Federal Investigation Into Cuomo's Economic Development Program Expands Statewide

Tom Precious of the Buffalo News does an amazing job of putting together the various strands of the federal investigation into Governor Cuomo's economic development programs.

According to Precious, here is what U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has subpoenaed:

All documents relating to the October 2013 request for proposals for the Buffalo Billion program as well as a development project by the same state university-created corporation – Fort Schuyler Management Corp. – in Syracuse, along with a March 2015 RFP by a sister entity for a since-stalled dormitory project at SUNY Polytechnic in Albany;

• Details about certain actions taken by Percoco, Howe, several top current Cuomo advisers and the head of the state Power Authority, as well as Peter Cutler, a longtime Democratic operative from Buffalo who recently left Cuomo’s economic development field office in Western New York. The New York Post first reported that last week. Cutler last week confirmed he, too, had received a subpoena from Bharara’s office, though he declined to say what he is being asked to provide;

• Any actions by those individuals “for the benefit of” nearly two dozen companies, including LPCiminelli, the Buffalo construction company handling construction of the RiverBend complex, and Norstar Development USA, a Buffalo-based company headed by the former top housing czar in the administration of the late Gov. Mario Cuomo, the current governor’s father;

• Phone logs, visitor logs and calendar entries going back to January 2012 that might show meetings or contacts between administration officials and two dozen people or entities, including Ciminelli, Norstar, several Syracuse firms, a Brooklyn real estate developer, a Rochester real estate company, and two firms that, according to Percoco, paid him up to $120,000 in consulting fees sometime in 2014. Also on the list: Alain Kaloyeros, the SUNY Polytechnic president and Cuomo point person on the Buffalo Billion, as well as Howe.

In addition, Bharara wants to see what the administration has been saying internally about the now expanding Buffalo Billion probe. The subpoena seeks “all documents or communications related to the investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office” that are in possession of Cuomo’s office.

The broad subpoena has “driven the administration crazy,” according to a source close to the matter.

It seeks all documents Cuomo’s office has on file about Howe, the Washington lobbyist and Cuomo insider. He has been described as the go-between person between companies looking to expand to upstate ventures, such as the Buffalo Billion and high-tech projects in other upstate cities that SUNY Polytechnic, and the state’s economic development office oversee, according to sources.

Prosecutors want Cuomo’s office to also give them all documents relating to WOH Government Solutions, the lobbying entity Howe headed before he was recently fired, and its parent company, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, the Albany lobbying and law firm. That firm has worn many hats, representing, for instance, SUNY Polytechnic or one of its subsidiary corporations and LPCiminelli.

Precious writes that "Bharara wants to know if key Cuomo people, past and present, did anything to “benefit” several companies that have been a part of various state-financed projects."

Now it's possible that he's looking at just Cuomo's minions like former aides Joe Percoco and Todd Howe or Suny Polytechnic's Alain Kaloyeros to see if and how they've enriched themselves off the contracting process with many of the companies subpoenaed in the investigation.

But it's also quite possible that he's looking at the donations Cuomo received from those subpoenaed companies, in which case Cuomo himself may have a bit of trouble.

See, it's a quid pro quo to solicit campaign donations in return for favors, contracts, tax subsidies or grants, so if there's any evidence anything like that occurred, Governor Cuomo would have some legal problems.

The most interesting instance where you could see Preet making that case is with COR Development and the report that came this week from Jimmy Vielkind at Politico NY.

The gist is this:

On December 14, 2015, Governor Cuomo attended a dinner hosted by Todd Howe, his former aide who was then a lobbyist for a subsidiary of Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna.

The dinner took place "in a small upstairs room of the Fort Orange Club, a baronial brick retreat across the street from Whiteman’s Albany offices and up the block from the state Capitol."

At the dinner?

Cuomo and Howe (who Cuomo said last week he doesn't know that well), two other aides (Bill Mulrow, the governor's secretary, and Joe Percoco, Cuomo's closest aide who is also reported to be under federal investigation for conflicts of interest and other corruption charges), Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, a key Republican ally of the administration, and three executives from COR Development, a company of interest in Preet Bharara's federal investigation.

Cuomo took in $25,000 in five checks that night, three from COR executives, one from one of the wives of a COR executive and one from an LLC linked to COR Development.

COR Development has been Cuomo's biggest donor from Central New York, giving him more than $300,000 since 2010, including $50,000 in the last year.

And what did COR Development get in return?

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.

COR is also developing the Syracuse Inner Harbor, but that project has run into trouble. The city of Syracuse, which named COR as its developer, is now suing COR over tax breaks for the Inner Harbor project that the company obtained from Onondaga County's industrial development agency.

There's another interesting Cuomo angle here too.

Cuomo's D.A. buddy, William Fitzpatrick, who served as a Cuomo ally and apologist on the Moreland Commission that Cuomo shut down in 2014 (and whose wife needed to be reappointed to a judgeship by Cuomo), is investigating Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner (once a Cuomo ally, now a Cuomo enemy) over the lawsuit the City of Syracuse brought against COR Development.

That Fitzpatrick investigation appears to be both frivolous and retaliatory, judging by this piece of news from Syracuse.com:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -€“ Saying he does not intend to assist a "fishing expedition,'' an Onondaga County judge this week delivered a setback to District Attorney William Fitzpatrick and his efforts to investigate alleged wrongdoing at Syracuse City Hall.

County Court Judge Walter Hafner Jr. blocked Fitzpatrick's subpoena for emails, notes, drafts and other communications produced by Syracuse city lawyers, saying the DA made "no showing'' that the documents were part of any crime or fraud.

...

The district attorney, who criticized Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner for bringing a lawsuit against COR Development Co., the Inner Harbor developer, has launched an investigation into Miner and some of her political allies.

Among other things, Fitzpatrick is looking for evidence of alleged wrongdoing connected with what he called "phony affidavits'' filed in the lawsuit by two city councilors who are friendly with Miner.

But in his ruling to decide what documents city hall must turn over, Hafner said Fitzpatrick has not produced evidence of wrongdoing to justify his demand to see communications between city lawyers and other city officials. Most of those records are protected from disclosure by attorney-client privilege, the judge wrote.

In response to the district attorney's request that Hafner review all the city hall materials privately to determine whether any should be forwarded to the grand jury, Hafner called that proposal "patently absurd.''

"It is not . . . the function of this court to assist the district attorney in a fishing expedition,'' Hafner wrote.

Interesting how Cuomo's ally/apologist, William Fitzpatrick, is taking on Cuomo's enemy, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner for Cuomo's biggest donor in Central New York, COR Development.

Here's Miner's rationale for the lawsuit:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Mayor Stephanie Miner set out Tuesday to kill the biggest Syracuse development in years – the $324 million Syracuse Inner Harbor project – after the developer went around the city to negotiate lucrative tax breaks from Onondaga County.

The mayor is trying to halt a transformative Inner Harbor project that she herself launched four years ago, after previous mayors tried and failed. The ambitious new waterfront neighborhood would have been her most visible accomplishment as mayor.

Miner's drastic move came after the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency was squeezed out of control over the Inner Harbor deal by a developer with strong ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and to Cuomo's allies in Onondaga County leadership.

"What you are seeing here is a clash of philosophy on economic development,'' Miner said in an interview today. She said the lawsuit aims to preserve the city's sovereignty over how the project gets done.

''It's about this: The developer doesn't get to set the terms and conditions of all the things that they want to do, which, in my experience is different from what has been done previous to my administration,'' Miner said.

Miner filed a lawsuit Tuesday that aims to halt the Inner Harbor project by nullifying the city's sale of the land to COR Development Co. She said COR should be required to meet significant local hiring and job-training quotas in return for any discount on property taxes.

Also should note that Cuomo's Republican ally, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney (who just happened to be at the December 14, 2015 fundraiser with COR Development, Cuomo, Howe and Company), has launched attacks against Miner for the COR lawsuit, calling Miner "emotional" and hurting the City of Syracuse for "lashing out" after getting her feelings hurt.

Yeah, kid you not - that's what she said.

There's so much here in this COR Development story and at the center of all of it is not Todd Howe, the lobbyist and former aide to Cuomo who is reported to be under investigation by the feds, but rather one Andrew Cuomo, whose allies have launched attacks and investigations against one of his enemies after said enemy filed a lawsuit against his bestest donor in Central New York.

This Syracuse/COR story is just one of the strands Preet Bharara is following in his investigation - as Tom Precious reported in his Buffalo News story, there are many others as well.

But it's this COR Development strand that really intrigues the more one follows it, because you can see how the guy at the center of so much of the action is Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo told reporters last week that as far as he knows, the investigation is just related to two of his former aides, Percoco and Howe, thus sending out the not-so-subtle message that he himself is not under investigation.

Perhaps that's how the investigation started, but what do you think Bharara does when he gets all this interesting information and evidence in the COR Development strand?

Does he not continue to follow up to find out just how the tax breaks got handed out, why Stephanie Miner was pushed out of the deal and Cuomo's Republican ally, Joanie Mahoney, elevated, why Cuomo's D.A. ally/apologist is investigating Miner (and was it at the behest of Cuomo himself)?

Oh, so much to look at here, so much to marvel at.

It's the perfect Cuomoesque ratfuck that got pulled here, but in the end, if Bharara follows this Syracuse/COR strand to its very end, it may be Governor Cuomo himself who gets screwed.

Precious wrote that the Cuomo administration is being "driven crazy" by all the information Bharara is looking for.

Good - couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.

Companies Tied To Percoco Corruption Investigation Increased Donations To Cuomo

From the Wall Street Journal:

A former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is a focus of a federal public-corruption probe reported at least $70,000 in income from two companies that had business before the state and had contributed to the governor’s re-election campaign.

The federal investigation is looking at payments that Joseph Percoco, Mr. Cuomo’s former aide and re-election campaign manager, reported he received from COR Development Co. LLC, a developer, and CHA, a civil-engineering firm previously known as Clough, Harbour & Associates LLC, and whether the firms received beneficial treatment from the state, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Percoco’s annual financial disclosure statements show he received payments from both companies in 2014. He received between $50,000 and $75,000 from COR and between $20,000 and $50,000 from CHA, according to the reports.

...

During the time Mr. Percoco reported receiving the payments from these companies, he spent a large portion of the year working as campaign manager for Mr. Cuomo’s 2014 re-election bid, a period that coincided with a significant increase in donations to the governor’s campaign from CHA.

Between 2013 and 2014, Clough, Harbour & Associates donated $160,000 to Mr. Cuomo’s campaign, according to filings with the state Board of Elections. Before that, the one reported contribution from the firm to Mr. Cuomo was $1,000 in 2010. The company gave another $35,000 to the governor’s campaign in 2015.

In 2013, COR executives and LLCs affiliated with the company contributed $187,500 to Mr. Cuomo’s campaign, up from $60,000 in 2012 and $15,000 in 2011.

Before January 2011, the only contribution from those parties was a $5,000 donation from COR President Steven F. Aiello, in 2010.

Steven F. Aiello has a son, Steven L. Aiello, who currently works for the state's Division of Military and Naval Affairs as a project assistant but previously worked for Cuomo's re-election campaign.

COR reiterated yesterday that they never paid Percoco but Percoco's JCOPE disclosure form says otherwise.

Perhaps Preet never gets as high as Cuomo in this matter, perhaps Cuomo continues to have plausible deniability around the corruption allegations, the increased donations, the outside payments, the rigged bids and so forth.

Jim Heaney at Investigative Post writes that even if that is so, Cuomo's governing style invited this kind of corruption:

In short, the Cuomo crowd is obsessed with secrecy and operates with the mistaken notion that the rules don’t apply to them. The governor may or may not have knowledge of the supposed misdeeds of some of his associates, but he has most certainly created an environment that’s made state government susceptible to official misconduct.

The erased emails, the use of untraceable Blackberry PIN communication, the ignored FOIA requests - all show Cuomo running his administration not like a governing official but like an organized crime figure who doesn't want to end up on a wire or with his emails subpoenaed.

And if Cuomo or his minions get offended by the organized crime analogy, well, too bad.

That's exactly how they run things in the Cuomo administration, as we're seeing more and more in the Buffalo Billion and associated investigations.

Susan Lerner: De Blasio Just Followed In Cuomo's Campaign Fundraising Footsteps

Ever since somebody leaked a "report" written by a Cuomo hack at the Board of Elections alleging Mayor Bill de Blasio and people close to him circumvented campaign finance law in trying to win the state Senate for Democrats in 2014, de Blasio has been getting hammered in the press as the second coming of Boss Tweed.

Cuomo is thought to be behind the writing of the damning "report" that was sent to the Manhattan D.A. and the U.S. Attorney for criminal referral and the leaking of it to the press to do maximum damage to his "friend" de Blasio, whom he wants to see knocked off next year when the mayor's up for re-election.

One of the most frustrating parts of the coverage of the de Blasio campaign finance mess is that both Michael Bloomberg and Andrew Cuomo have acted in similar ways yet never took the heat de Blasio's getting over the fundraising.

I wrote a little about Michael Bloomberg and his shenanigans with the Independence Party here so you can see how Bloomberg played fast and loose with campaign finance, bribed individual members of the Independence Party for three election cycles and used the party to launder money to be used for illicit purposes during the 2009 election cycle.

Bloomberg himself was exonerated of any misdeeds by Manhattan D.A. Vance but alas, the operative who was helping Bloomberg to launder the money (and instead stole it) was charged and convicted of a crime.

Somehow in all the de Blasio news, the Bloomberg/Independence Party shenanigans never got mentioned.

Gee, imagine that.

Bloomberg was not the only New York political figure to play fast and loose with the law - Andrew Cuomo has done so as well.

Susan Lerner of Common Cause took to the NY Daily News to set the record on Cuomo's own campaign fundraising games that look an awful lot like Bill de Blasio's:

Much of the scrutiny trained on de Blasio feels selective — because the aggressive fundraising tactics of other politicians, particularly Gov. Cuomo, paralleled and in many ways paved the way for what the mayor would go on to do.

First, let's review the facts:

In 2011, the governor set up an entity called the Committee to Save New York, a tax-exempt, 501(c)4 non-profit group that could raise unlimited amounts of money without disclosing its donors. Cuomo and his allies deliberately created the committee in such a way as to sidestep disclosure requirements.

Before closing in the spring of 2013, the committee would go on to raise $17 million and spend in excess of $10 million in furtherance of the governor's agenda, mostly on advertising. At the time Common Cause New York, the group I lead, was highly critical of the private, "independent" political advocacy organization, mainly because of the potential for conflict that such secrecy breeds.

Some donors voluntarily disclosed their involvement — and just about all of them, gambling and real estate interests in particular, had business before the state, and millions upon millions of dollars at stake in the decisions Cuomo made.

Flash forward. The year after Cuomo's Committee to Save New York shut its doors, de Blasio launched a group clearly inspired by it — the Campaign for One New York.

Same idea, same problem: Private interests closely tied to an elected official funding what was essentially a shadow campaign operation, and millions of dollars from businesses, unions and others flowing in, in excess of the limits we impose on direct campaign giving. (One important way in which de Blasio's campaign was less nefarious than Cuomo's committee: the names of donors were disclosed, allowing he press and the public to dig into potential conflicts.)

After much scrutiny, and a formal complaint from Common Cause New York, the mayor finally shut the campaign down this March.

Lerner's not defending de Blasio's campaign fundraising games, just pointing out that they're very similar to Cuomo's.

The governor's office received a subpoena in the Buffalo Billion Project probe from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara on Friday, so Cuomo's starting to get some heat over corruption, but there's still precious little mention that if de Blasio's dirty for his Campaign for One New York, then Cuomo's dirty for his Committee To Save New York.

Thankfully Lerner is setting the record straight in the Daily News today.

Read the whole piece.

Lerner shows just how corrupt the whole system is in New York and how everybody - everybody - takes advantage of it.

Kathy Hochul To Attend Fundraiser From Anti-Union Group Linked To Safety Violations, Workplace Fatalities

Remember when AFT President Randi Weingarten made robocalls for bank lobbyist Kathy Hochul when Hochul was running for lieutenant governor and was having some problems dispensing with her opponent, Tim Wu, in the polling?

Here's how Hochul pays Union Prez Weingarten back - by attending a fundraiser for her boss, Andrew Cuomo, given by an anti-union group with links to construction firms with histories of safety violations and worker fatalities:

The attorney for a campaign against union construction labor is co-hosting a fundraiser for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

On Monday afternoon, the founding partners of Gotham Government Relations invited powerbrokers to a Jan. 7 fundraiser for Cuomo at the home of Brad and Cheryl Gerstman in Roslyn, on Long Island.

The hosts are listed as the Gerstmans and David and Heather Schwartz. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul is scheduled to make an appearance, according to the invitation. It’s not clear whether Cuomo himself will attend.

...

State records indicate their firm lobbies for 400 Times Square Associates LLC, which is reportedly using non-union labor to develop a hotel at 577 Ninth Ave., where a construction worker recently died.

As of last month, Gerstman was also an attorney for the Rinaldi Group, a building contractor whose license was pulled for running unsafe job sites. The city launched an investigation into Rinaldi after a worker perished at a Rinaldi construction site in Midtown.

Gerstman is also frontman for BuildingNYC, a group launched this month that advocates against union construction labor.

There's so much wrong here.

First, that Cuomo doesn't have the guts to attend himself shows you what a coward he is - if he wants the anti-union money with the blood on it, the least he can do is show up at the fundraiser to take it with his own hands.

Second, as many of us expected with Hochul's past as a bank lobbyist, she is happily anti-union and demonstrates this with her attendance at this anti-union group's fundraiser.

Third, Cuomo's been making a lot of hay recently with liberals, pushing for some prison reforms, pushing for a minimum wage hike and the like, but liberals ought not to be fooled by any of this.

Nothing's changed with the anti-union/anti-worker Cuomo, clearly, or he wouldn't be taking the blood money from the anti-union group linked to construction firms with histories of safety violations and worker fatalities.

As for Hochul, let's just note that if there suddenly is a vacancy n the governor's mansion and she gets elevated to governor, she's squarely shown her anti-union/anti-worker bona fides.

Cuomo Vows To "Save New York City"

Ken Lovett in the Daily News:

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo, who has been feuding with Mayor de Blasio, recently told a group that one of his top priorities now is to "save New York City," the Daily News has learned.

Cuomo made the comment several weeks ago at a private event for his fund-raising committee, according to sources who were in attendance and another who was told by two people who were there.

Given that Cuomo has pledged $750 million in taxpayer money to a solar company that has lost $1.2 billion since 2008, has seen its losses accelerate since and is under federal investigation, maybe he should try saving his own Buffalo Billion Project instead.

And speaking of investigations, given that the feds are investigating that Buffalo Billion Project, his campaign donors and what appears to be bid rigging in favor of them, Cuomo may have his hands full elsewhere and be unable to "save New York City."

It's kinda difficult to "save New York City" when your hands are in handcuffs.

Cuomo Decides Scalping World Series Tickets For Campaign Donations Not Such A Great Idea After All

From the Buffalo News:

ALBANY – Facing mounting criticism for mixing politics and the World Series, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo canceled plans Wednesday night to hold a $5,500 per person fundraiser during two games this weekend at Citi Field when the New York Mets return to Queens for the start of their home stand.

The governor, who took a private jet on a Long Island-based charter service with the owners of the Mets to the first game of the World Series Tuesday night in Kansas City, said he was canceling the Friday and Saturday night fundraisers because of an “overwhelming demand for tickets” to the games. His campaign on Monday sent email invitations to donors asking for contributions of $5,500 apiece to attend a pregame reception and seats for either Game Three or Four or the World Series when it returns to New York this weekend. 

Government reform groups this week criticized Cuomo for the timing of the events, saying they showed how deep-pocket contributors could gain access to New York government’s chief executive in ways ordinary New Yorkers could not. New York Post editorial writers Wednesday likened Cuomo to a ticket scalper.

As attorney general, Cuomo had gone after people who waited on line for Shakespeare in the Park tickets, then sold them on Craigslist.

But the only thing that stopped him from scalping World Series tickets for campaign dough was a public shaming.

Cuomo Scalps World Series Tickets For Campaign Donations After Going After Shakespeare In The Park Scalpers In 2010

The NY Post points out Cuomo's hypocrisy on his latest campaign donation scheme - scalping World Series tickets:

The Post reported Tuesday, Gov. Cuomo is using the Mets’ home games in the World Series to raise himself some campaign cash.

His staff picked up a “very limited number” of tickets to this week’s Games 3 and 4 at Citi Field — and is selling tickets to supporters for as much as $5,500.

...

Now, scalping is perfectly legal in New York; a whole secondary market exists for that purpose. But Cuomo’s charging a major markup: The average Series ticket at Citifield is going for about $1,600 on StubHub.

Worse is the unseemly air of insider access here. It’s far easier for a high-ranking official (or his flunkies) to score seats than it is for the average Joe. Did Cuomo forget the anger when Gov. David Paterson scored Yankees tickets?

And to then milk the prized passes for campaign cash . . .

It’s particularly tacky when Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was so tough on scalpers. Back in 2010, he went after folks who sat in line for free Shakespeare In The Park tickets, then resold them on Craigslist. Under Cuomo’s prodding, the site agreed to ban such ads.

And that was to stop some low-level types from earning a few extra bucks.

Now Cuomo is scalping to let a few fat-wallet friends catch the game with him and help out with his next re-election.

Frankly it's more than "tacky" that Cuomo's scalping Mets tickets after going after Shakespeare in the Park scalpers back in 2010.

It's hypocritical and he should be called to account for it.

Why is it not okay for people to wait on line all day for Shakespeare in the Park tickets, then resell them on Ebay, but it's okay for him to get special access to World Series tickets and then scalp them for campaign donations?

Cuomo Staff Tries To Keep Reporter From Covering Hochul Meeting With Kiryas Joel Leaders

Here's some news from the most open and transparent New York State government in history:

KERHONKSON - Satmar leaders heaped praise upon the lieutenant governor and governor Tuesday during visits by Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul to Orthodox Jewish girls’ camps in Sullivan and Ulster counties.

During visits to Camp Bais Rochel in South Fallsburg and Camp Rav Tov in Kerhonkson, Hochul watched camper performances, listened to speeches given by current and former campers, and met with Kiryas Joel Mayor Abraham Wieder and other Satmar community leaders.

Hochul and her entourage were an hour late arriving to Camp Rav Tov. In the meantime, camp staff welcomed press presence and sought to show off their campers’ model behavior. Hochul’s Chief of Staff Jeffrey Pearlman and David Lobl, Special Assistant for Jewish Affairs to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, tried unsuccessfully to have a reporter leave the grounds of Camp Rav Tov until after Hochul visited with campers. Lobl called the campers’ presentation before Hochul, which included chants, songs and thankful speeches about Hochul’s and Cuomo’s support of the Jewish community, “off the record.”

Photos shared on Twitter by the Village of Kiryas Joel’s Twitter account showed the village’s mayor meeting with Hochul and her staff at one of the camps.

Why would Cuomo's staff want to keep the press away from the Hochul meeting with Kiryas Joel leaders?

Well, there is this:

Hochul's visit to the Satmar camps came less than a month after Cuomo vetoed two bills that Kiryas Joel leaders lobbied fiercely against as a threat to the community's expansion plans. Within days of those July 8 vetoes, a Kiryas Joel man who controls Satmar land holdings in Monroe and Woodbury - including some of the vacant tracts contained in a pending 507-acre annexation petition - deposited $250,000 in the governor's campaign account through five limited liability corporations, records show.

Perhaps Cuomo's special assistant for Jewish affairs and Hocul's chief of staff were afraid she wouldn't be able to have an open and frank discussion about how much more Cuomo needs to have donated into his campaign if the Kiryas Joel community wants more payback from him?

Crooked Cuomo Pushes Crooked John Flanagan To Replace Crooked Dean Skelos

Cuomo Watch today:

BREAKING!: CW has just learned ugly news — Gov. Cuomo working behind the scenes for Flanagan to replace Skelos pic.twitter.com/ECSU2gklJF

— Cuomo Watch (@CuomoWatch) May 10, 2015

Fred Dicker last Monday:

Several sources close to the Senate GOP said they expected Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has worked closely with Skelos to legalize gay marriage and pass the anti-gun SAFE Act, to aid the selection of Flanagan.

“The fact is that Long Island Republicans, with few exceptions, are no different than the Democrats: They love Cuomo, they favor big government, they like big spending, and they’re hostile to the Second Amendment,’’ said a former Senate GOP employee.

No surprise that the ethically challenged Andrew Cuomo wants to replace the ethically-challenged Dean Skelos with the ethically-challenged John Flanagan.

And just how ethically-challenged is John Flanagan?

Well, here's a start, (from March 16, 2015):

What Is John Flanagan Doing For The Money?

Dovetailing with the Newsday story yesterday that investigated just how Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos is making $250K for a law firm where he is listed as having no specialty (he's just "of counsel") comes this Daily News report about Senate Education Committee Chair John Flanagan:

ALBANY — A veteran Long Island state senator voted on a host of bills that benefited clients of a law firm for which he works, the Daily News has learned.

In addition to being a longtime state lawmaker who chairs the Senate Education Committee, John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County) is “of counsel” at Forchelli, Curto, Deegan, Schwartz, Mineo & Terrana in Uniondale, where he reported making between $100,000 and $150,000 in 2013.

A number of the clients listed on the law firm’s website have business before the state, including Cablevision, Chase Bank, and Citibank.

The firm also lists as clients different colleges, governments and other groups with matters before the state.

...

Government reform advocates say there is at the very least an appearance of a conflict of interest that should have led Flanagan to either recuse himself from votes impacting clients of his law firm or publicly disclose the ties.

“There should be a desire to avoid even the appearance of impropriety and undue influence,” said Susan Lerner, of Common Cause/New York.

In a number of cases, Flanagan voted in favor of bills on which public records show clients of his law firm had lobbied.

John Flanagan isn't looking to take over from Dean Skelos - he's looking to pick up where Skelos left off.

And Newsday reports he thinks he's close to having the numbers:

State Sen. John Flanagan has begun to solidify support to succeed Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Republican source said Saturday.

"The counting is ongoing, but the Flanagan people are very confident they have more than the required number to take the leadership post," the source said.

Meet the new boss, same as the old one.

More Damning Details In Cuomo Pay-To-Play Scandal

David Sirota and Matthew Cunningham-Cook follow up on their pay-to-play piece on Andrew Cuomo last night with this:

The Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. have over the past 2 1/2 years received taxpayer-financed contracts to help manage the sale of more than $3 billion worth of bonds for New York state, according to a review of state records by International Business Times. The three banking companies secured this lucrative line of business during the same period they delivered more than $132,000 in campaign contributions to Gov. Andrew Cuomo through political action committees under their corporate control.

...

• JPMorgan’s PAC gave Cuomo $15,000 April 10, 2013, and the Cuomo administration announced the firm would serve as an underwriter on a $46 million bond issue May 30, 2013.
• Citigroup's PAC gave Cuomo $15,000 May 1, 2013, and Cuomo officials named the firm an underwriter on a $61 million bond June 19, 2013.
• JPMorgan’s PAC gave Cuomo another $10,000 July 2, 2013, and the Cuomo administration named the firm an underwriter on another $36 million bond in August 2013.
• Bank of America’s PAC gave Cuomo $15,500 July 2, 2014, just after the firm had been named an underwriter on a June 2014 bond. Cuomo’s administration would subsequently name the firm an underwriter on a separate $185 million bond in March 2015.

The contracts to the banks went through a non-competive bidding process.

Can you say cha-chinggg!!!

Sony, News Corporation, REBNY, now the banks - who doesn't Cuomo hit up in the Quid Pro Cuomo game?

I dunno if the feds are looking into any of this stuff, but to be honest, the amount of money Cuomo's taking makes the Skelos stuff look small.

Cuomo Raked In $1 Million From Real Estate Magnate

Via State of Politics comes this doozy of an item:

Billionaire real estate magnate Leonard Litwin has outspent all political donors.

The president and chief executive officer of Long Island-based Glenwood Management donated $1 million to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s re-election campaign. Litwin also donated almost a combined $500,000 to the state Democratic Party and Kathy Hochul’s campaign for lieutenant governor, according to data from the New York Public Interest Research Group cited by Crain’s.

The 100-year-old investor was also the biggest donor to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s re-election campaigns. The magnate donated $240,000 to Schneiderman and $130,000 to DiNapoli, 50 percent and 30 percent more than the next largest donor, the news outlet reported.

 Litwin is also a big donor to Jobs for New York, the Political Action Committee backed by the Real Estate Board of New York. [Crain's] – Claire Moses

Those of you wondering what Cuomo will do when the rent laws come up for renewal in NYC need only look at how much cash he and his fellow Democrats have taken from the real estate interests to get an inkling of where he'll go with his policy.

Cuomo Accused Of Ethical, Criminal Violations In Book Promotion Tour

It seems Cuomo is using his goons to keep anybody who isn't a sychophant away from him on his book tour:

Gov. Cuomo may have violated state criminal and ethics laws by using his public position and employees to promote his newly published autobiography, “All Things Possible,’’ a sworn complaint charges.

The complaint, filed with two state agencies by a Republican foe late Friday, says members of Cuomo’s State Police detail allegedly “forcibly ejected individuals from book-tour events that asked questions not pertaining to his book.’’

The complaint was referring to at least one alleged incident involving an Iona College freshman, Bill Maloney.

Maloney told The Post that he was “pushed away’’ from the governor at Cuomo’s recent book-signing at a Barnes & Noble in Manhattan when the student tried to question the governor about the Moreland Commission scandal.

Maloney said he didn’t know whether it was the governor’s aides or state troopers who pushed him away.

But the lawmaker who filed the complaint — Assemblyman Steven McLaughlin (R-Rensselaer), a strong backer of Cuomo’s GOP gubernatorial rival, Rob Astorino — says he wants the incident investigated to find out. He added that he has been told of similar complaints.

And then there's this Quid Pro Cuomo:

McLaughlin’s filing also questions whether Cuomo violated ethics laws by appearing on David Letterman’s “Late Show’’ on CBS last week to peddle his book, for which he is reportedly being paid about $750,000.

The appearance could be an “impermissible gift,’’ since “CBS recently negotiated with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office a tax break for the ‘Late Show’ of at least $16 million,’’ reads the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.

“Does the opportunity of a coveted guest spot on the ‘Late Show’ constitute an impermissible gift from CBS to Gov. Cuomo pursuant to [the] Public Officers Law?” the complaint asks.

In addition to possible ethics violations, the governor’s actions raise “issues as to whether Gov. Cuomo violated penal law . . . which establishes an ‘E’ felony for state officials who obtain ‘services or other resources with a value in excess of $1,000 from the state’ for personal gain,’’ according to the complaints.

The complaints were filed with JCOPE,  the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, and the state Board of Elections.

McLaughlin is not expecting a pre-Election decision from either entity but wanted to get these complaints on record:

“We have a governor who is out shilling books for his own personal gain,” the lawmaker told The Post. “He’s using state resources, the State Police, state employees, for his own personal gain, and that’s wrong,”

Add the complaints McLaughlin has filed against Cuomo with JCOPE and the Board of Elections to the detailed list of campaign finance machinactions WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reported on Friday and to what we know about his tampering in the Moreland Commission matter and what we have here is a portrait of a very corrupt governor who belongs in prison, not the highest political office in the state.

DiNapoli Opts Out Of Cuomo-Devised Trap

According to Capital Confidential, Comptroller DiNapoli released a statement explaining why he is opting out of the public campaign financing that Governor Cuomo and the legislature devised only for the comptroller's race:

The Comptroller has pushed for his office to lead the way as a statewide test for public financing of campaigns since just after he took office in 2007, and the Assembly passed his plan in 2011. But he argues that numerous aspects of the 2014 structure — oversight by the much-maligned state Board of Elections, its use of the pool of unclaimed funds controlled by the Comptroller’s office, and the fact that the change is coming at this point in the four-year election cycle — make it easy for his to reject taking part. Numerous good-government groups have told him to stay away rather than risk legitimizing a bad outcome. 

DiNapoli’s statement, which was released through his campaign committee:

“The pilot program for public financing of the Comptroller election is a poor excuse to avoid the real reforms New Yorkers deserve. At this point, I cannot participate in this pilot. I was always willing to have reform start with the Comptroller’s office, but I will not be a convenient sacrificial lamb. I hope that before the legislative session ends, there will be comprehensive campaign finance reform, as well as a reconsideration of the proposal I advanced, with realistic timeframes for successful implementation.”

Good government groups are backing DiNapoli on this, saying it's better for the comptroller to bow out rather than let a bad outcome ruin any future momentum for public financing of campaigns.

The Cuomo administration is attacking DiNapoli over the move, however:

"We are surprised that the Comptroller is opting out, as this was the Comptroller’s bill to begin with. If he has specific concerns, we will modify the proposal, unless, of course, he just doesn’t want to do public financing,” said Matt Wing.

If Cuomo is so upbeat on the proposal, he should modify the experiment to include his own race for re-election this year.

Sure it's the middle of an election cycle and sure Cuomo would have to give up his vast campaign warchest and sure the Board of Elections will probably make a mess of this the first time out - but hey, so what?

This is about "good government", right?

And who isn't more closely associated with "good government" than Sheriff Andy Cuomo?

Good for DiNapoli opting out.

If Cuomo gets shrill over it, DiNapoli can invite Sheriff Andy to "experiment" mid-cycle with a similar proposal for his own race.

UFT Caught Paying "Fake" Political Consultant Group

The geniuses at 52 Broadway can't do much of anything right:

A "super PAC" formed by the powerful city teachers' union paid more than $370,000 to an apparently fictitious political consulting firm, which was actually the well-known New York firm the Advance Group, records and interviews show.

The Fundraising Race Between Bill De Blasio And Joe Lhota

The NY Times reports that de Blasio has a slight lead over Lhota in fundraising since the primary ended.

De Blasio has $700,00 in funds, Lhota $500,000.

Both candidates have raised similar amounts since the primary ended - de Blasio $147,000, Lhota $144,000.

But de Blasio also has $500,000 in funds that were raised for a runoff that he cannot use until January.

So the fundraising totals skew how much de Blasio has raised compared to Lhota a bit.

As posted earlier this week, there's an outside PAC raising money for Lhota that has received just two donations from David Koch and his wife, amounting to a little over $290,000.

The Times reports that a spokesman for that PAC said

the group had seen “a significant pickup in interest, and that has started to translate into support,” and on Friday night it released a new television commercial praising Mr. Lhota.

We'll see about that.

With two polls out this past week showing Lhota losing to de Blasio by 41 and 43 percentage points respectively, Joe Lhota is going to have to prove he can close that 40 point+ a gap a bit before many of the plutocrats start throwing a lot of cash his way.

Daily News: Cuomo Has Bon Jovi Concert Canceled At State Fair So As Not To Interfere With His Fundraiser

There is just so much wrong with this:

ALBANY — Bon Jovi fans hoping for a concert at the New York State Fair have been shot through the heart — and a fundraiser by Gov. Cuomo might be to blame.

State officials mysteriously scrapped plans for the New Jersey-based band to appear at the fair, in Syracuse, on Aug. 28, citing “scheduling conflicts.”

On Aug. 25, band leader Jon Bon Jovi is scheduled to give a private performance for Gov. Cuomo’s well-heeled supporters at a $1,000-per-ticket campaign fund-raiser in the Hamptons.

Two state government sources told the Syracuse Post-Standard the Cuomo administration scuttled the concert because it might seem as if the governor’s private show was being funded by the band’s $650,000 contract with the state fair. The concert was projected to generate up to $1.1 million in revenue for the fair.

“An entertainer like Jon Bon Jovi is very busy and sometimes the dates of when you want them and when they’re available don’t line up,” Cuomo said during an appearance in upstate Watkins Glen Friday.

Few things to say here:

First, if the story is true that Cuomo had the Bon Jovi concert that was expected to generate $1.1 million in revenue for the fair, minus the $650,000 for the band's contract and other costs, canceled just to avoid bad press for his campaign, then he owes the state fair the lost revenue money.

This should come out of his campaign coffers - perhaps the money raised at his August 25 fundraiser that Bon Jovi is playing.

Second, who would pay $1,000 a head or more to go to a fundraiser and have to listen to BOTH Andrew Cuomo AND Bon Jovi?

Wouldn't most people pay a $1,000 a head to avoid having to do those things?

Finally, while it's another shifty move by Cuomo to cancel the Bon Jovi concert at the state fair to avoid bad publicity for his campaign, coming on the same weekend that the Daily News is reporting he took $400,000 in campaign donations from a company at the same time he was giving them $35 million in tax breaks, there is some good news for state fair-goers out of all this:

At least they don't have to hear Bon Jovi play.

Cuomo Took $400,000 From Real Estate Developer In Return For $35 Million In Tax Breaks

The Daily News first reported on Thursday that Governor Andrew Cuomo took $200,000 from a real estate developer in return for providing that developer with tax breaks totaling $35 million - $100,000 to his campaign account, $100,000 to a Democratic Party account that the governor used to run ads to tout his agenda.

The DN reported Cuomo officials vigorously denied on Thursday any quid pro quo between the donations and the tax breaks Cuomo provided for the company 

Today the Daily News reports Andy actually took $400,000 from the developer and companies associated with the developer at the same time he was providing $35 million in tax breaks for the company and now Cuomo's office has no comment about the story:

The city developer who donated $100,000 to Gov. Cuomo days before he signed a bill that would be a windfall for the company was a longtime Cuomo donor who became increasingly generous when it stood to make millions.

Ayala Barnett, the wife of Extell Development President Gary Barnett, and three corporations affiliated with Extell — Soho Love LLC, 53 West 46 LLC and Extell 26 LLC — made 11 donations to Cuomo totaling $147,100 between 2006, when he was running for state attorney general, and 2008, when he held the post.

But then Barnett pocketed his checkbook for four years. Come 2012, however, that changed — and so did the values of the checks, campaign finance records reveal.

By May 2012, Cuomo was governor and lawmakers were weighing a housing bill that would directly benefit Extell with tax breaks that would save the company $35 million over a decade on a Manhattan luxury tower.

In May and June 2012, Barnett and his wife made three donations to Cuomo, totaling $100,000.

This year, four companies tied to Extell gave Cuomo a combined $200,000. As the Daily News reported exclusively on Thursday, two of those donations were made shortly before Cuomo signed the bill in late January.

Cuomo aides declined comment Friday but previously said the bill was supported by the city and Legislature and insist donations do not influence the governor’s decisions.

The money didn’t end there. Just last month, two other corporations with Extell ties — West 33rd Street LLC and 112-118 West 25th Street LLC — gave Cuomo a combined $100,000, records show.

The $300,000 in Extell cash given to Cuomo since 2012 does not include $100,000 that The News reported Barnett gave to a state Democratic Party campaign account the governor was tapping to push his agenda. That contribution came on Feb. 19, less than three weeks after he signed the bill.

Extell and four other development companies that benefited from the legislation have been subpoenaed by a special commission created by Cuomo to investigate public corruption. He tasked the panel with looking into improper connections between donations and legislation.

An Extell rep said donations were made to Cuomo because he “has been a terrific governor” and insisted there’s “never been any quid pro quo with our political donations.”

A source close to Extell blamed the economic downturn for the smaller donations when Cuomo was attorney general, and said Extel didn’t contribute in 2009 and 2010 because the firm was in litigation with the AG’s office.

It is very interesting that Cuomo's people denied the initial DN story about a quid pro quo between the $200,000 in campaign donations they received from Extell in return for providing the company $35 million in tax breaks, but issued a "no comment" as the DN reports in a second story that donations from Extell are actually $400,000.

Perhaps the Cuomo people are hoping the story will go away or no one will notice the report.

It is, after all, a Saturday in August.

But Sheriff Andy just rounded up his Moreland Commission to look into the connection between campaign donations and legislation and you can bet the press will come back to ths story the next time Cuomo gives some press conference where he touts his record "cleaning up" Albany.

If there's anything Cuomo seems to be "cleaning up," it's campaign donations - he's cleaning them up right to his campaign coffers.

As I noted yesterday, Cuomo took $2 million from overseas gambling interests at the same time he was signing expanded casino operations into law.

And his PAC, the Committee To Save New York, took millions from corporate interests to run ads touting Cuomo's "pro-growth" (some would say anti-union) agenda on TV and in print.

Both the Committee To Save New York and Cuomo refuse to reveal who donated those millions to Cuomo's PAC fund.

The more the press digs into Sheriff Andy, the more dirt they seem to find on him.

And yet, Governor Andy isn't under investigation for campaign finance fraud, not for taking $2 million from gambling interests while signing legislation they wanted into law, not for taking $400,000 from a real estate developer in return for $35 million in tax breaks.

Meanwhile John Liu was destroyed over individual $700 campaign donations.

Interesting how that goes.

The corporate-crony Cuomo gets to gobble up millions in corporate money quid pro quo with impunity but the liberal John Liu gets extra scrutiny over chump change donations.

I maintain that Andy will get away with this stuff so long as he remains governor, but if he runs for president in 2016, he will get scrutiny that will bring this stuff to light.

Run, Andy run.

It would be good for the public to get a glimpse of what is under Sheriff Andy's hat.

Anti-Quinn Group Sends Out St. Vincent's Campaign Ad

Good to see Quinn get hammered over this betrayal of the people in her district:

A political committee determined to block Christine Quinn’s path to City Hall will blanket 50,000 Manhattan homes with flyers blaming the council speaker for the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital.

The group “New York City is Not for Sale,” which already funded anti-Quinn TV ads, will spend approximately $30,000 to send out a glossy mailing depicting Quinn as a magician using a wand to make the West Village hospital disappear. The hospital, which sits in Quinn’s council district, closed in 2010.

“When someone has such a powerful seat in city government and is not able to keep such a vital health care institution in her neighborhood, it speaks poorly of her,” said Arthur Cheliote of Communications Workers of America Local 1180, one of the left-leaning unions that formed the $1 million anti-Quinn coalition.
 
“They’d be getting more of the same if she’s mayor,” he said.

The glossy mailer will be sent to likely voters in the areas impacted by the hospital’s closure, including Chelsea, SoHo and Gramercy.

She helped make St. Vincent's magically disappear, and then money showed up in our magician's hat, all wrapped in a bow with the name Rudin on it.

Christine Quinn Skips Mayoral Debate On Education For UES Fundraiser

Just in case you think Christine Quinn won't treat public school parents and staff with the same contempt Bloomberg and his Tweedies treat them with, take a look at this story.

Quinn's skipping a mayoral debate on education tonight that is to be moderated by Diane Ravitch so she can raise campaign funds on the Upper East Side.

This is the kind of scornful treatment the Bloomberg administration and the Bloomberg NYCDOE have given to parents and public school teachers for 12 years now.

We don't care what you think, we don't have time to listen to what you want to say, we have to meet with some hedge fundies who are our real constituency.

Again and again, we can see the kind of mayor Christine Quinn would make by the way she is running this campaign.