More Hypocrisy From Cuomo

From State of Politics:

Cuomo, through his aides, has given a chilly response to Senate Republicans for proposing that some financial data regarding live-in girlfriends of elected officials – such as Cuomo’s girlfriend, Sandra Lee – be subject to the same ethics disclosures required for spouses of elected officials. But back in 2009, then-Attorney General Cuomo made that connection himself.

This dovetails nicely with Cuomo's hypocrisy over his administration's email deletion policy.

As attorney general, Cuomo said the following about email deletions:

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, is no stranger to the consequences of a paper trail. Before becoming governor, he spent four years as state attorney general, a perch from which he witnessed how long-forgotten e-mails could become pivotal during investigations. In 2008, he even accused a top official at the New York Power Authority of “extremely troubling conduct” for deleting e-mails from his BlackBerry as word leaked that he was likely to be investigated by the attorney general’s office.

Now as governor, Cuomo has broadened a 90 day email deletion policy started for the executive chamber in 2007 to the entire state government.

His IT hack said deleting emails as quickly as possible is "a matter of, actually, encouraging good behavior, prudent and responsible use of state resources.”

Ah, yes - the kind of behavior AG Cuomo called "extremely troubling conduct" becomes standard operating procedure for state government under Governor Cuomo because it's "encouraging good behavior" and prudence.

This kind of prudence will now be par for the course when it comes to trying to get any information out of state agencies.

Maybe we can change the name of the state from New York to Oceania.

Fiscal Genius Bloomberg Spent $160,000 To Try And Shield Cathie Black Emails From Public

From Lisa Fleischer at the WSJ:

New York City's fight to shield emails about the appointment of former schools Chancellor Cathie Black cost taxpayers about $160,000 in legal fees.

The city agreed Friday to reimburse a former Village Voice intern's lawyers about $134,500 in legal fees, on top of at least $25,000 the city spent internally defending the case.

Sergio Hernandez, now an editor at the Week magazine, had requested emails between the Bloomberg administration and Ms. Black in the lead-up to her nomination in November 2010 as chancellor.

The emails showed aides to Mayor Michael Bloomberg coordinating support for the high-profile, surprise hire, trying to solicit endorsements from Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kennedy and others. Ms. Black, the former Hearst Magazines chairwoman, resigned in April 2011 after about three months on the job, amid criticism over her lack of education experience and some remarks that were seen as blunders.

$160,000 to shield the emails from public scrutiny.

To be frank, there wasn't anything in those emails that we didn't already know.

Cathie Black was clueless.

The Bloomberg administration was desperately scrambling to push back against opposition to her being named chancellor.

They used all the contacts and associations they had to try and ratchet up support for her (this is, btw, exactly what they did to get term limits overturned too - it's an M.O. with Bloomberg.)

Yet they spent $160,000 trying to shield the emails from scrutiny even as they worked to make sure the public saw the Teacher Data Reports with the 52% media margins of error (75% maximum MOE for math; 87% maximum MOE for ELA.)

Shows you their priorities, doesn't it?

Cathie Black Emails

Bloomberg was forced to release the Cathie Black emails tonight.

Gave the emails (you can see them here) a preliminary skim. 

What I see here so far is a Bloomberg administration trying to save a floundering nomination and throwing around ideas like trying to bring "famous" women on board to sell Cathie Black to the public, to the media and to Albany.

The names of some of the women they wanted to endorse Black for chancellor included:

Marlo Thomas
Bette Midler
Gloria Steinem
Suzi Orman
Phyllis George
Anna Quindlen
Donna Hanover
Deborah Norville
Donna Karan
Whoopi Goldberg

An assorted variety of female politicians, ex-politicians and other public figures are also on the endorsement possibility list.

There's also a go around between Gayle King and Cathie Black on bringing Black's old boss, Oprah, in on the endorsement fun.

One of the points the Bloomies want talked up is that any pushback on Black is a matter of sexism, because Black is just as qualified to be chancellor as Joel Klein was, but he never received the same relentless press Black was getting.

They also spend some time trying to figure out whether they should make clear Black's complete work for and connections to Harlem Village Academies or try and hide some of them

What you get from the emails is that they are looking for ways to sell Black's nomination by hook or crook.

In the end, they did sell that nomination successfully, but Black only lasted for 95 days.

These emails really are a great example of how much effort this administration puts into public relations.

That's not a surprise, given that Bloomberg owns a media company.

If they only ran the school system as well as they created propaganda around the running of the school system (or around the nomination of a woman who had no business being chancellor of the school system), we would all be better off.

The Cathie Black Emails

I can't wait to see these:

The city was dealt another blow in its attempts to keep secret a series of e-mails surrounding the selection of failed schools chancellor Cathie Black.

The Bloomberg administration was denied its request that the state’s highest court reconsider the ordered release of the information.

Black moved from head of Heart Publishing to head of New York City’s schools for a brief, tumultuous stint before her ouster in April 2011.

Sergio Hernandez, 23, a former reporter for the Village Voice, had tried to get access to e-mails between Black, the mayor and his office, using the state’s Freedom of Information Law in 2010.

Hernandez told The Post he was “gratified” by the most recent decision.

He suspects the e-mails will reveal public-relations strategy over Black’s controversial appointment, given that she had no background in education.

The city said the e-mails were private, and Hernandez turned to the courts for access. Two lower courts ruled in his favor last November.

“We are still reviewing our potential next steps,” a city Law Department spokesman said, adding that releasing a public servant’s e-mails could discourage others from public service.

Two things here:

First, notice how Bloomberg is big on getting information about teachers out to the public, but when it comes to 911 system reports or paperwork/communications involving his personnel, he's not so much in favor of getting that information out to the public.

The word that comes to mind for that is, uh, "hypocrisy".

Second, I really miss Cathie Black.

I argued back than that the longer Cathie Black remained chancellor, the less harm Bloomberg would do to the school system.

I think that has been borne out.

The increase in closures, the turnaround nonsense, the publishing of the TDR's, the teacher evaluation mess - that stuff has all come under Walcott.

If Cathie Black were still chancellor, she'd be too busy trying to remember where she parked her car last night or trying to get her bra back from the wall at Jeremy's Ale House to get into too much of that stuff.