing projects that had higher recommendations from his staff.” 

There's a lot more - read the whole piece.

Some of the contributions Mahoney details are ones we've heard about before - like the $250K Cuomo took from multiple LLC's linked to a Kiryas Joel developer at the same time he was vetoing legislation the developer wanted vetoed or the education reformer/hedge fundie money he was taking at the same time he was pushing through "reforms" to the system.

The governor says he is not swayed by any of these donations in the least.

But the message here is pretty clear here.

If you want the governor to do something for you, pay him. 

NY Times Details Glenwood Management's Largesse And Access To Governor Cuomo

A fascinating piece in the NY Times this morning that you should read in total.  

In it we learn Glenwood Management owner Leonard Litwin - Governor Cuomo's largest and most generous campaign donor - was an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of Dean Skelos and his son, Adam.

We also learn that Glenwood had expectations about all that money they gave (which they saw as the "cost of doing business") and boy did those donations ever pay dividends.

Here's the opening of the piece (by William Rashbaum):

The recent federal trials that ended in the quick convictions of Sheldon Silver and Dean G. Skelos laid bare a world of greed, flagrant corruption and abuse of power in Albany, with evidence showing payoffs taking a deceptively circular route from business interests to the elected officials whose help they sought.

But one man who was a key player in both cases — and identified by the government as a co-conspirator at the trial of Mr. Skelos, the former Republican majority leader of the State Senate, and his son, Adam — never appeared in the courtroom.

That man was Leonard Litwin, the 101-year-old owner of Glenwood Management, an influential developer of luxury high-rise apartment buildings in Manhattan that is among the state’s most prodigious political donors. Prosecutors named Mr. Litwin as a co-conspirator during a sidebar conference with the judge and defense lawyers that went largely unnoticed.

In addition to its role at the heart of the government’s case against the Skeloses, both of whom were convicted of bribery, extortion and conspiracy this month, Glenwood also figured prominently in the federal corruption trial of Sheldon Silver, the Democratic assemblyman and former speaker who was convicted of extortion, wire fraud and money laundering 11 days earlier.

The name of Mr. Litwin was just one example of the way the two corruption trials revealed how entwined the interests of Glenwood and other developers are with the business of the state. 

Testimony, documents, emails and other evidence provided the most detailed look to date at the ways in which Glenwood and others deftly worked the levers of power to marshal tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions through a maze of limited-liability companies, trade associations and political groups, with Senator Skelos himself soliciting and directing the money at times.

Prosecutors had a 54 page printout of Glenwood donations to Albany political players over the last 10 years through 26 different entities.

Number #1 on the list of recipients?

The biggest beneficiary of Glenwood’s giving: Mr. Cuomo, who, in the last election cycle, received more than $1 million from limited liability companies, or LLCs, connected to the company.

More:

When it came to the governor, Glenwood was considered such a reliable contributor that his fund-raisers suggested to the developer that it spread what would become a multiyear million-dollar donation “into biannual installments,” according to documents uncovered by investigators from the Moreland Commission, an anticorruption panel that Mr. Cuomo created in 2013, but abruptly disbanded nine months later.

Glenwood also funneled money to Mr. Cuomo indirectly: On a single day in 2011, 10 of the company’s LLCs combined to give a total of $500,000 to the Committee to Save New York, a group of business interests that spent $16 million to support Mr. Cuomo’s agenda during his first two years in office.

And what did Glenwood get in return from the governor for all that cash?

Plenty:

The contributions seemed to pay dividends for Glenwood and the real estate industry as a whole in the form of a seat at the table — sometimes quite literally.

With a law that governed rent regulations set to expire in 2011, Mr. Dorego testified that he and other real estate executives were called to two meetings with state leaders in June, one at the governor’s office in New York City and one at his office in Albany.

At the meeting in Albany, Mr. Dorego testified, he and other executives met first with Mr. Cuomo in the governor’s office. And then they were summoned by Mr. Skelos, who sought to reassure them. Everything, Mr. Skelos said, “seemed to be falling in line.”

Glenwood bagman Charlie Dorego explained more of the benefits Glenwood reaped from the politicos they donated to - especially the "three men in a room," Silver, Skelos and Cuomo:

Mr. Dorego told the jury the company reaped an estimated $50 million to $100 million in savings over an unspecified period from one state program alone, a real estate tax-abatement law called 421-a. The State Legislature must renew the law periodically through a process essentially controlled by the two legislative leaders and the governor.

Mr. Dorego testified that the law’s continued renewal was an “absolute necessity” for Glenwood. Without it, he said, the cost of city real estate taxes — the largest component of a luxury high-rise’s operating budget — would make building such towers unfeasible, in part because lenders would not finance them.

For that reason, Mr. Dorego told the jury, keeping the State Senate in the control of Republicans — who, in his words, “were more business-oriented and had more of an interest in making sure business thrived in the city” — was “the No. 1 priority” for Glenwood’s political strategy and “Mr. Litwin’s No. 1 concern.”

Glenwood also benefited from another state-administered program, using it to obtain more than $1 billion in low-interest, tax-exempt bond financing since 2000, to buy land and construct eight buildings it has put up since 2001, according to testimony at Mr. Silver’s trial. Each application to the program, under which a developer must set aside 20 percent of a new building’s units for low-income housing, must be approved by an obscure state agency, the Public Authorities Control Board.

The three-member board is made up of the governor and the two legislative leaders, or their designees. All applications require unanimous approval, giving each member a potential veto as well as, prosecutors suggested, power and leverage.

Glenwood also depended on the governor and the legislative leaders to renew favorable rent regulations that determine when a developer or landlord can shift rent-stabilized apartments to market-rate rentals.

Okay, let's recap:

Governor Cuomo's largest donor, Leonard Litwin, was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Skelos case.

Litwin's firm, Glenwood, reaped at least $50 million in tax savings from one state program (421a tax abatement) and maybe as much as $100 million, got $1 billion in low interest, tax-exempt bond financing to build 8 towers since 2001 that had to be approved by a board made up of three men - either the heads of the two legislative houses and the governor or their "designees," - and lots of other help in renewing "favorable rent regulations" for shifting rent-stabilized apartments to market-rate rentals.

In return for all that help and largesse they gave $10 million in campaign contributions since 2005, with over $1 million going to Governor Cuomo just last election cycle.

Governor Cuomo's allies at the shadowy Committee To Save NY PAC that spent millions touting his "pro-business" agenda early in his first term also enjoyed Glenwood largesse, receiving half a million in contributions through ten different entities one day in 2011.

Let's consider the five men tied most closely to all of this:

One was Shelly Silver, convicted on seven corruption counts.

Another was Dean Skelos, convicted on eight corruption counts.

A third was Glenwood bagman Charlies Dorego, who received a non-prosecution agreement for working with prosecutors against Silver and Skelos.

A fourth was Leonard Litwin, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Skelos case.

And the fifth was Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, so far unindicted but seemingly not uninvestigated.

Where did this Times story come from?

It's got the feel of someone beginning to lay the public groundwork for an eventual takedown of Cuomo.

If Preet's "Stay Tuned..." tweet during Governor Cuomo's Buffalo Billion Mach II presser was the First Day of Preetmas (signaling there is more to come - especially around Cuomo's other economic development program, the Buffalo Billion Project, which is under investigation by federal prosecutors for what looks to be bids rigged for Cuomo donors), this interesting little story here has the feel of the Second Day of Preetmas, detailing as it does Glenwood's generosity and largesse in return for political benefits.

There's an awful lot of Litwin money that ended up in Cuomo's coffers, either directly or to Cuomo allies like CSNY (or other allies, which Bill Mahoney of Politico NY reported on back in August).

Glenwood got an awful lot of access for all that dough and certainly the governor looked to hide that access, "forgetting" that he had meetings with real estate executives, including Glenwood execs, in his offices in both NYC and Albany in 2011 when rent regulations were set to expire.

2011 was the year his Committee To Save NY friends got $500,000 in one day through 10 different LLC's to help tout Cuomo's message, btw.

The smoke swirling around Cuomo and his campaign donors is starting to get awfully heavy, isn't it?

And this is just the Glenwood stuff.

Don't forget, there's more - the feds subpoenaed Cuomo donors and state entities connected to his Buffalo Billion Project for funkiness around the bidding process (and donations that ended up in Cuomo's coffers right around the same time as the bidding process was going on.)

If Preet Bharara was able to take down Shelly Silver for quid pro quo corruption without ever proving an explicit quid pro quo agreement, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he's going to look to take down Governor Andrew M Cuomo for quid pro quo agreements around campaign donations and political benefits reaped by donors in return without anyone ever expressly admitting to an explicit quid pro quo.

Again, whether this all ends with criminal charges against Cuomo, well, that's hard to say.

But these stories about Cuomo and his donors (i.e., the Glenwood/Cuomo connection and the Buffalo Billion/Cuomo connection) aren't coming out of the ether.

Preet leaks as a way to set the stage for eventual criminal charges. 

He did it with 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 Skelos (leaking first in January, then again in May right before the criminal charges were levied against Skelos.)

Just something to think about when you see these stories about Cuomo and his donors.

Cuomo Gives $15 Million Subsidy To News Corporation After Receiving Book Deal Worth Up To $700,000

The Cuomo corruption continues apace:

New York’s state government has committed millions of dollars in taxpayer support to News Corporation for a real estate deal -- less than three years after a subsidiary of that company gave New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo a book deal worth up to $700,000. The commitment was disclosed in documents released by the Port Authority -- an agency jointly controlled by Cuomo and New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

The documents say the Port Authority, News Corporation and 21st Century Fox “have received commitments from New York State” for a “one-time payment of $15 million in 2016 and the utilization of a $15 million” state tax credit as part of the agency’s push to make the companies “anchor tenants” for 2 World Trade Center. The documents say the transactions are part of an initiative to reduce News Corporation’s and 21st Century Fox’s rent payments at the new building by $155 million.

...

This is not the first time the Cuomo administration has moved to help News Corporation. IBT reported that before Cuomo was given the lucrative book deal, he signed tax legislation in 2011 that News Corporation lobbied on and that was expected to help one of its online publications. And in 2012, while News Corporation lobbied Cuomo’s office, he backed an expansion of controversial film and television tax credits that have benefited News Corporation’s films.

Cuomo’s office did not respond to IBT’s questions about the 2 World Trade Center transaction or the book deal, instead referring inquiries to the Port Authority. Amid a sprawling federal probe of corruption in Albany, the New York governor recently denounced lawmakers for accepting personal payments that might raise questions about conflicts of interest.

You know the story's a problem when Cuomo's flying attack monkeys don't respond to requests for comment with some snark .

In this one, they let Cuomo's man at the PA, Patrick Foye, defend the deal.

There may be nothing illegal about this deal and the PA deal says that News Corporation will have to pay back the subsidy by 2021 but IBT reports it will still cost taxpayers $9 million bucks.

There has been no indication that the feds are looking at the Rupert Murdoch/Andrew Cuomo connection or the book deal Cuomo got in which he received somewhere near $700,000 for writing a book that sold very few copies.

But this still feels like just another example of Cuomo playing the system and the residents of New York for suckers.

Cuomo Administration Appears To Be Worried About Preet Bharara's Buffalo Billion Project Investigation

Really fascinating piece in the Buffalo News today by Tom Precious in which a "state official" with an interesting and distinctive speech pattern (i.e., he likes to ask rhetorical questions) gets the Cuomo administration's side of the Buffalo Billion Project bidding process on the record.

The "state official" says nothing untoward was done, the bidding process was just set-up for maximum "flexibility," there was plenty of state oversight and really, there's nothing to see here:

The state says the bidding process that began in the fall of 2013 was smarter than many procurement deals because it allowed Buffalo to get work – and jobs – moving more swiftly.

The Buffalo goal was simple, according to a New York State official: The state would pre-select companies that could act quickly once deals were made. That’s one reason state officials wanted someone with Buffalo development and construction experience. And, yes, the state official said, because of the desire for local companies the state did not seek as wide a pool of bidders as some other state procurement efforts.

The state official, who talked with The News in an extended interview on condition that he not be named, stressed that bidders knew from the start that the process was intentionally general. Further, bidders knew both in writing and from discussions that the state maintained the right to change what it was seeking in Buffalo Billion development because project ideas were evolving and Albany officials did not yet have precise information about what companies would locate in Buffalo or when, the official said.

What critics see as vague, the state official said, was really about flexibility. This flexibility was not only legal but is used often in other state and federal vendor bidding, and was the process used for similar state development plans in Rochester, Syracuse, and the Albany area – including with a preference for local contractors. There were several levels of approval or oversight from Cuomo’s budget division and economic development agency, the official said.

What’s more, the edict to act quickly was made clear in the October 2013 RFP, which sought companies able to “rapidly” move on projects.

Critics say the request for proposals (RFP) for the project was hidden deep in the Buffalo News instead of being placed where RFP's usually are placed - in the Contract Reporter:

When the state goes looking for bidders, which it does thousands of times a year for anything from office furniture to road paving, agencies often advertise in the New York State Contract Reporter to spread the word. The Contract Reporter is considered the bidding bible for government contractors.

But when the state in 2013 wanted to spread the word it was looking for developers for what would eventually become the $750 million RiverBend project, it took out a legal notice on page B11 of The Buffalo News, next to the crossword puzzle. To be fair, at the time of the bidding, nothing of the project’s eventual size was anticipated.

The state said in its legal ad it was seeking a company with “the credentials, experience, and capacity to design, construct, finance, market and lease state-of-the-art facilities and cutting-edge infrastructure as well as partner” with the state on “strategic economic development initiatives.”

There was no mention of what projects might be under consideration, or of a timetable, or of who might occupy the new facilities. While the ad said the state was looking for Buffalo-area developers, it wasn’t entirely clear that the projects would be in Buffalo. The ad directed interested parties to contact the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. in Utica to get a bidding package with more details in return for signing a confidentiality agreement.

One corporate executive said he only heard about the bid request from watching local TV news. Another said he only found out when a Buffalo News reporter called asking for comment.

The "state official" says, "What, it's a state secret if it goes next to the crossword puzzle?

The state official said the RFP was well-known in Buffalo circles.

“Is there a secret in Buffalo?” the state official said of the close-knit real estate and construction industries.

The "state official" does not respond to the questions around Cuomo's fundraising from the eventual winner of the Riverbend Project bid near the time the company was getting ready to bid on the project, just defends the selection of the Cuomo donors based on practicality:

The timeline is one that federal prosecutors are certain to try to unravel.

Three months before the Buffalo Billion RFP was issued, on July 3, 2013, the non-profit Fort Schuyler signed a confidential memorandum of understanding with green energy company Silevo, a California solar energy manufacturing firm, said the state official who spoke to The News. The original idea was to spend $25 million to convert an existing building on the former Bristol-Myers Squibb site on Forest Avenue in Buffalo. Environmental problems at the site killed that idea, the state official said.

When the RFP was issued on Oct. 15, 2013, no decision had been made about a Silevo location, the official said. That changed by Nov. 21, when Cuomo visited Buffalo to announce that Silevo, along with green lighting manufacturer Soraa, would locate facilities at RiverBend. The state would invest $225 million – $49 million of which would be for the construction costs – in a building that the SUNY Research Foundation would own, he said. When Cuomo announced the Silevo and Soraa project, he did not say who would build the facility because, the state official said, the bidding process was still under way. (Several weeks ago, Cuomo announced that Soraa would not move to Buffalo, but would instead locate outside Syracuse.)

Two days before that RiverBend announcement, Cuomo flew to Buffalo to raise money for his campaign at two fundraisers, including one that LPCiminelli’s owner Louis Ciminelli hosted at a Buffalo restaurant.

A month later, LPCiminelli, McGuire and Uniland became the only companies of those originally interested to submit bids on the RFP. The RFP did not change to reflect the new Silevo-Soraa project. The state official said the RFP did not change because the award was never intended to be RiverBend-specific, and that other unknown projects were to be included in the contract at some point down the road. 

LPCiminelli was selected for many reasons, the state official said, not the least of which was its ability to front large construction costs while waiting, sometimes many months, for the state to reimburse it. Ciminelli said the company fronted the state money especially in the early months of RiverBend construction.

The Empire Development Agency approved and funded the projects after the Fort Schuyler board approved the selection of LPCiminelli and McGuire, the official said.

Read the whole piece, it's interesting to say the least, coming less than a week after US Attorney Preet Bharara scored a seven count corruption conviction on former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and a day or so before Bharara's prosecutors rest their corruption case against former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

This article has the feel, in part, of a calculated attempt by Cuomo to get his side of the story out before the next leak from Bharara about the investigation comes.

The initial Buffalo Billion Project leak to the press went out on September 18 and according to the Buffalo News piece, the subpoenas to Cuomo's donors went out five months ago.

If the previous timelines Bharara followed in the Silver and Skelos cases are followed, we're due for some more leaks and/or action from the feds in the next few months.

Had the Silver trial ended in acquittal or with a hung jury, I thought the feds might go much slower or not at all with whatever they have in the Buffalo Billion investigation.

But with Silver down on all counts in a trial that never proved a direct quid pro quo between Shelly and his marks, all bets are off on what Bharara decides to do with the Buffalo Billion Project case.

Maybe nothing comes out of this, maybe Bharara decides he doesn't have enough to prosecute anybody, that nothing criminal occurred here and he just moves on, waiting for the next president to replace him as U.S. attorney.

But clearly "somebody" on Cuomo's end is worried because this "state official" with the penchant for rhetorical questions gave "an extended interview on condition that he not be named" and "provided dozens of documents intended to illustrate that the checks and steps the government took in awarding the project were on the up and up."

Sure sounds like somebody in the governor's administration is worried about where the Buffalo Billion investigation is going.

Skelos Trial: Cuomo Administration Gave Job To Donor's Son After Campaign Donation

This isn't "new" news, as Newsday reported it back in the spring, but it is interesting to see it surface in the Dean and Adam Skelos trials:

Skelos: Bonomo on cross admits his son got a job at NIFA shotly after he gave $50K to Cuomo.

— John Riley (@jriley8832) December 4, 2015

Back in June, Yancey Roy at Newsday reported this:

ALBANY - The son of Anthony Bonomo, a prominent insurer linked to the federal investigation of Sen. Dean Skelos and who until days ago led the New York Racing Association, began working for the Cuomo administration last year, state records show.

Anthony Bonomo Jr. started in 2014 as an executive assistant for the Office of Storm Recovery, which was launched by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to help residents rebuild after superstorm Sandy and other recent hurricanes. Bonomo, who handles constituent services on Long Island, was hired for the $55,000-per-year job in May 2014, a spokeswoman said.

"Anthony is a hard worker and a smart young man who has done terrific work for the Office of Storm Recovery," said Barbara Broncaccio, agency spokeswoman.

Bonomo's father runs Physicians Reciprocal Insurers, a Roslyn-based medical malpractice carrier that holds about 25 percent of the market, according to reports. The Manhasset resident also is a significant campaign contributor and racehorse owner who, until Tuesday, chaired the New York Racing Association, which operates Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga tracks.

Federal prosecutors have alleged that Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the former state Senate leader, tried to "monetize" his political power by getting payments and a job for his son, Adam, from a developer, an environmental firm and a malpractice insurer. Among other things, prosecutors alleged that the senator arranged a $100,000 per year "no show" job with a medical malpractice insurer. Skelos and his son have pleaded not guilty.

Though Physicians Reciprocal wasn't named in the indictment, a company spokesman said it has been contacted in the probe and has been cooperating with investigators. It has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Newsday previously reported that state lawmakers tucked into this year's state budget an extension of an exemption that helps malpractice insurers such as Physicians Reciprocal.

In July, Zack Fink gave much context to the "Bonomo Connection":

Anthony Bonomo, described by one insider as “just one of those guys everyone in state government knows,” is believed by many to be cooperating with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s case against former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam. The Skelos’ pleaded ‘not guilty’ yesterday to a superseding indictment unveiled last week that contains two new charges. Specifically, that Adam Skelos threatened his supervisor who confronted him about not showing up to work. The arrangement seemed to be that Adam got a no-show job in exchange for the elder Skelos steering state money the firm’s way. That firm ( although not named ) is believed to be Physicians Reciprocal Insurers’ or PRI, owned and operated by one Anthony Bonomo.

What is less known is just how extensive Bonomo’s ties are to state government. According to Competitive Advantage Research, Bonomo, his associates and affiliates are responsible for 126 filings over the last 15 years. The campaign contributions spread across party lines and totaling $2,719,240.93. That’s a lot of dough. Jon Reznick of Competitive Advantage explains the breakdown:

“The individual Anthony Bonomo, his friends and relations including his spouse and likely his children as well as professional associates and the businesses he operates are themselves substantial donors accounting for $2.7 million just that I’ve found in the last 15 years.”

In addition, Bonomo has hired big time lobbyists including former Senator Al D’Amato, Founder and Managing Director of Park Strategies. According to Reznick’s analysis, Bonomo and associates have spent $1,550,500 since 2007.

According to the latest indictment, Adam Skelos threatened his boss with physical violence after being challenged about his failure to show up for work. Someone then called Dean Skelos ( sitting Senate Majority Leader at the time ) to try and explain the problem and work something out. At least one GOP source believes the only person who could have made that phone call was D’Amato, who could not immediately be reached for comment.

So, here is the timeline from which you can draw your own conclusions: In March, Bonomo gives a $50,000 contribution to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign committee. A few days later, Cuomo appoints Bonomo the head of the New York Racing Association or NYRA ( a job that people close to the Administration insist he was qualified for, since he was very knowledgeable of horses and racing. Fair enough ). About a month later, Skelos and his son are slapped with federal corruption charges. And in early June, just four days before the Belmont Stakes – one of the biggest days in racing – Bonomo steps down from his position at NYRA, and presumably starts cooperating with the Feds against Dean and Adam. A month after that the new indictment drops with two new charges including personal details about Adam’s behavior. This signaled to some that federal investigators were likely getting information from Bonomo which helped build the second set of charges.

Now a question a reasonable observer might have is, how is it different when Dean Skelos presses Bonomo and PRI for a job for his son in return for favorable legislation to keep the company afloat and the Cuomo administration hires Anthony Bonomo's son for a $55K a year state job after dad gives $50,000 to Cuomo's campaign coffers?

Bonomo's got a non-prosecution agreement with the feds for the Skelos case, so he faces no charges for being part of the alleged quid pro quo.

US Attorney for the Southern District Preet Bharara was in the courtroom yesterday when Bonomo admitted on cross examination that his son got a state job after he gave Cuomo $50K, so clearly the feds are aware of that little doozy.

Now whether they choose to follow up on it, that's a whole other matter.

But it's just one more example in a long line of examples of Andrew Cuomo's donors getting preferential treatment from the state before and/or after giving campaign money to Cuomo or to entities linked to Cuomo (like the State Democratic Party or the Committee To Save New York, the shadowy PAC that pushed Cuomo's agenda early in his governorship but was shut down after the law changed and required PAC's like CSNY to reveal their donors.)

The impression a reasonable observer would get is, well, I think Steve McLaughlin put it best:

Nah....Cuomo's not for sale or anything.... that's just crazy talk.... https://t.co/RxTs5uTvIK

— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) December 4, 2015

Business As Usual In Albany

Meet the new pork process, pretty much the same as the old pork process:

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted legislative earmarks during campaigns, investigated them as attorney general and promised in 2012 that he would banish them from the state budget.
Now, he's approving them.

In the last week, leaders of the state Legislature publicly disclosed lists of earmarks they secured under the State and Municipal Facilities Program, which fiscal analysts have likened to the old “member item” program that let legislators direct money to local groups and projects at their discretion.

But unlike the past, agencies that report to Cuomo are reviewing — and signing off on — the projects before the money is released. According to critics, that means the Democratic governor is approving “pork” spending that skews to support powerful incumbents: Republicans in the state Senate and Democrats in the Assembly — even after railing against spending for “pet projects” earlier this year.

“Governors Paterson and Cuomo put the final nails in the coffin of the member item process as we knew it. But what they've created is a zombie member item process, which is different but has many of the same characteristics of the old one,” said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Read the whole Vielkind piece at Politico NY - it's well worth if if you want to see how Cuomo went from decrying the pork process and riding "reform" to the governor's mansion to embracing the pork process in order to garner allies in the legislature - and doing it with as much secrecy as possible:

Lawmakers approved $385 million for the program in the 2013-14 budget, offering support for capital projects — not one-time operating subsidies, as member items often were — for a broad variety of purposes like “preserving and protecting infrastructure” or to support “economic development projects … that will create or retain jobs in New York State.” In 2014 and 2015 it was amended and broadened to allow for the purchase of cars and to make investments in parks.

The spending is funneled through the Cuomo-controlled Dormitory Authority (DASNY), which did not release details about the $187 million in pending projects (as of August) until the Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank, filed a Freedom of Information Law request. Projects can be selected by individual legislators — something not specified in the state budget, or spelled out by any official — as well as the governor himself. It took officials in the Assembly and Senate over a month to release details about who secured which projects.

“These are arguably worse than member items because at least with member items, there was some transparency on how the money was being divvied up in Albany and which members were directing it. We only have that after two and a half years,” said Ken Girardin, an analyst at the Empire Center. “It's difficult to reconcile someone who wanted to do away with a corruption-prone process only to usher in a larger process with even less transparency and a mechanism to give money directly to private businesses.”

So much for the Preet Bharara influence so far, eh?

Cuomo Acknowledges Communicating With Donor/Contractor At Center Of Corruption Probe

Azi Paybarah at Capital NY:

Governor Andrew Cuomo said he played no role in a campaign contributor winning a mutli-million-dollar construction bid in Buffalo that is now reportedly the subject of a probe by Southern District U.S. attorney Preet Bharara.

As part of the reported investigation, Bharara's office served subpoenas on the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, whose president is heavily involved in Cuomo's economic development programs upstate.

“SUNY has administered the grant process, so literally all I know is what I read in the newspaper, but I’m very proud of what we’re doing in Buffalo,” Cuomo told reporters in Harlem at an unrelated event.

...

The probe into Buffalo reportedly focuses on how Lou Ciminelli, who donated more than $96,000 to Cuomo’s re-election campaign, won a narrowly tailored bid to construct a solar panel factory in Buffalo worth around $750 million.

Asked if he was confident the contract was not influenced by the donations, Cuomo replied, “SUNY has administered billions of dollars' worth of programs and they’ve done it all well.”

The governor did acknowledge having communicated with Ciminelli, but said the contract was left in the hands of SUNY officials.

“I have probably spoken with him but I have nothing to do with the selection whatsoever. That was handled by SUNY,” Cuomo said.

You can see more on that donor, Louis P. Ciminelli, and his connections to Andrew Cuomo and various levels of government here.

You can see a little more on other Cuomo donors who may be the focus of Bharara's corruption probe here.

Let me remind readers of the pattern we have seen with Preet Bharara investigations.

First comes the leak and/or leaks about high-powered figures like Sheldon Silver or Dean Skelos.

Then come either the denials or obfuscations from the high-powered figures who are the focus of the leaks.

Then come some more leaks that indicate criminal charges are coming soon.

Then the arrests and criminal charges/indictments.

Finally, there are usually a couple more charges thrown on after the fact for good measure.

As memory serves me, this is how events played out in both the Silver and Skelos cases.

Hard to say if that's how things play out here, but the more we learn about the probe and the number of Cuomo donors involved coupled with Cuomo's denials that he had nothing to do with any of this and besides, it's just politics - well, it is starting to look like this story fits the pattern.

Whether it reaches as high as Cuomo himself, that's another matter.

But I can't remember a time where Bharara leaked info in a case like this that didn't end up with criminal charges in the end.

And now that we have Cuomo acknowledging personally communicating with one of the donors - that does makes things a little more interesting.

Quid Pro Cuomo: NY Gov Gets Campaign Cash, Polluter General Electric Gets $50 Million In Tax Subsidies And A Greenwashing

More Cuomo corruption:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week proudly declared that he had successfully lured General Electric into “coming home.” It took $50 million in taxpayer subsidies to convince the company to build a new manufacturing facility in upstate New York, but this was money well spent, Cuomo asserted, noting that GE used to be “such a big part of this community and provided so many jobs and was such a vital player in this community.” Cuomo is now pushing to authorize an additional, undisclosed amount to entice GE to also relocate its corporate headquarters from Connecticut back to New York, some 40 years after it left.

The welcoming rhetoric from the New York governor, a Democrat, presents a stark change from recent years, in which GE was known throughout the state as a large-scale industrial polluter: During the mid-20th century, the company dumped more than one million pounds of chemicals linked to cancer into the Hudson River.

Since 2009, the technology and manufacturing conglomerate has contributed more than $466,000 to Cuomo’s campaigns and political groups that have supported his bids for governor, according to state and federal campaign finance records.

New York state and federal authorities have for decades sparred with GE over the pace and extent of its promised cleanup of the Hudson from years of manufacturing-related chemical dumping, a battle that continues even as Cuomo now extends the state’s largess. In the same week Cuomo was promoting his plans to subsidize GE, federal officials told New York authorities that the company had been underreporting the volume of toxic chemicals that are still in the river’s ecosystem. Meanwhile, New York lawmakers, businesses and environmental groups have been raising concerns that the company is now moving to prematurely abandon the cleanup operations, while a report from federal government scientists said GE needs to conduct additional dredging to fully clean up the river.

PCB's remain in the Hudson, but GE is claiming the clean-up's all done, it's time to move on.

 Cuomo's move here essentially greenwashes them from responsibility.

Hey Andy, why not see if Union Carbide is looking to move headquarters next?

I hear they're owned by Dow Chemical - I bet you can get some campaign cash in return for tax subsidies and some greenwashing from them too.

Success Academy Board Member Daniel Loeb Hosts $5,000 A Head Fundraiser For Andrew Cuomo

Governor Cuomo came through for charter schools once again this legislative session, raising the charter cap by 180 and imposing a ton of new mandates on public schools that do not count for charters (i.e., the teacher evaluation system.)

And so the charter school supporters will pay Cuomo back for his political largesse:

Hedge fund manager and charter school advocate Daniel Loeb is standing by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

On the evening of Saturday July 11, he and his wife Margaret Munzer Loeb will host a fund-raiser for Cuomo at their residence in East Hampton, according to an invitation sent out to multiple donors and acquired by Capital.

Individual tickets for what is billed as an "intimate reception" will cost $5,000 each, though host committee sponsorships "are available."

Loeb had no comment as to why he was fund-raising for the governor.

He and his wife have donated to the governor in the past.

The Third Point C.E.O. serves on the board of StudentsFirstNY, a pro-charter advocacy group whose board members also include former schools chancellor Joel Klein and Success Academy Charter Schools founder Eva Moskowitz.

Loeb also chairs Success Academy's board and is one of Moskowitz's most stalwart supporters and defenders.

The hedge fund managers/charter school supporters started paying Cuomo off with cash before he ran for governor and it continues all the way until today.

He's gotten more than $4.8 million dollars in contributions from 570 hedge fund managers since 2000.

In addition, some of those same hedge fund managers contributed millions to a charter school shell group called Families For Excellent Schools that ran ads and lobbied for charter causes on Cuomo's behalf. FES was the winner in "Who Spent The Most Money Lobbying?" competition, dropping $9.7 million in 2014 on lobbying expenditures.

Then there was the shadowy group called the Committee To Save New York that spent millions on pro-Cuomo ads touting the governor's agenda. The group raised $12 million dollars from just 20 donors to help Cuomo out politically.

CSNY closed up shop when the law was changed and donors and contributors had to be revealed, but you can bet that there were some of the same names on the CSNY list that are on the Families For Excellent Schools, Students FirstNY and Success Academies list.

And let's not forget that StudentsFirstNY helped create New Yorkers For A Balanced Albany, an independent expenditure committee that dropped $4.2 million in support of a Republican takeover of the New York State Senate - having Republicans in charge in the state Senate has helped Cuomo push through his pro-charter, anti-public school agenda.

Judging from how much they've paid him over the years and how they continue to pay him now, shilling for charter schools and education has been a very profitable enterprise for Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo Unveils $100 Million Dollars For Upstate "Failing" Schools He Insists Isn't Tied To His Education Tax Credit

Cuomo proposes $100M for distressed upstate schools—including Yonkers—that he insists isn't linked to ed tax credit http://t.co/KlYBdfJF0x

— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) June 14, 2015

More:

Asked directly if the school aid and tax credit would be linked, Cuomo said: “No, those are two separate bills.”

Anybody believe him?

Well don't:

“Everything is held up now,” Cuomo said during the news conference. “The way it works in the legislative session, nothing moves until everything moves. It’s a hard concept to communicate. There are 10 or 12 key items, among both houses. They’re working through to get agreement, and then they’ll wind up with a global agreement, and everything moves at the end, hopefully.”

It's not a hard concept to communicate - everything is connected in one gigantic quid pro quo instead of each bill standing (or falling) on its own.

Albany is a cesspool of corruption, it's obvious to anybody paying even an iota of attention, and no matter how much Cuomo swears these bills aren't linked, they are.

Clearly the resistance to Cuomo's education tax credit in the Assembly wasn't buckling as the legislative session came to a close, so now Cuomo's thrown some bribe money into the mix.

And that's what this is:

“The ploy is obvious—he is offering $100 million for urban schools in upstate districts represented by Assembly Democrats,” Billy Easton, executive director of Alliance for Quality Education, a labor-backed advocacy group, said in a statement. “He is trying to sweeten the pot to secure Assembly votes in support. But it must stand on its own merits. There is no room for a quid pro quo.”

Indeed there is no room for a quid pro quo but Cuomo knows no other way to govern.

Andrew Cuomo And Cooperating Witness #1

In the NY Times profile of Glenwood real estate exectuive Charles Dorego, "CW-1" in the Dean Skelos criminal case and a "representative of Developer-1" in the Silver case, is this:

Today, nine Glenwood buildings get 421-a tax benefits, according to New York City records. In exchange for the tax breaks, Glenwood set aside 459 units, a relatively low 15 percent, of the 2,987 apartments for low- and moderate-income households, according to city records and an analysis by the Association for Neighborhood Housing Development.

“Glenwood takes an absurd amount of benefit from the taxpayer’s pocket to boost its bottom line,” said Benjamin Dulchin, executive director of the housing group, which has called for reforming the housing program. “No wonder they use every bit of influence at their disposal.”

Days after Glenwood contributed $1,000 to Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign, Mr. Dorego and a lobbyist met in April 2011 with the governor to discuss rent regulation, according to state records.

A short while later, after Glenwood contributed $25,000 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, Mr. Dorego met with Mr. Skelos to discuss real estate regulations and legislation affecting Glenwood, the complaint says.

As the legislative session heated up, Mr. Cuomo met one day in June with representatives from two real estate groups, Mr. Dorego and Mr. Jacob, another top Glenwood executive, as well as Mr. Silver and Mr. Skelos.

Two weeks later, Mr. Cuomo had another meeting on rent regulations that included Mr. Dorego and the trade groups.

Though it is common for the groups to meet with top officials in Albany, it was unusual, according to several Real Estate Board members, for Mr. Dorego to attend.

In the end, real estate executives said, Mr. Dorego and the Real Estate Board were successful in lobbying lawmakers to renew the 421-a program.

Dorego agreed to begin cooperating with the feds in April and received a non-prosecution agreement in return.

Dorego's cooperation has a lot of people worried:

What's prompting concern at the Capitol is that Dorego, as well as Glenwood founder Leonard Litwin, are close to everyone.

“If Dorego is involved,” said one lobbyist, speaking on background, “then you can bet more trees are going to fall.”

In the past four years, Glenwood passed out at least $3.6 million to state politicians and the political committees that support them through a roster of two dozen limited liability companies. Records show it has ties to a dark money group that spent another $1 million attacking Democrats in 2012. It's hard to state definitively, because only some of the L.L.C.s can be readily associated, by address, with their parent company.

The contributions flowed across party lines through both chambers of the Legislature, pooling around the men with the most power, regardless of their stated affiliations or ideologies.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has benefited the most, taking in $1.45 million for his campaign committee and the soft money account he controls at the Democratic State Committee. Glenwood is also the largest donor to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Tom DiNapoli, both Democrats.

What did Cuomo do for the $1.45 million from from Litwin and Glenwood?

I bet Dorego, who met with Cuomo three times, knows.

Cuomo initially said he had nothing to do with Glenwood executives or lobbyists other than they were donors of his:

Cuomo was asked to describe his political and governmental interactions with Glenwood, its executives and its lobbyists since taking office.

“They are a donor of mine. They are a donor of many elected officials across the state, and that's basically the interaction,” Cuomo said. “I've had nothing to do, except they've been political supporters of mine.”

The governor said they “never” brought up rent control or 421-a with him or any members of his administration, “and I have no family members who worked with them or I asked to work them.”

That "never" turned to this after Jimmy Vielkind reported the three meetings between Cuomo and Charlie Dorego:

“The Governor did not remember off the top of his head three meetings from five years ago, two of which also included many other industry advocates,” said Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo. “What is clear to everyone is that we emerged that year with the strongest rent regulation laws in decades, which included the creation of a tenant protection unit that has returned more than 37,000 unlawfully deregulated apartments to rent regulation.”

Again, I bet Dorego knows what Cuomo got in return for 421-a support back in 2011.

Is he talking to US Attorney Preet Bharara and the feds about it?

What else is he talking to the feds about?

Fred LeBrun: Is Preet Bharara Saving The Best For Last?

Fred LeBrun in the Times-Union:

The timing of the Skelos charges by the feds is interesting. We in the media heard months ago, even before a New York City television station went public with it, that the feds were investigating Skelos and his son.

Every politically connected individual on Long Island had to know it was happening, which means Skelos had to know, and so did Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Logically, then, all the while the governor's so-called ethics package was being batted about in the Legislature, the principals knew that at some point most probably the hammer would fall and make them all look foolish — again.

Perhaps that explains why the governor didn't do much of a victory dance over what half-baked ethics changes he did get passed, except to once again overstate their significance.

Of course, there may be another reason for Cuomo to button his lip. Conspicuously unresolved in the minds of many is whether the same federal prosecutor who has taken down both Silver and Skelos from on high is saving the best for last. We know of Bharara's displeasure with the way the governor's Moreland Commission looking into corruption was hastily disbanded.

With Skelos going down, the cheese stands alone.

Cuomo stands alone, but as I pointed out yesterday, there's plenty for the feds to investigate:

The Glenwood connections (which Cuomo either misremembered or lied about in a public statement last week.)

The bankster/bond deals.

The News Corp book deal.

The Sony connection. 

The Hollywood connection.

The investigations into Cuomo donors Cuomo's office sought to curtail during the Moreland Commission.

The fishiness of the deal he made with Silver/Skelos to shut down Moreland in return for a lukewarm ethics package that changed little in Albany.

The Moreland Commission tampering, including whether Cuomo or anyone from Cuomo's office directed commissioners to not refer criminal cases to the DA.

The post-commission tampering, including the drafting of statements by Cuomo's office for former Moreland Commissioners to issue in favor of Cuomo's handling of the commission.

That's a pretty extensive list of corruption charges.

Cuomo may stand alone, but he had better not get to cocky about it.

Cuomo helped, in part, take down a governor when he was attorney general and used that as a stepping stone to his current office.

You can bet that the current US Attorney for the Southern District, an ambitious man with a penchant for publicity who made his bones with Cuomo-enemy Chuck Schumer, wouldn't mind making a similar a career move for himself.

Let's List The Quid Pro Cuomo Deals (UPDATED - 12:05 PM)

Let's see, how many examples of Quid Pro Cuomo deals do we have in the public record?

The IBTimes reported Cuomo took $132,000 in campaign donations from JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup and gave them $3 billion in bond business in return.

The IBTimes reported Cuomo received at least $700,000 in compensation from News Corporation for his memoir, All Things Possible, "after Cuomo’s administration backed a series of state initiatives that benefited the media giant."

All Things Possible has sold slightly more than 3,000 copies.

Hacked Sony emails showed "Cuomo’s campaign pressing Sony to deliver $50,000 worth of donations before a July 15, 2014 campaign filing deadline as he ramped up his re-election campaign last summer."

Film industry executives have donated $900,000 to Cuomo since 2011 while the film industry receives $421 million a year in tax breaks from New York State.

Cuomo's quid pro quo relationship with the real estate industry was revealed last summer in the NY Times' Moreland Commission expose:

The Real Estate Board of New York’s power and influence over state government is, as a well-known Democratic operative put it, “about as new as hieroglyphics.” Albany politicians often transition into lucrative real estate careers, and Governor Andrew Cuomo is a tuxedo-clad fixture at REBNY’s annual gala. But an investigative story in the New York Times yesterday laid out the extent of the industry’s influence with Cuomo in the most explicit manner yet. The industry’s initial response to the story, however, suggests that it is unlikely to impact how REBNY does business.

The Times’ three-month investigation chronicles the tempestuous saga of the short-lived Moreland Commission, which was formed by Cuomo last July to crack down on public corruption. It details how Cuomo sought to block a subpoena that the commission intended to send to REBNY in order to investigate, among other things, the organization’s political donations, its materials related to the controversial 421-a abatement used by New York developers including Extell Development and Silverstein Properties, and its communications with public officials.

In the newspaper’s story, REBNY president Steven Spinola seems to make a direct connection between the financial support and the industry-favorable policy to which it gives rise.

In a memo to REBNY members seen by the newspaper, Spinola said that based on private meetings with Cuomo, the Senate majority leader [Dean Skelos or Jeffrey Klein] and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, he had come to a clear conclusion: REBNY’s “past efforts to maintain a personal and supportive relationship was critical in shaping the outcome” of legislation. “Our future ability to adopt favorable legislation, stop terrible legislation or modify legislation to limit the pain to our industry is directly tied to our continued positive relationship,” Spinola continued in the memo.

Cuomo's largest donor, Glenwood Management, is at the center of both the Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos corruption cases.

Cuomo received $1.5 million from Glenwood during the last campaign cycle.

Cuomo said he would continue to take money from Glenwood because they have done nothing wrong and besides, he's never met with anybody from Glenwood to discuss anything related to real estate.

Except that he has - at least three times.

Here's Gothamist:

It's been two days since Governor Cuomo told reporters that he has "never" talked about rent regulations with real estate company Glenwood Management—one of the state's largest political donors, best known these days for allegedly passing favors under the table to both Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Today, however, Capital reports that Cuomo appears to be suffering from selective memory loss: According to the Governor's public schedule, he actually met with Glenwood three times back in 2011 to discuss, you guessed it, "rent regulations."

In one of those meetings, the only people in the room were the governor, Glenwood President Leonard Litwin, and Senior VP Charles Dorego, the guy who just signed a non-prosecution agreement with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and consequently has Albany lawmakers shaking in their loafers.

New York City's rent regulation law is set to expire June 15th, along with 421-a, a '70s-era tax subsidy that favors large developers like Glenwood. For the past few months, housing advocates have been pushing for stronger rent regulation laws, and the abolishment of 421-a. Cuomo has spoken out in favor of renewing both.

It's worth noting that Cuomo received a combined $1.5 million in donations from Glenwood and Litwin, in his last election cycle. Just this week, an indictment against Skelos accused the Senate majority leader of supporting developer-friendly rent control legislation, in exchange for Glenwood paying his son, Adam, for doing very little.

And in January, Silver was accused of sending Glenwood business to law firm Goldberg & Iryami, P.C. in exchange for referral fees. Of Albany's notorious three men in a room, Cuomo is the last one standing.

As if all this doesn't look bad enough, Capital notes that Cuomo's Glenwood meetings took place in the leadup to June 2011, the last time rent control laws and 421-a were up for renewal. 

David Sirota from IBTimes with a little more on Cuomo and Glenwood:

Neither Cuomo's office nor Glenwood Management responded to International Business Times' request for comment about the governor's relationship with Litwin. But documents reviewed by IBTimes illustrate Cuomo’s role in the developer's state business.

The Cuomo-run New York State Housing Finance Agency, for instance, approved a $260 million state-supported low-interest loan in 2014 to finance Glenwood’s new luxury apartment building in midtown Manhattan. At the time the loan to Glenwood was approved, the NYHFA was headed by Cuomo appointee Bill Mulrow, an executive and registered lobbyist at Blackstone, a private equity and real estate firm. Mulrow was just appointed to be the governor’s chief of staff. According to NYHFA documents, Glenwood also has had other business with the agency.

And then there was the "ethics" deal Cuomo got out of former Assembly Speaker Silver and soon-to-be-former Senate Majority Leader Skelos in return for shutting down the Moreland Commission that was investigating Albany corruption and had uncovered some dirt on both Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos.

That ethics deal was so lukewarm that the NY Times reported not much had really changed afterward. 

The Wall Street Journal reported that prosecutors were investigating "whether New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo or his staff directed an anticorruption commission to not refer cases to district attorneys for prosecution, according to people familiar with the matter."

In addition, the WSJ reported that prosecutors

are investigating whether the Cuomo administration interfered in the commission's work, and why the commission was disbanded.

Finally, prosecutors have indicated they want to know whether the governor's office pressured several commissioners to issue statements in recent weeks disputing the notion the administration had interfered in its investigations, these people said.

This is the stuff that's in the public record.

I'm sure there's a lot more that we don't know about, but given the Cuomo's administration's official policy to delete emails after 90 days, a lot of that may never be revealed.

Unless US Attorney Preet Bharara has wiretaps on people in Albany.

Oh, wait - he does.

And maybe if US Attorney Preet Bharara has some bad players cooperating with the feds against Albany politicians.

Oh, wait - he does.

I dunno if the feds are actually going after Cuomo for all this corruption, but there sure is a lot of smoke around Cuomo and his merry minions.

Seems to me if the feds look at Cuomo as closely as they looked at Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos, they'll find plenty to take him for an early morning police car ride downtown.

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 Gets $700,000 To Sell 3,008 Books

In the WSJ story detailing how Andrew Cuomo has tried to control an unauthorized biography that has been written about him and is set to be released soon is this:

The Democratic governor in April 2013 signed a book deal of his own with HarperCollins, worth more than $700,000. He planned a quick turnaround so it would hit before the 2014 election. It was slated for release before Mr. Shnayerson’s unauthorized biography went to print.

Mr. Cuomo’s book, “All Things Possible,” was a flop. His publisher had announced an initial print run of 200,000. To date, it has sold 3,008 hardcovers and 13 audiobooks, according to Nielsen BookScan data.

3,008 hardcovers sold out of the 200,000 initial print run.

Oh, and don't forget the 13 audiobooks.

For $700,000.

Nice work if you can get it.

Especially since Cuomo didn't actually write the book himself (staff did.)

How is this not a bribe from Rupert Murdoch?

Will Federal Prosecutors Investigate Andrew Cuomo's News Corporation Book Deal?

Fred LeBrun in the Times-Union:

A book deal with HarperCollins over his selective memoirs called "All Things Possible," published last fall, has for months been sold to the public by the governor himself as a straightforward, ethical arrangement with which no reasonable individual could possibly find fault or even question.

True, a lot of money is involved, the better part of a million bucks, and very few books have been sold — around 3,000. Equally true, the contract has not been made public, so we are kept in the dark about its terms — a Cuomo administration specialty.

But it's apparent Andrew Cuomo has made himself an extraordinary arrangement under which he gets to keep some $800,000 when all the installments are paid out, presumably whether another book is sold or not.

What a splendid contract. Almost too good to be true.

And the best part for the governor is the money doesn't go to charity, or back into the state's general fund, or even his campaign fund. It goes right into his pocket.

LeBrun points to the David Sirota report that the Cuomo administration was lobbied both before and after Sheriff Andy was given the book contract by the owner of HarperCollins, News Corporation, and News Corp received tens of millions in tax breaks as a result of that lobbying as reason why a skeptical public and press might want to know the details of Cuomo's book contract.

But Cuomo says oh pshaw:

The INT connected a large number of dots that on paper at least show the appearance of a huge potential conflict, and at the least cast an ugly light on that gobsmacking great book deal of the governor's. When he was asked about the INT revelations, Cuomo dismissed any hint of impropriety. He said: "I have no idea that they lobbied for it. I don't even know what it is, by the way."

That doesn't sit well with LeBrun who says Cuomo needs to reveal the details of the book contract:

So we are to take the governor's word for it. A governor who is almost the definition of a micromanager is telling us he's not aware of multiple lobbying efforts on a number fronts by one of the leading media conglomerates in the world going back to his days as New York's attorney general.

Maybe so. But we should be told a lot more, not less, about this wonderful book deal.

Such as: the contract. Let's see it. The governor claims he got a waiver from his Joint Commission on Public Ethics to publish and market the book. Well, let's see that too. Let's see what restrictions were placed on him, it any, and which commissioners signed off on it. Let's find out from HarperCollins how many of these sweetheart contracts are out there, how unusual this is.

Let's find out who approached whom. Did the governor's agent approach HarperCollins, or vice versa? Under oath would be nice, but how likely is that? Or, for that matter, how likely is it that any state agency or investigative agent will scrutinize the book deal of the century?

They all live in terror of the Dark Prince. Oh, where art thou, Preet?

So far, Cuomo refuses to reveal the details of the book contract publicly.

It's long past time this matter receive some scrutiny.

Will it?

It would seem only the feds can handle this matter.

Will they?

Cuomo: I Can't Be Held Responsible For News Corp Quid Pro Quo Because I'm Ignorant

No, seriously, that's his excuse:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he knew nothing about a bill he signed -- a bill that News Corp. lobbied on before the company gave Cuomo a lucrative book contract. Cuomo was asked about the bill at an Albany press conference Wednesday after International Business Times reported that he backed initiatives helping News Corp. 

Questioned about the legislation he signed in September 2011, Cuomo declared: “I have no idea that [News Corp.] lobbied for it. I have no idea what it is, by the way.” 

The bill in question exempted online pay-walled publications from state sales taxes. State documents show News Corp. was one of only two firms to lobby on the bill. At the time, the Rupert Murdoch-led media company was making multimillion-dollar investments in the Daily -- a publication that would benefit from the special tax exemption. 

Prior to the IBTimes report, Cuomo challenged reporters to show how his book contract accepting cash from News Corp. presented a conflict with state business that he oversees. IBTimes documented state records showing News Corp. lobbying Cuomo’s office. Those records list the company lobbying on everything from tax policy to education policy to state contracts.

Caught red-handed taking dough from a company that directly lobbied his administration, Cuomo claims ignorance as an excuse.

Let us imagine how Attorney General Cuomo would react to such an excuse were he investigating a matter like this and the target said "Geez, I can't be held responsible because I didn't know..."

To make matters worse around this, Cuomo STILL refuses to release the contract he signed with News Corporation for his book deal - a book that has sold less 3,000 copies.

He is expected to be paid someone between $700,000 and $880,000 for the book and has already received $188,000 for it.

If he receives $700,000 for the book and it sells less 3,000 copies, News Corporation will be paying Cuomo more than $233 a book.

Considering the book lists at $30, that's an awful lot of dough Rupert Murdoch's paying Cuomo.

I bet he's happy he got some tax breaks and other deals from Cuomo on the side in addition to the memoir Cuomo wrote.