Cuomo Refused TV Interviews Where He Wouldn't Be Treated Deferentially

From Mediaite:

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a memoir this week and, like all authors, he’s spending some time to promote it. But unlike all authors, the New York Times reported Thursday that Cuomo turned down guest invites from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, two spots that most authors would pounce on faster than you can say “nepotism.”

...

Cuomo’s aversion to Morning Joe (where a source confirms to Mediaite that Cuomo did indeed decline an invite) and The Daily Show may be justified, though.

Both programs, popular as they may be among political and media professionals, were highly critical over the summer of Cuomo’s questionable decision to dismantle an ethics commission he created once it started probing into his office.

“You know that’s fucking ridiculous, right?” Daily Show host Jon Stewart said of the matter back in July.

A few days prior, Joe Scarborough on Morning Joe said Cuomo’s decision to dismantle the commission was “deeply troubling.” He also said that Cuomo — who tried justifying his move by stating that it wouldn’t be appropriate for his own panel to investigate him — “may be deluding” himself.

According to the Times, Cuomo also declined an interview with a local TV news station in Rochester, N.Y., when the reporter wouldn’t commit to only asking question related to Cuomo’s book. Perhaps Morning Joe and The Daily Show had similar objections.

We’ve reached out to the governor’s press office by phone for an answer. After hearing us out, they said they wanted a request submitted by email, so we obliged. Still haven’t heard anything back.

Cuomo won't do any press that doesn't play by his ground rules.

How's that going to work when he tries to run for president?

Does he think the national media will defer to him?

Does he think the national media will quake in fear of him?

Time For The Press To Put Andrew Cuomo On Notice

Jimmy Vielkind at Capital NY explains how Il Duce Cuomo hides his political fundraising records:

ALBANY—The administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo has refused to release details about the governor's political fund-raising, stating more than six months after Capital requested records under the Freedom of Information Law that it considers anything not posted on his pre-edited public schedule to be "exempt" from public disclosure.

Cuomo's prodigious fund-raising has netted nearly $45 million since he was elected in 2010, and has drawn scrutiny this electoral season from Republicans and Democrats alike. Capital requested schedule records that would have offered details on Cuomo's Hollywood junket in late January as well as another event in Albany last September.

The administration delayed for four months, before closing the request without stating a justification. Only when Capital's attorneys began contacting Cuomo's aides did the administration offer a reason for withholding the documents—that they are simply drafts meant for internal use. The aides then waited several more months before denying the request.

An independent arbiter, the state's Committee on Open Government, last week gave an opinion last week that the administration was beyond its rights in denying Capital's request. Now, a Cuomo spokesman says the records will be released "in the coming days."

Vielkind goes on to write that the Capital NY experience in trying to get the records of Cuomo's Hollywood junket is not an "isolated experience," that Cuomo "has repeatedly delayed or denied requests for information from journalists and advocates."

Cuomo's starting a press tour today as PR rollout for his book.

It would be nice if somebody in the press would ask him about his lack of transparency on camera while he tries to talk about his book.

Same goes for all the meddling he does in his supposedly independent commissions and panels.

Probably not going to happen, but if it does, I bet he won't react well - as seems to have happened at an off-the-record dinner with some Times journalists:

In February, Governor Andrew Cuomo and others from his office had dinner at a restaurant in Midtown with several New York Times journalists: Albany bureau chief Susanne Craig, Albany reporter Thomas Kaplan and deputy metro editor David Halbfinger.

It was meant to be the type of off-the-record bread-breaking that politicians are known to have with the people who cover them—except at some point things went sideways. Before the meal concluded, according to sources with knowledge of the meeting, Cuomo became visibly angry, raised his voice and stormed out of the restaurant.

Melissa DeRosa, a spokeswoman for Cuomo, disputed this characterization while confirming that the dinner took place.

"We cannot discuss this as we respect the rules of off the record conversations," she said.

...

While it's unclear why exactly the dinner went south, the governor has publicly acknowledged his rocky relationship with the Times, most recently in an interview with the Times itself, pegged to the release of his memoir, All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life, on shelves tomorrow via HarperCollins.

I suspect it will be all niceties on camera, but it sure would be nice to get Cuomo to have a ferret moment if somebody presses him on something he doesn't want to answer.

Last thing I would note here.

Does Andrew Cuomo really think he can run for president with this insane need for control he exhibits?

Cuomo On The Run From Reporters

Gov. Andrew Cuomo avoided reporters after a speech in Syracuse, wouldn't take questions, @TeriKWeaver reports. They chased him to car.
— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) April 14, 2014

Syracuse.com also reported that Cuomo refused to take questions from the press after the  speech he gave to business people at the CenterState CEO annual luncheon:

After the speech, Cuomo didn't take questions from the press. His staff said his schedule in Syracuse was tight and that the speech started late.

The luncheon cost $65 to $80 per person, or $625 to $775 per table of 10 seats, according to CenterState's website.

I haven't seen any video of this, which is a shame, because the only thing funnier than the thought of Sheriff Andy Cuomo running from reporters to avoid questions about his Moreland Commission shutdown and the furor he caused when he unceremoniously ended it is video of Sheriff Andy running from reporters to avoid questions about his Moreland Commission shutdown and the furor he caused when he unceremoniously ended it.

That Cuomo is now running away from reporters rather than bullshitting his way through these impromptu press gaggles that occur when he gives speeches or makes official appearances around the state is an indication of just how much of a problem this Moreland mess is for Sheriff Andy.

Clearly he's worried about something or he wouldn't be running from the press.

Advice For De Blasio To Recover From His Early Missteps

I've talked about how de Blasio needs to start getting savvier in his handling of the press and these phony "scandals" that have popped up like "forkgate" (when he ate a slice of pizza with a fork and some in the the press, barely out of middle school, mocked him for days over it) and the UES snow plow scandal that was ginned up by the Murdoch journalists at the Post and WSJ.

Crain's has some advice for the mayor on how to turn things around:

With image repair in order, Crain's asked public-relations pooh-bahs what the mayor might do. Among the suggestions: centralize his communications operation.

Mr. de Blasio has a press secretary, Phil Walzak, and other media handlers, but no single person in charge of communications. Senior advisers Rebecca Kirszner Katz and Peter Ragone come the closest, but the chain of command is unclear.

"I think he needs a communications director," said James Vlasto, a PR veteran who was press secretary to Gov. Hugh Carey. That responsibility "can't be spread out among four or five people."

One-on-ones with local journalists, rather than hyped appearances on national programs like Morning Joe and The Daily Show, should be part of Mr. de Blasio's playbook, Mr. Vlasto suggested.

A better understanding of New York City's breathless media, and stronger relationships with individual reporters, would also improve Mr. de Blasio's image, said one former City Hall staffer. "Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like [the administration isn't] actually picking up the phone and engaging," the staffer said.

Punctuality can help, said Davidson Goldin, founder of Goldin Solutions. "Be on time," he said. "Reporters have bosses breathing down their necks to file."

Mr. de Blasio can still score on pre-K, Mr. Goldin said. "Win gracefully," he said. "Expanded pre-K is a big victory regardless of the silly tax, so acknowledge some pleasure about how New Yorkers have embraced this key priority."

Ken Sunshine—the former chief of staff to David Dinkins whose clients include Leonardo DiCaprio, Barbra Streisand and Ben Affleck—said the mayor would benefit from taking the long view on his PR. The same poll that showed his job approval slumping also showed that a majority of New Yorkers personally like him and his family, he said.

"One might think those numbers would have tumbled, the way he's supposedly gotten beaten up," said Mr. Sunshine. "Not true."

Mr. Sunshine, who calls Mr. de Blasio a personal friend, said the mayor's approval ratings will improve as soon as the weather, and New Yorkers, warm up.

In short, schmooze the press for better coverage and get more organized in the press shop - that's the Crain's advice.

One problem I have with that advice, good as it is, is that I don't think it turns around the press coverage totally.

Murdoch and Zuckerman don't like some of the policies he is pushing and no amount of schmoozing is going to change the negative coverage he gets from news outlets owned by either of those two plutocrats.

That's the reality, which still doesn't mean that de Blasio doesn't have to get better at anticipating firestorms like the Eva Moskowitz thing and figuring out how to handle that before it happens.

Cuomo Whines About Blogs

Sheriff Andy took a Sunday off from riding motorcycles with Billy Joel and enjoying Sandra Lee's delicious cooking to appear on radio with new talk show host John Catsimatidis:

The 24-hour news cycle has made governing much tougher, Gov. Cuomo said Sunday morning.

Asked by rookie talk show host John Catsimatidis on his new 970 AM show what he likes least about governing compared to when his father, former three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo, led New York, Andrew Cuomo didn't hesitate.

Cuomo focused on a 24-hour news cycle full of blogs and tweets that didn’t exist during his father’s day.

“The news cycle is much faster, and that changes the rate of the dialogue,” he said. “The dialogue is more constant. More frequent frequent chatter.”

“I don’t believe it raises the quality,” he added. “As a matter of fact, I think it lowers the quality, but it increases the frequency. These 24-hour blogs. Everybody’s in a competition. They have to get it up first. They have to get it up fast. So you have this constant chatter, that is not necessarily the most credible, the most insightful. But it’s constant and that dictates a rhythm to the governmental dialogue, which again is fast, and quick and facile, but not necessarily intellectual or correct.”

In short, Sheriff Andy doesn't like the 24-hour news cycle of blogs and tweets so much because it's difficult to control.

And if there's anything we know about Sheriff Andy Cuomo and his psyche, it's that he really loves control - of people, circumstances, policies, news stories and city charter school co-location policies.

So I can see why Andy wouldn't like the 24-hour news cycle of blogs and tweets so much - it's less likely to be controlled than a small professional press corps covering a governor back in the pre-Internet days.