Cuomo: I Am Not Close Friends With That Lobbyist Under Federal Investigation

Mike McAndrew at Syracuse.com:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo reiterated Thursday that lobbyist Todd Howe, a focus of a federal investigation, is not a close friend of his despite multiple connections between them being reported by the media.

After a news conference in Syracuse, a reporter asked Cuomo if he maintains he was not close with Howe despite published reports that Howe paid for and hosted a fundraiser for him in December, exchanged emails with Cuomo's top aides, had an office at a SUNY college in Albany, accompanied the governor on a tour of Syracuse economic development projects, and worked for both Cuomo and his father.

Here's how the governor responded:

"I know Todd Howe. I've known him for many years. He worked for nano. He's worked on a lot of these projects. I've always said that. But it's also irrelevant," Cuomo said. "If anyone does anything improper, they will be punished to the full extent of the law. Period. I was the attorney general of the state of New York. I put people in jail. Public integrity is job one."

McAndrew points out all the reports of Howe's proximity to Cuomo and his circle:

Published media reports have revealed that Howe paid for a Cuomo campaign fundraiser on Dec. 14 at the Fort Orange Club in Albany.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Howe exchanged emails with some of Cuomo's top aides.

On May 26, agents with state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office executed a search warrant at an office at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, and a college spokesman disclosed that the room had been used by Howe, who was a lobbyist for SUNY Poly. Schneiderman's office is investigating possible bid rigging on a SUNY Polytechnic contract.

Howe was captured in an October 2012 photo with the governor as Cuomo toured economic development projects in Syracuse. It's not clear why Howe was at the event. He is not among the 24 invited guests listed on the governor's official schedule.

Holding a fundraiser for the governor last December, engaging in back-and-forth emails with Cuomo's top aides in which he declares himself on the same "team," showing up at Cuomo economic development project photo ops as part of the Cuomo contingent - but Todd Howe's nothing to Cuomo and his associates.

This jive Cuomo spews about public integrity being job one is fooling the public, which either isn't paying attention to the massive investigation into the Cuomo administration or believes Cuomo's nonsense about integrity, but you can bet it isn't fooling investigators.

The connections between Howe and Cuomo and Company are pretty plain.

Perhaps Preet and Company will get to the bottom of them.

Cuomo: Ignore All The Subpoenas, I'm Not Under Investigation

Tom Precious in the Buffalo News:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo insisted again Thursday the federal probe of his administration is limited to just “several” individuals, though he acknowledged his information about the extent of the investigation is not based on information received from the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

Cuomo officials have sought to portray the investigation as centered chiefly on Joseph Percoco and Todd Howe, two individuals who worked for years under Cuomo and whom he relied upon for everything from political assistance to advance work for events.

At an event Thursday morning in Springville, the governor was asked why he continues to insist that Percoco and Howe are the investigation’s subjects when prosecutors issued so many subpoenas and requests for information to various state agencies, state officials and at least a couple of dozen individuals and companies in various private sectors.

Has Bharara signaled that the investigation of the Buffalo Billion program is not a sweeping one but is looking chiefly at Percoco and Howe?

“No, but I was the former AG (attorney general), I’m a former prosecutor. Just because someone is … asked questions doesn’t mean they are the subject of an investigation, right? So you talk to hundreds of people when you are looking into something because you want to find out the facts. That doesn’t mean hundreds of people are involved. As far as I know, the actions of several individuals are the basis of the inquiry.”

Here's Yancey Roy's report on just what Bharara is looking at in the federal investigation into the Cuomo administration:

ALBANY — The federal probe of New York development initiatives is broader than the Buffalo Billion projects, the highest-profile piece of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s upstate economic strategy.

Investigators have subpoenaed the governor’s office for records of communications with about 20 companies, a source confirmed, that were involved in projects in Buffalo as well as in Syracuse, Albany and the Hudson Valley. They’ve sought communications from high-ranking Cuomo officials, including Bill Mulrow, the governor’s secretary and top adviser; Jim Malatras, the director of state operations; and Gil Quinones, head of the New York Power Authority, the source said.

Beyond the governor’s office, investigators have subpoenaed agencies that regulate solar power and implement solar initiatives, the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, which has been the guiding force in a number of state-backed high-tech ventures, and Empire State Development Corp., the state’s economic-development arm.

The named companies have been engaged in ventures ranging from a major solar-panel factory in Buffalo to a film hub in Syracuse to a dormitory in Albany to a power plant in Orange County. They also touch on a proposed “inland port” and redeveloping an old NYNEX building in Syracuse and loft apartments in Albany.

The companies, according to a source and to companies that have acknowledged separate subpoenas, include: six full-service development and real estate companies, three real estate firms, three engineering/architecture firms, two manufacturers, two lobbying firms, a power-plant company, a construction firm and a cellphone tower/communications company.

And the companies:

Federal investigators, probing state-backed economic initiatives, are seeking information regarding companies and New York State agencies, according to a source and some of the entities themselves, include those listed below.

• LPCiminelli, a Buffalo-based developer
• SolarCity, a solar panel company
• Carnegie Management, a NYC-based real-estate company
• Center Armory Associates, a Syracuse real-estate and development company
• CHA, an Albany-area engineering firm
• Columbia Development, an Albany-area developer
• Competitive Power Ventures, a Maryland-based power-plant company
• Conifer Realty, a Rochester real-estate and development company
• COR Development, a Syracuse developer
• Hueber-Breuer Construction, a Syracuse construction company
• Norstar Development USA, a Buffalo developer that also managed another company, Swan Street Lofts LP, named in a subpoena
• Pemco Group, a Syracuse real-estate company
• Potomac Strategies, a Maryland lobby and strategy firm
• Pyramid Netword Services, a Syracuse telecommunications systems company
• STV Group, a NYC engineering and architectural firm
• Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna/W.O.H. Solutions, a Albany law firm and lobbying subsidiary
• 3Gi Terminals, a company formed to develop Syracuse’s harbor
• Empire State Development Corp.
• New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
• NYS Department of Public Service (energy and utility regulator)
• State University of New York Polytechnic Institute

Cuomo's current top aides, Cuomo's former top aides, Cuomo associates, Cuomo donors - all subpoenaed in this investigation.

In addition, the feds appear to be looking at the way contract proposals were getting written up so that only Cuomo donors could win them

But Cuomo says it's just limited to Percoco and Howe.

You keep telling yourself that, Governor.

Maybe you'll come to believe it.

Doubtful the feds will, however.

Cuomo Administration "Actively Dismissed" EPA Warnings About Contaminated Hoosick Falls Water

This is criminal:

ALBANY— While the Cuomo administration has been extensively criticized for its slow reaction to the unfolding Hoosick Falls water pollution crisis, a new trove of emails and meeting notes shows how top state Department of Health officials actively dismissed the Obama administration’s increasingly dire warnings and recommended safe consumption levels.

The Cuomo administration resisted sounding a public alarm even though federal regulators warned senior health department officials that people in Hoosick Falls should be alerted they were drinking water that contained dangerous levels of a chemical linked to cancer and other serious health problems, according to documents recently obtained by POLITICO New York through a Freedom of Information Request. 

Among other points of contention, health department employees dismissed an advisory limit for human consumption of PFOA set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and argued that their differences with the federal authorities were a matter of “philosophy” and not just science, according to a senior EPA official’s handwritten notes from a phone conference with state officials.

...

POLITICO has previously reported that the state waited more than a year to make a significant intervention in Hoosick Falls, despite knowing that PFOA levels in the public water supply exceeded federal guidance. It has also been reported that the state health department indicated to residents that their water was safe to drink even though federal regulators claimed otherwise. The new documents indicate that the state didn't just react more slowly than the federal authorities, but actively disputed the concerns of the EPA officials.

It's pretty clear from the emails Politico NY obtained that the feds knew the Cuomo administration was actively harming the residents of Hoosick Falls by sitting on the information about the water contaminated with PFOA.

How many people will get cancer, how may will die, because Cuomo and his minions decided they didn't want bad publicity?

Who will be held accountable for this?

Corrupt Lobbyist Was Member Of Cuomo's "Team"

That corrupt lobbyist that Andrew Cuomo claims he doesn't know much about even though he was the hand model for Mario's portrait?

Turns out he's on Andrew's "team":

In the weeks since lobbyist Todd Howe emerged as a focus of federal and state investigations into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's economic-development efforts, the governor has sought to distance himself from Mr. Howe and ordered the state to cut all ties with him.

Emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with people close to the administration indicate that, for years, Mr. Howe was in touch with Mr. Cuomo’s trusted circle, a status that gave him a central place behind the scenes with many of the people, institutions and projects that are now under scrutiny.

In an email from August illustrating how Mr. Howe held sway with the most important members in Mr. Cuomo’s orbit, Mr. Howe told one of the governor's top aides, Jim Malatras, that SUNY Polytechnic President Alain Kaloyeros “didn’t like it yesterday when I told him to get his ass over to the office and he was going to sign off on that statement you provided.”

“He’s on our team and he knows it,” Mr. Malatras replied to Mr. Howe after the two described shared frustrations with Mr. Kaloyeros. “He’s gotta…stop seeing enemies in our camp. There are none.”

More:

Emails exchanged among Mr. Howe, members of the Cuomo administration, SUNY Polytechnic officials and employees of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, a prominent Albany law firm that represented SUNY Polytechnic, show Mr. Howe served as a vital line between the governor’s office and people involved in projects tied to SUNY.

Mr. Howe was head of the law firm’s now-closed lobbying arm and served as a consultant for SUNY Polytechnic.

In one March 2014 email exchange reviewed by the Journal, Mr. Howe appeared to joke with a Cuomo administration official about his role as a “minder” dispatched by the governor’s office to keep tabs on Mr. Kaloyeros and SUNY Polytechnic.

On SUNY Polytechnic matters, Mr. Howe also emailed and met with Andrew Kennedy, deputy director of state operations for policy, and Peter Cutler, a former spokesman for Empire State Development, the state’s economic development agency, according to emails and interviews. Mr. Cutler has said he was subpoenaed in the federal investigation. Messrs. Kennedy and Cutler didn’t respond to requests for comment.

And:

In the August email exchange about Mr. Kaloyeros, Mr. Malatras told Mr. Howe, “I don’t like the governor being disrespected.”

“Agree,” Mr. Howe wrote. “Not to reward bad behavior but you should think of something for him to do that builds him back up after this episode and boxes him in. Trust me I agree with you 100% but if this guy goes under [during] our watch we’ll get killed.”

For a guy Cuomo doesn't know much about, Howe sure was around in a lot of the office communications, wasn't he?

Howe's "office" at SUNY Polytechnic was raided by investigators last week - you can bet they're looking very closely at the connections between Howe, Alain Kaloyeros, Jim Malatras, Andrew Kennedy, Peter Cutler and the rest of Governor Andrew Cuomo's "team" too.

Federal Probe Into Cuomo Administration Casts Wide Net

Yancey Roy in Newsday:

ALBANY — The federal probe of New York development initiatives is broader than the Buffalo Billion projects, the highest-profile piece of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s upstate economic strategy.

Investigators have subpoenaed the governor’s office for records of communications with about 20 companies, a source confirmed, that were involved in projects in Buffalo as well as in Syracuse, Albany and the Hudson Valley. They’ve sought communications from high-ranking Cuomo officials, including Bill Mulrow, the governor’s secretary and top adviser; Jim Malatras, the director of state operations; and Gil Quinones, head of the New York Power Authority, the source said.

Beyond the governor’s office, investigators have subpoenaed agencies that regulate solar power and implement solar initiatives, the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, which has been the guiding force in a number of state-backed high-tech ventures, and Empire State Development Corp., the state’s economic-development arm.

The named companies have been engaged in ventures ranging from a major solar-panel factory in Buffalo to a film hub in Syracuse to a dormitory in Albany to a power plant in Orange County. They also touch on a proposed “inland port” and redeveloping an old NYNEX building in Syracuse and loft apartments in Albany.

The companies, according to a source and to companies that have acknowledged separate subpoenas, include: six full-service development and real estate companies, three real estate firms, three engineering/architecture firms, two manufacturers, two lobbying firms, a power-plant company, a construction firm and a cellphone tower/communications company.

And the companies:

Federal investigators, probing state-backed economic initiatives, are seeking information regarding companies and New York State agencies, according to a source and some of the entities themselves, include those listed below.

• LPCiminelli, a Buffalo-based developer
• SolarCity, a solar panel company
• Carnegie Management, a NYC-based real-estate company
• Center Armory Associates, a Syracuse real-estate and development company
• CHA, an Albany-area engineering firm
• Columbia Development, an Albany-area developer
• Competitive Power Ventures, a Maryland-based power-plant company
• Conifer Realty, a Rochester real-estate and development company
• COR Development, a Syracuse developer
• Hueber-Breuer Construction, a Syracuse construction company
• Norstar Development USA, a Buffalo developer that also managed another company, Swan Street Lofts LP, named in a subpoena
• Pemco Group, a Syracuse real-estate company
• Potomac Strategies, a Maryland lobby and strategy firm
• Pyramid Netword Services, a Syracuse telecommunications systems company
• STV Group, a NYC engineering and architectural firm
• Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna/W.O.H. Solutions, a Albany law firm and lobbying subsidiary
• 3Gi Terminals, a company formed to develop Syracuse’s harbor
• Empire State Development Corp.
• New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
• NYS Department of Public Service (energy and utility regulator)
• State University of New York Polytechnic Institute

Cuomo has said repeatedly that the investigation is only focused on two of his former aides, Joe Percoco and Todd Howe, but given the multiple reports we have that the investigation is looking far and wide into Cuomo's economic development programs (see here and here, for another example), that Cuomo assertion is absurd.

In addition, there's a reported pattern of bid rigging in state contracts, with proposals written in such a way that only a specific contractor - always a Cuomo donor - can win them.

Subpoenas have gone out to the entities and individuals involved in those contractual relationships, and while it's possible that it was only Percoco and Howe pulling these shenanigans, given the number of subpoenas that have gone out, that seems unlikely.

A source close to the investigation told Fred Dicker that the public will hear something about all of this in July or August.

For now, Cuomo's got the public thinking he's an ethical prince, but given the scope and breadth of this investigation, it's very likely that when arrests come - and they will - Cuomo's going to have some very bad news cycles.

De Blasio's Pay-To-Play Spreadsheet

Ken Lovett in today's Daily News:

When Mayor de Blasio began handing out prestigious appointments to obscure boards and committees in his first months in City Hall, he turned to a system of cash for cachet.

His team assembled an elite spreadsheet of major campaign donors, powerful lobbyists and celebrities as candidates for the coveted slots doled out by de Blasio.

This internal spreadsheet — obtained by the Daily News — reveals a blatant and highly choreographed effort to reward donors and New York power players with high-profile VIP appointments.

The 2014 list even goes so far as to suggest that de Blasio appoint lobbyists who were and are actively lobbying his administration on behalf of their wealthy clients.

At least 14 of the mayor’s top “bundlers” who used a legal loophole to collect big bucks far in excess of donation restrictions made the list. So did four early donors to de Blasio’s now-defunct lobbying group, the Campaign for One New York.

“Confidential notes” on the list reveal the candidate’s business ties, but do not highlight actual qualifications for specific appointments. They do, however, reference support for the mayor, sometimes in financial terms.

Candidates are described as “with us early on,” “did a lot,” “real deal” and “showed up early.” One states “decent amount,” an apparent reference to the candidate’s fund-raising for the mayor.

You know Cuomo's got a list just like this, only he's smart enough not to put it in writing so that it ends up leaked to the Daily News.

That's why the public thinks Cuomo's an ethical prince while de Blasio, well, good luck in prison, Bill.

Most New Yorkers Think Cuomo Is Ethical

Let's see, three Cuomo associates are under criminal investigation, Cuomo's economic development programs appear to be rife with proposals rigged for his donors, subpoenas have been flying all across the state for information on how Cuomo and his associates operate state contracting business, but New Yorkers think he's honest and trustworthy according to the latest Siena poll:

By a margin of 60 percent to 30 percent, voters told the poll they believe the governor is an ethical person. It’s a sign the investigations, for now, are yet to take their toll on Cuomo.

Clearly people are not paying attention.

In fact, most don't know who Preet Bharara is:

Bharara, an appointed prosecutor who has netted high-profile convictions, including those of the two former legislative leaders in the Assembly and Senate, Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos.

Despite Bharara’s successes, most voters, 69 percent, either do not know him or have an opinion when asked about their views of him.

No wonder this state is in the mess it's in.

Nobody knows what the fuck is really going on.

In other Siena news, Cuomo's approval remains in the toilet, with 42% approving of the job he is doing 58% disapproving.

But it's on ethics where Cuomo really wins, unbelievable as that may seem.

Perhaps indictments will manage to remove the word "ethical" from Cuomo's name in the public's mind.

Although given how clueless most people appear to be, at least judging by the Siena poll, even that is not a given.

Public Will Hear Something On Cuomo Administration/Buffalo Billion Probe In July Or August

Buried at the bottom of the first item in Fred Dicker's column today is this:

While Bharara — whose ongoing probes of state government corruption led to the convictions of the two former leaders of the Legislature, Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos — has refused to say when his investigation of Cuomo’s office will wrap up, one source close to the probe predicted, “The public will be hearing something in July or August.’’

The rest of the item is how Bharara has warned Cuomo's "independent investigator" into Buffalo Billion malfeasance, Bart Schwartz, from interfering in the federal probe of the governor's economic development programs:

US Attorney Preet Bharara has warned Gov. Cuomo’s “independent’’ investigator not to interfere with the federal corruption probe involving the Buffalo Billion project, related state contracts and two longtime friends of the governor, The Post has learned.

A source close to the criminal probe said the warning was blunt and direct and that Cuomo’s private-sector investigator, Bart Schwartz, conceded to several state officials that “he has been warned by federal authorities to stay away from anything’’ related to Bharara’s ongoing investigation.

“In meetings with state lawyers Schwartz and his people let it be known that they’ve been told to stay away from anything that Bharara is looking at,’’ said the source.

“Basically, what Schwartz is only doing is reviewing public documents and monitoring contracts and other things going forward, not investigating what went on in the past,’’ the source continued.

So, just as some of us thought when Cuomo announced Schwartz's hiring, the "independent" investigation being conducted by Schwartz is nothing more than a ruse to make it look like Cuomo's doing something about the malfeasance in his economic development programs.

Some of us also wondered if Schwartz was there to muck things up around the investigation, but Bharara's warning to stay away from his investigation pretty clearly lets Schwartz - and Cuomo - know that if there's any screwing around, they'll be hit with criminal charges for tampering, attempted cover-up, etc.

We have heard a few times in the past couple of weeks that the investigation into Cuomo's economic development programs and his associates has continued to widen, with subpoenas seeking ever more information connected to Cuomo's people and their doings.

But with the presidential election coming in November, Bharara's going to want to get this wrapped up soon.

If Dicker's right, July or August will be that time.

We haven't had any leaks yet that the governor himself is in the sights of investigators and I doubt very much Cuomo will go out in handcuffs without there being a couple of leaks first to indicate that's about to happen.

So, for now, I'd say the investigation may not reach as high as Cuomo, but given how the investigations continue to widen and how, at the center of all of this is the relationship between Cuomo's donors and the stuff they got in return for giving money to Cuomo, that's still a possibility.

SUNY Office Raided, Net Closes In On Cuomo Cronies

State law ebforcement agents at SUNY polytechnic today, after serving search warrants on Todd Howe's office. pic.twitter.com/Od8qoGwhoR

— Jesse McKinley (@jessemckinley) May 26, 2016

From the NY Times:

ALBANY — Agents from the state attorney general’s office conducted a search at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute here on Thursday, scouring an office once used by a lobbyist as part of an inquiry into possible bid rigging.

Agents arrived with search warrants and looked through an office used by Todd R. Howe, who has past ties to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat. Mr. Howe had worked as the president of the lobbying arm of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, a prominent Albany law firm which had SUNY Polytechnic as a client. Agents also served a warrant to examine communications from Alain E. Kaloyeros, the school’s president.

Mr. Howe and Mr. Kaloyeros have recently emerged as central players in a multipronged federal investigation led by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, surrounding the Buffalo Billion, the governor’s signature upstate economic initiative. Mr. Howe was fired from Whiteman after news of the federal investigation broke last month.

The search — conducted by several agents, who looked into electronic files and removed at least two boxes of material — focused in part on a plan to build a dormitory near the university’s sleek campus. But according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, agents were also looking into other projects connected with SUNY Polytechnic, as well as several developers who had worked with the school.

They're looking at bid-rigging - that the proposal for a dormitory project was written up in such a way that only a Cuomo donor (Columbia Development, $195,000 to Cuomo since August 2013) could win it.

This would follow what appears to be an emerging pattern of rigging proposals for Cuomo donors, as happened with LP Ciminelli in the Buffalo Billion Project or NAH for a proposed for-profit charter school that got backdated under older rules that still allowed for for-profit charters.

Investigators are also looking at the relationship between Cuomo administration officials and COR Development, which gave the governor $325,000 through various individuals and entities and received $100 million in state contracts.

Something similar is happening with Cuomo's vaunted LaGuardia Airport redo, where Cuomo donors stand to do very well in plans set forth by the Cuomo administration, though there's no indication that investigators are looking at that - yet, at any rate.

Yesterday's raid suggests former Cuomo aide/Cuomo hand model Todd Howe is done for - it's only a matter of time before he's picked up and squeezed by the feds.

And since he acted as a "de facto chief of staff" to SUNY Poly guy Alain Kaloyeros and the feds are looking at Kaloyeros too, well, you'd have to think it's only a matter of time before the highest paid state employee gets picked up too.

Cuomo threw Howe and Kaloyeros under the bus this week, along with former aide/confidante Joe Percoco, saying that the the investigation was really limited to those individuals, but with news that the investigations by the U.S. attorney and the attorney general continue to widen (see here, here and here), that appears not to be the case.

There is still no evidence that this will reach as high as Cuomo, but here's the thing that should give some hope on that.

There's one string that links all of this disparate strands together and it is this: Cuomo donors gave money to Cuomo and got state contracts, grants, subsidies and/or other help in return.

This happened not once or twice but seemingly over and over and over.

Maybe Cuomo's got a firewall between himself and the rest of his cronies pulling these shenanigans, but he'd better hope it's a very strong firewall.

Because the authorities are looking not just at some corrupt individuals in basically a good system - they're looking at some corrupt individuals operating in a just-as-corrupt system.

And no pol has taken advantage of that system more than Cuomo, who had a huge war chest for his last re-election and even now is sitting on $16 million raised from dubious sources.

Federal Probe Appears To Go Right At The Way Cuomo Administration Works

Scott Waldman at Politico NY:

ALBANY — U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s inquiry into the state Department of Public Service has broadened in recent days, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation.

A federal subpoena is now seeking all communication, including records of emails and in-person meetings, between senior state energy officials and top Cuomo administration officials, according to the sources. It seeks information on interactions between Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s former senior aide, Joseph Percoco, Department of Public Service chief of staff Tom Congdon, New York Power Authority president and CEO Gil Quiniones and Len Walker, who has worked as a director of special projects at NYPA.

The subpoena also seeks information about the organizational structure of the Department of Public Service from January 2012 to December 2015, sources said. That period includes most of the tenure of DPS head Audrey Zibelman, who was confirmed in June 2013. She is also chairwoman of the Public Service Commission.

Under Zibelman, Cuomo’s executive branch has taken a more direct role in the inner workings of the DPS and the decisions that come before the PSC, insiders say. At the behest of Cuomo, Zibelman is now conducting a series of investigations into energy companies in New York, including the Indian Point nuclear center. She is not named in the subpoena.

Cuomo wants you to think these investigations are only focusing on the malfeasance of two associates of his - he said so again yesterday:

Cuomo said the federal investigation is focusing on whether two people committed wrongdoing, his former deputy secretary Joseph Percoco, and lobbyist Todd Howe.

...

"I come from a tradition, started by my father, of 100 percent integrity in public service," Cuomo said.

"If there's any violation, I will be the first...I literally have put people in jail. No one is stricter than I am," he said.

But given the widening of the subpoena to include "all communication...between senior state energy officials and top Cuomo administration officials," it seems Bharara is looking at more than just malfeasance by Percoco and Howe.

And note that his investigation of DPS is looking at the "organizational structure" from January 2012 to December 2015, a time period when Cuomo subsumed much control of DPS through the hack he installed there, as well as that"decisions that come before the PSC."

That suggests Bharara's investigation has gone well beyond Percoco and Howe and right to the root of the way the Cuomo administration works - including the way Cuomo's executive branch seems to control decisions at entities that are allegedly independent of it.

In other Cuomo corruption news yesterday, Cuomo not only threw his two aides, Percoco and Howe, under the bus (as detailed in the quote above), but also Alain Kaloyeros at SUNY Polytechnic.

Cuomo was making an announcement in Syracuse when he was asked about the $325,000 in donations he took from one of the companies at the center of the U.S. attorney's investigation into his economic development programs:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday he had no input into SUNY Polytechnic Institute awarding $100 million in contracts to his top campaign contributor in Central New York, COR Development.

He said the more than $325,000 in campaign contributions that COR Development, its executives and COR subsidiaries gave to him had no influence in the awarding of contracts to COR.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in April subpoenaed Cuomo's office for records related to contracts given to COR Development as part of the prosecutor's investigation into Cuomo's marquee economic development projects in Upstate New York.

Bharara, the prosecutor who has already won convictions against former Senate leader Dean Skelos and Assembly leader Sheldon Silver, has issued subpoenas for records related to the Buffalo Billion projects, state contracts with COR Development for Central New York projects, and for a controversial energy project in Orange County, among other things.

Cuomo said the federal investigation is focusing on whether two people committed wrongdoing, his former deputy secretary Joseph Percoco, and lobbyist Todd Howe.

"The way it worked...the state didn't do any of the contracts," Cuomo said when asked about the COR contracts and donations. "It's all done through SUNY, the state university system. They are the ones that actually managed the contracting process."

"They are the ones who ran the contracts, ran the competitions, made the selections," he said. "I had absolutely nothing to do with that."

"It was done by SUNY," the governor said.

Shorter Cuomo: Hey, nothing to do with me, look at Alain Kaloyeros, the head of SUNY Polytechnic,

And yet, look at all the money awarded to COR directly through Cuomo:

SUNY Polytechnic Institute is run by Alain Kaloyeros, the highest paid state employee at $1.1 million in 2015. A board of directors that ran a nonprofit subsidiary set up by SUNY Poly requested proposals to build a nanotechnology building in the Syracuse area.

COR Development was the only company to submit a bid. The SUNY Poly subsidiary awarded COR a $15 million contract to build the Central New York Hub for Emerging Nano Industries, commonly called the film hub, in DeWitt.

Cuomo then awarded Central New York a $500 million award as part of the Upstate Revitalization Initiative contest between seven Upstate regions.

From that award, Cuomo directed that $90 million be used to pay for another contract to COR, to build a factory for Soraa, an LED lighting manufacturer, adjacent to the film hub.

Through his annual awards to regional economic development councils, Cuomo has also approved state grants of about $4 million to COR to demolish the former Kennedy Square housing project in Syracuse and about $4 million to COR to redevelop the former Mercy Hospital site in Watertown.

Cuomo is throwing as many of his cronies as he can to the wolves in order to save himself - it's Percoco, it's Howe, it's Kaloyeros!

Doubtful that this kind of "Not me, them!" thing will fool federal investigators looking into all of this.

And with news coming almost weekly that the investigations into Cuomo's economic development programs are widening, it's doubtful too that Bharara is just looking at Percoco, Howe and Kaloyeros for malfeasance.

As the NY Times reported yesterday, the link between all of this is quite simple - Cuomo donors gave money to Cuomo, got contracts, grants, subsidies or state help in return.

That's at the center of all of this, and while Cuomo wants you to believe that if there's any malfeasance in the donors/state contracting relationship, it was conducted by his under-investigation associates, not him, that seems absurd.

If this kind of thing only happened once, twice, even three times - you might say, "Oh, OK, sure."

But it's pretty clear that this kind of thing happened again and again and again, with Cuomo donors giving money to Cuomo and getting contracts, grants, subsidies or state help in return.

At some point, the feds are going to say, "How is it this happened again and again and again and Cuomo didn't know?

Gaming Out A Post-De Blasio City Hall

After weeks of getting hammered by news that there are multiple federal investigations into his fundraising, Mayor Bill de Blasio's poll support has fallen to its lowest levels ever in the latest Quinnipiac poll.

That's not a surprise, given the coverage of those stories, coupled with the tabloid headlines.

The Q poll has de Blasio down to 41% approval, 52% disapproval.

Against potential challengers, de Blasio fares poorly:

The poll also tests him against potential Democratic challengers running as independents. Mr. de Blasio wins 37% to 36% against Comptroller Scott Stringer, 35% to 34% over Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and 37% to 32% over Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. None of the men has declared as candidates for 2017.

They didn't test the Eva Moskowitz shill, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, but I would imagine Jeffries would fare somewhere between Diaz' and Stringer 's numbers.

Ken Sherrill says there's still time for de Blasio to turn things around:

Kenneth Sherrill, a professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College, said the numbers are “a warning signal” that the mayor needs to make changes.

“He’s lost control of the debate. He’s not setting the agenda. In some ways he might seem to be acting as someone with something to hide,” Mr. Sherrill said.

“But people might be for the most part paying attention to the presidential race. He has a lot of time to make some changes. I don’t think this is fatal.”

I am less convinced about that.

Given the number of investigations, given the press coverage he's garnering, given the "Agents of the City" nonsense he offered to keep some correspondence secret, I think we can conclude in the immortal words of Michael Ray Richardson that "This ship be sinking."

Leaving aside who might run as a Republican for now, the Dems appear to be Stringer, Diaz, perhaps Jeffries and perhaps Adams (though Adams continues to say he is not interested in running until 2021 - when de Blasio's second term would be over, assuming he's not in prison by then.)

Whether there are tweaks to mayoral control or not, the next mayor will have great power and influence over the school system.

De Blasio has been Bloomberg Lite on schools, saying some of the right things about testing, teachers, school closures, et al., but really changing little from the Bloomberg Years.

The morale in the school system is lower now than even during the Bloomberg Years, as the UFT has become essentially a company union that works in concert with Chancellor Farina and Mayor de Blasio.

These days I feel "Meh" about a de Blasio loss (or arrest), though I am concerned about what comes next.

An Eva shill like Jeffries or Diaz is particularly concerning, though that kind of ascension to City Hall could theoretically get the UFT out of its company union status and force them to stand up to out-of-control administrators and other abuses.

Couple of things to think about regarding this - there are more health care plan "savings" benchmarks to be hit in the next couple of years (i.e., we pay more, city saves more) and the contract expires in 2018 but the "retro" goes through 2020.

There's lots of damage a pro-charter, pro-reformer mayor can do.

Given that, I suppose if I had to back a horse in a primary race, I'd take Stringer, though I don't trust him much.

Given his hostile relationship with Moskowitz and past support from the UFT, I suppose he would be the least bad choice.

I have a difficult time seeing Diaz run citywide, especially given the corruption he and his family have been involved in.

But that doesn't mean he won't run, though I suppose what Jeffries does could influence what Diaz does because Eva and the charter shills are going to want just one horse in a primary race against de Blasio.

Cuomo's no doubt pulling strings to try and get challengers to run against de Blasio, but he's got his own scandal trouble with the federal investigations into his economic development programs and campaign donors, so I'm not sure how much juice he'll really have here.

In any case, all of this really depends on how these investigations into de Blasio turn out.

If there are indictments of his top people, he's got serious political trouble, but if he's indicted himself, well, that's game over.

It's difficult to take out an incumbent mayor in New York City, but it's not impossible, and looking at how may headwinds de Blasio's got blowing against him, that near impossibility appears to get more possible by the day.

Thoughts?

How Many Clinton Cronies Under Investigation?

Let's see, Hillary herself is the subject of an investigation into her use of a private email account when she was secretary of state, her two New York buddies, Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo, are undergoing various investigations and now this:

Washington (CNN)Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and prosecutors from the Justice Department's public integrity unit, U.S. officials briefed on the probe say.

The investigation dates to at least last year and has focused, at least in part, on whether donations to his gubernatorial campaign violated the law, the officials said.

 

McAuliffe wasn't notified by investigators that he is a target of the probe, according to the officials. 

"The Governor will certainly cooperate with the government if he is contacted about it," said Marc Elias, attorney for McAuliffe campaign, in a statement to CNN.

 

As part of the probe, the officials said, investigators have scrutinized McAuliffe's time as a board member of the Clinton Global Initiative, a vehicle of the charitable foundation set up by former President Bill Clinton. 

 

 There's no allegation that the foundation did anything improper; the probe has focused on McAuliffe and the electoral campaign donations, the officials said.

Another day, another investigation into a Clintonista.

Another Monday, Three More Cuomo Corruption Stories

The "Never Leave A Trail" Cuomo administration strikes again 

Gov. Cuomo’s controversial email policies could potentially hamper a federal investigation into his administration, some fear.

As part of a probe into former top Cuomo aide and friend Joseph Percoco and others close to the governor, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara issued a subpoenaed to the administration for records and communications pertaining to various economic development and nano-tech projects.

But in some cases, material being sought might have already been deleted--or never been retained in the first place.

That’s because the governor’s office until May 2015 had a policy that automatically deleted all emails after 90 days unless they were deliberately saved.

“We don’t know what the motivation at the time was for automatically deleting state emails after 90 days, but it did offer the opportunity to get rid of an enormous amount of emails without breaking the law,” said John Kaehny, of Reinvent Albany.

“It not only gets rid of an email on the agency end, but also on the governor’s office end,” he added. “That definitely means fewer emails around that could be inconvenient to the governor or anyone being investigated.”

And of course that was always the point of the deletion policy - as well as the untraceable communication system used by Cuomo and his minions within the administration:

The Daily News first reported in 2012 that Cuomo himself doesn’t even use email. Instead, he communicates either by phone or by using a BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN messaging system — a function that leaves no lasting trail because it bypasses data-saving email servers.

But just because all of this stuff got deleted on Cuomo's end doesn't mean it's gone forever:

Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor and former federal prosecutor, said it’s hard to tell just what impact the old deletion policy might have on Bharara’s investigation.

He noted that while emails might have been killed internally, investigators could potentially recover them from servers or from those who received them from outside the administration.

“Prosecutors are greedy and want all kinds of things from all relevant parties,” Richman said.

That deletion policy - first started under Spitzer but expanded under Cuomo until public pressure forced him to stop, was always an egregious middle finger to the public by the governor.

Here's hoping that federal prosecutors get what they need to throw some of the criminals in and around the Cuomo administration in jail.

And according to Fred Dicker in the NY Post, that is exactly what they're worried about:

Joseph Percoco — Cuomo’s former top aide and close friend and, since December, senior vice president at Madison Square Garden — and Cuomo family associate Todd Howe are the subject of an explosive investigation by Bharara over the fees they received helping clients with business before the state.

Bharara served Cuo­mo’s office with a subpoena late last month seeking records related to Percoco, Howe and 24 other individuals and companies involved in a massive set of state contracts, including the Buffalo Billion project.

The subpoena rocked the Cuomo administration, where what some call a fearful “lockdown’’ is in effect, and has left many close to the governor convinced that criminal indictments are forthcoming.

“Preet Bharara’s subpoena is a turning point for the Cuomo administration,’’ said a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation.

“The administration isn’t what it was and, depending what Bharara comes up with, it may never be the same.’’

Almost every day there is new information ferreted out about the investigation (today we learn that Cuomo's vaunted New York weather system project may be under investigation as well), so it does have the feel of a turning point.

But given how much Cuomo and his flying attack monkeys have deleted and how much they have acted like an organized crime family in their communications, it remains to be seen if that really is the case.

Nonetheless, Cuomo has admitted there were problems with state contracting:

After it received the subpoena, the Cuomo administration acknowledged that Bharara's investigation, which has been under way for at least a year, raised questions of "improper lobbying and undisclosed conflicts of interest" related to the portfolio of Buffalo Billion projects and related upstate development deals.

If Cuomo's admitting that publicly, you can just imagine what's under the surface.

Nevertheless, how far up the chain prosecutors can go to catch these guys.

Still, it's amazing how the Cuomo corruption stories keep coming.

Cuomo Caught In Photo With Lobbyist He Barely Knows

Governor Andrew Cuomo claims he barely knows Todd Howe, the lobbyist and former aide at the center of a federal investigation into corruption in Cuomo's economic development programs statewide.

And yet, there is Cuomo, along with lobbyist Todd Howe, back in 2012, at a function in Syracuse involving one of the companies that has been subpoenaed by the feds in the investigation, COR Development.

Also in the photo is Cuomo's former aide, Joe Percoco, also at the center of the federal investigation.

In case you're having trouble seeing, here's a close-up:

That's Howe on the right, Percoco on the left - like twin devils, exerting their corrupting influence on the good governor.

Or, more likely, the fish rots from the head and the corruption emanates from Cuomo, who surrounds himself with people who think and act like the rules don't apply to them because Cuomo himself thinks and acts like the rules doesn't apply to him.

Tim Knause of Syracuse.com found this photo and gives context for it all here:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A smiling Todd Howe was photographed, standing in the background, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo enthusiastically shook hands with the president of COR Development Co. during an October 2012 visit to Syracuse.

...

The picture captures the role that Howe has apparently been playing for years in Syracuse economic development projects. Since the federal probe became publicly known, Howe's image has emerged as an affable guy to see for help in getting state funding or access to Albany power.

In the foreground of the 2012 photo, Cuomo shakes hands with Steven Aiello, president of COR, a Fayetteville company. COR is one of more than 20 companies about which Bharara has subpoenaed information from the Cuomo administration, according to reports.

...

The photograph, which comes from a public archive on Syracuse University's website, was taken Oct. 2, 2012, during the governor's tour of projects promoted by the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council. The council makes annual funding recommendations to the governor.

It's not clear why Howe was at the event. He is not among the 24 invited guests listed on the governor's official schedule.

Cuomo arrived that morning at Syracuse University in a state police helicopter, accompanied by Percoco and another aide, according to his official schedule. From there, they went to nearby Kennedy Square to begin the tour.

Cuomo stopped at the CNY Biotech Accelerator, the only new building at the former Kennedy Square public housing site. The biotech business incubator is a joint project of Upstate Medical University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Neil Murphy, then president of ESF, recalls giving Cuomo a tour of the building that day. In the photo, Murphy and David Smith, then president of Upstate Medical, are looking on as Cuomo and Aiello shake hands.

Murphy said he did not yet know Howe in 2012 and does not know why he was at the event. Murphy said he first met Howe in 2014, when college officials met with COR to discuss plans for a $20 million state research facility to be built at the Syracuse Inner Harbor, where COR is the developer. Howe was a consultant to COR at that time, Murphy said.

Howe's association with COR's Inner Harbor project dates back at least to April 2012, when Howe accompanied COR to a meeting with officials of the state Thruway Authority, which then owned the harbor lands to be developed.

...

After touring the Biotech Accelerator building, Cuomo and other officials got a briefing on COR's plans to develop Kennedy Square. (Those plans have yet to be acted on.) Then they boarded a bus to tour other project sites, including St. Joseph's Hospital and the Inner Harbor.

For years, Howe was sought after by Syracuse developers and others looking for state money or access to the Cuomo administration.

Last year, Howe represented two successive developers, the Pemco Group and Carnegie Management, who were angling for a $2.5 million state grant to renovate the former Nynex Building in Syracuse. Bharara has subpoenaed Cuomo's records related to both companies, the Buffalo News reported. Company officials have not responded to requests for comment.

Howe also represented 3Gi CNYIP Inc., a company that is trying to develop a cargo transportation hub in Manlius. 3Gi was included in Bharara's subpoena to the governor's office, the Buffalo News reported. Company leader Eckhardt Beck said he was not happy with Howe's work for his company, but does not think Howe did anything improper while representing 3Gi.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Bharara is looking at whether Percoco received illegitimate outside income from companies doing business with the state, including COR. On a state disclosure form, Percoco reported between $50,000 and $75,000 in payments from COR during 2014, a year during which he left Cuomo's administration to run his re-election campaign. COR officials have repeatedly denied paying Percoco.

For more on the players in the federal investigation into Cuomo's economic development programs, contracting, donors and former aides and associates, see this handy guide at Syracuse.com.

On, and that photo of Cuomo, Percoco and Howe?

That wouldn't be the first time they were all together in recent years.

As Jimmy Vielkind reported, Howe "hosted" a fundraiser for Cuomo in December 2014 and guess who came with offerings for the Cuomo camapign?

That's right - COR Development execs:

ALBANY — While Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been downplaying his relationship with Todd Howe, a lobbyist at the center of a federal probe of his administration, records show that Howe was steering developers to contribute to the Cuomo campaign as recently as five months ago.

Howe, then a lobbyist for a subsidiary of Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna, hosted a dinner gathering with Cuomo on Dec. 14 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.

The governor walked in at 8:30 p.m., accompanied by two of his top aides, Bill Mulrow and Joe Percoco. He was met by Howe, who worked as his deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, executives from COR Development and Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, a key Republican ally of the administration, according to public records and four people familiar with the event.

The night’s $25,000 haul came in five checks from three COR executives, the wife of an executive and one of the company’s LLCs. They were deposited on Jan. 12. COR, a Syracuse-based firm, is building two research buildings for SUNY Polytechnic Institute at a business park the company owns in DeWitt.

While Howe’s work was only recently registered with state lobbying regulators, he was a paid adviser to both SUNY Poly and COR at the time of fundraiser. And Percoco, who has managed Cuomo’s political campaigns for more than a decade and shared an office with Howe during Cuomo's 2014 re-election effort, received at least $50,000 in consulting fees from COR that year — something Cuomo has said he did not know.

But that lobbyist under federal investigation for corruption?

Yeah, Cuomo doesn't know much about him or associate with him.

Over/Under On A De Blasio Indictment

That's the front cover of the NY Post and it refers to this (which is actually from the NY Times):

To most, they are known by their public personas as speechwriters, political consultants or, in one case, a United States ambassador to South Africa.

But to the office of New York’s mayor, they have another identity: agents of the city.

What makes them unique, the office argued on Thursday, is that the communications between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the five close advisers should be as immune from public scrutiny as those of any city employee.

City Hall described the designation amid mounting scrutiny over its shielding of communications between the mayor and Jonathan Rosen, whom the counsel to the mayor described at a news conference on Wednesday as an “agent of the city.” Mr. Rosen, who corresponds and meets with the mayor regularly, is also a principal at a public affairs consulting firm, BerlinRosen, whose clients include real estate developers and nonprofits.

Others on the list provided on Thursday rounded out a who’s who of figures often cited by government watchdog groups as representing New York’s “shadow government” under Mr. de Blasio: Nicholas Baldick and Bill Hyers, of Hilltop Public Solutions, a political consulting firm; John Del Cecato, of AKPD Message and Media, who has helped Mr. de Blasio write important speeches; and the United States ambassador, Patrick Gaspard.

None received payment from the city, the mayor’s office said. But with the exception of Mr. Gaspard, each represents a firm that got large payments from Mr. de Blasio’s political nonprofit, the Campaign for One New York, now at the center of several inquiries into the mayor’s fund-raising efforts.

One firm, BerlinRosen, has received subpoenas in connection with investigations by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Manhattan district attorney into Mr. de Blasio’s fund-raising on behalf of Senate Democrats in 2014.

The notion of designating a special class of unpaid advisers — many of whom also represent clients with business before the city — appeared to be an unusual, if not novel, approach to city governance, former officials said. City Hall, however, was careful to clarify that “agent of the city” is not an official designation.

Agent of the city.

When you start doing shit like this, you know the end is near.

Noticing The Not-So-Subtle Way Cuomo's State Contracts Seem Rigged For His Donors

The pattern for how Cuomo and his associates rig bids for his donors gets some scrutiny in this Albany Business Review piece looking at a SUNY Polytechnic contract for a dorm:

Richard Gefell is always looking for potential business opportunities, so when he heard last year SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany needed dormitories for 500 students near its campus, he was intrigued.

Gefell, director of business development at Purcell Construction Corp. in Watertown, signed a confidentiality agreement to get the project specifications, a requirement 12 other companies also fulfilled, according to documents released to Albany Business Review under the state Freedom of Information Law.

But his interest waned when he read the Request for Proposal, or RFP, and realized developers must have their headquarters or “major operations” in the Albany region. Watertown is 175 miles west, near Lake Ontario.

He was also dismayed to see the college preferred the dorms be built within a 10-minute walk of campus.

“The way the RFP was written, you could kind of tell they had already selected their site,” Gefell said. “The more research I did down there, there’s really one site that was suitable.”

He added, “They had very tight parameters on where the site could be located, and a very short window of time to secure it. It appeared there weren’t that many sites that met that criteria.”

Another builder said the deadline to submit proposals — just 43 days after the RFP was issued — made it impractical to get control of land near the campus on time.

“We thought someone had an inside track,” said the builder, who asked not to be identified because of concerns it could threaten future dealings with SUNY Polytechnic. “It was so highly specific. Unless you knew about it before the RFP was released, you would not have been in a position to respond.”

Only one developer submitted a proposal - Columbia Development.

If you guessed that Columbia Development was a Cuomo donor, well, you win a government contract from the Cuomo administration.

Here was Chris Churchill in the Times-Union back in September following some of the money around the Columbia Development/SUNY Poly dorm story:

SUNY Poly just awarded a contract for dormitory construction to Columbia Development, whose entities have given at least $175,000 to the governor's campaign fund since the start of 2014.

...

June 2014: The Times Union learns that Columbia is the developer for the so-called ZEN building, a $191 million project that is still under construction. Columbia will be also be a ZEN tenant.

July 2014: We learn that Columbia is buying homes on Loughlin Street, just south of the SUNY Poly campus. "Nobody here has any idea what that's about," Gretzinger said at the time.

March 2015: SUNY Poly issues a request for proposals to construct dorms. The school asks that the dorms be within a 10-minute walk of campus, and it requires that the developer be based in the Capital Region and have experience in dorm construction.

The requirements seemed perfectly suited for Columbia, but SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros cautioned against jumping to conclusions. "It would be an erroneous assumption to presume at this point that we have a preferred developer or location," Kaloyeros said then.

September 2015: We learn that Columbia has, indeed, won the bid and will develop three dorms and parking on land that includes Loughlin Street. SUNY Poly is negotiating to buy the land from the developer. The project architect is EYP, which is headquartered on the SUNY Poly campus.

OK, so take that timeline and overlay it with what I found on Monday while searching the Board of Elections online records.

August 2013: A Columbia entity gives $25,000 to Cuomo's campaign fund. It's the company's first donation to Cuomo in the database.

June 2014: Two Columbia entities — Ridgehill LLC and 25 Monroe LLC — give $50,000 each. All together, Columbia and related LLCs give $115,000 to the governor over the course of 2014.

July 2015: Six separate Columbia entities give a total of $50,000 to the governor on just one day, July 13. All together, Columbia has given $60,000 so far this year, according to state records.

The three-year total: $200,000.

That's a significant amount of money — and it's probably an undercount of Columbia's contributions. It's so difficult to ferret out all the various Columbia-associated LLCs that it's likely I missed a few. Columbia President Joe Nicolla, who also is a SUNY Poly Foundation board member, could probably provide the precise number, but he declined comment Monday.

Churchill went on to note the similarities between the Columbia Development/SUNY Poly dorm story and the Buffalo Billion/LP Ciminelli story:

In Buffalo, a similar pattern was uncovered by the Investigative Post, a Buffalo-based online news outlet.

Jim Heaney, its editor, dug deep on the Buffalo Billion, a Cuomo economic development effort in which Kaloyeros is heavily involved. His reporting peeled away layers of secrecy to find that a request-for-proposals seemed written for LPCiminelli, which is owned by a major Cuomo donor.

This week we found what seems to be a similar RFP rigging from SUNY over a proposed for-profit charter school run by NHA - a Cuomo donor in the past.

I'm no lawyer, but I would imagine that this kind of pattern - RFP's seemingly tailored so only Cuomo donors can get the contract - will interest the U.S. attorney and his merry men and women looking into potential criminality, conflicts of interest and malfeasance in Cuomo's economic development programs.

It's Attorney General Schneiderman officially looking into this SUNY Polytechnic dorm proposal, but it's not like he and Preet don't talk, you know?

Cuomo Continues To Defend Buffalo Billion Project Despite Federal Investigation

Andrew Cuomo says the Buffalo Billion Project, currently under investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara,, is still the swellest thing ever:

It's a fine line for the governor to walk. While he has sought to distance himself from certain people being probed in connection with the "Buffalo Billion" economic development program, he also continues to defend it because it's a centerpiece of his upstate agenda.


Cuomo spoke to reporters in Rochester.

"Also remember, it is a vitally important program," the governor said. "It's doing great work in upstate New York. Buffalo has turned around dramatically. Job growth is way way up. Dr. Alain Kaloyeros' work has been extraordinary."


Kaloyeros helped develop the nanotechnology industry in upstate New York. He is currently under investigation, along with former lobbyist Todd Howe and former longtime Cuomo aide Joe Percoco, for possible bid rigging and inappropriate lobbying. No one has been charged.


But recognizing there are questions about their conduct, the governor has ordered his own internal investigation.


"These are questions at this point," Cuomo said. "I am the former attorney general. I got a lot of "tips," quote unquote, and I did a lot of investigations. Frankly, most investigations turned out to be nothing."

Oh, so few lines from the governor, yet so much here to contemplate.

Job growth is way up in Buffalo as a result of the Buffalo Billion Project?

Where, exactly?

Dr. Alain Kaloyeros' work has been extraordinary?

Surely it has, if by extraordinary he means extraordinarily secretive and non-transparent.

As for Cuomo's saying he got lots of tips as attorney general but the investigations never turned into anything, that was one of the big criticisms of Cuomo from back in the day - that he was only interested in investigations that would help him politically and garner big headlines.

In fact, Cuomo's record as attorney general was overall pretty mixed, as the NY Times reported in 2010, so maybe Cuomo ought not to compare the work of a U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the former assembly speaker and former state senate majority leader to his own lackluster days as A.G. when it comes to talking about the investigation into his economic development programs that has widened in the past few weeks and seen subpoenas go all over the state to different individuals and entities involved with the Cuomo administration and/or state business.

Cuomo's defense of his scandal-scarred administration gets weaker and weaker by the day.

Cuomo: Every Buffalo Billion Dollar "Sacred"

Try not to be drinking anything as you read the following response from Andrew Cuomo over whether he and his administration are on the defensive over the expanding corruption probe into the governor's economic development programs:

“We take any allegation very seriously, we’re not getting defensive,” Mr. Cuomo said today, recalling his own experience as New York attorney general. “What’s vitally important to me, not just as governor but as a person, is I want people to have full confidence and trust in the integrity of this government. Any relationship is only as good as the level of trust.”

...

The governor told the Observer that he had a “purely personal” conversation with Mr. Percoco just a few weeks ago. He also maintained that the state had treated every dollar it expended through the Buffalo Billion as “sacred” since the project’s inception, and argued the probe did not prove any kind of misconduct.


“The U.S. Attorney started an investigation for whatever reason, right? As attorney general, I started all sorts of investigations,” Mr. Cuomo said. “You get a tip, you get information, your job is to follow it up and conduct an investigation. It does not mean something bad happened. It means you have gotten a tip or some information that merits looking into. And that is a good thing.”

“All sorts of questions, all sorts of rumors. So, you get a tip, God bless you, follow it up. That’s just what I did as attorney general, that’s what the U.S. attorney should be doing,” he continued.

But his long, meandering answer also seemed to allow some malfeasance may have transpired.

“I’m realistic enough to know, in an operation this size, with this much money and this many players, it’s unrealistic to say ‘nothing bad is ever going to happen.’ People are venal. Some people have bad intent. Some people, frankly, are stupid. And things will happen,” he said. “What I can say is, ‘if and when something bad happens, we will have zero tolerance for any abuse. We will throw the book at anybody who does anything wrong.'”

Cuomo and his minions did everything they could to make the Buffalo Billion Project as opaque and secretive as possible.

Just ask Jim Heaney at Investigative Post, who was stonewalled at every turn by the Cuomo administration as he tried to report on Cuomo's economic development program for Buffalo (see here, here, here, and here.)

As for having "zero tolerance for any abuse," given the number of subpoenas that have gone out in the investigation, the project seems to have been rife with abuse, much of it coming from people very close to Andrew Cuomo himself (former aide Joe Percoco, former aide/lobbyist Todd Howe, SUNY Polytechnic's Alain Kaloyeros.)

So this whole performance by Cuomo was one big joke with laugh line after line.

The investigation appears to be very big and very wide.

Cuomo can try and bullshit the press and the public all he wants.

He's got an ambitious U.S. attorney who just watched the former state senate majority leader and the former assembly speaker get sentenced to prison time over corruption charges.

Somehow I doubt that U.S. attorney will be swayed by Cuomo's faux-earnest words.

Proposed For-Profit Charter School In Rochester Linked To Cuomo Corruption Probe

We've already had one education link to the ever-expanding Cuomo corruption probe, with former Cuomo aide Joe Percoco's wife, the ex-teacher, getting paid for some education consultant work from a company of interest in the federal investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo's economic development programs.

We now have a second education link:

Maple Street Charter School, the for-profit charter school hoping to open in Rochester next year, has paid tens of thousands of dollars to a lobbying firm at the center of a rapidly expanding federal investigation into improper influence in Albany, state records show.

Maple Street's parent company, National Heritage Academies, has been using the Albany-based lobbying firm Whiteman Osterman & Hanna since at least 2007. A WOH subsidiary in Washington, D.C., was led until recently by Todd Howe, a former associate of Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is at the center of the probe by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

The Buffalo News reported earlier this week that Bharara issued a subpoena to Cuomo's office requesting, among other things, all documents relating to Howe and WOH. That would likely include aspects of its lobbying on behalf of the Maple Street application.

...

The most recent disclosure report shows NHA paid WOH $12,000 in the last six months of 2015 for lobbying related to charter schools. The expected lobbying targets included Cuomo's office, the state Assembly and Legislature and Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren.

In the same six-month time period, NHA also paid $45,000 to Park Strategies, a powerful lobbying firm run by former U.S. Sen. Al D'Amato, R-N.Y.

NHA Chairman J.C. Huizenga has given more than $400,000 in campaign contributions in New York since 2005. Most of it went to Republicans, but he also has given $49,000 to a Cuomo fundraising entity.

For-profit charters are banned in New York State, in part because a previous NHA for-profit charter was such a problem, but NHA got this current proposal through a loophole - the SUNY charter board used one charter slot left over from 2007 to give the Maple Street Charter School the opportunity to open under the old, less onerous charter rules.

How did they get the loophole exception?

Could it be the lobbying through WOH or D'Amato's Park Strategies?

Could it be the $49K to Cuomo?

Could it be a mixture of all three?

You bet it could.

And then, just as a Buffalo Billion Project RFP was written so that only a Cuomo donor could win it and a SUNY dorm RFP was written so that only a Cuomo donor could win it, this RFP was written so that NHA was pretty much guaranteed to win it:

Because it predates the 2010 ban, that charter can go to a for-profit provider. The request for proposals was written in such a way that NHA was one of only two possible candidates; the request also was not publicized along with a concurrent, broader charter school proposal cycle.

Ah, such fun in New York - if you pay-to-play, you can achieve just about anything.

What an exciting message to teach the kids at the new NHA Maple Street Charter, with its emphasis on "character education."

But I'm guessing now that there's some sunlight on this deal, the Maple Street Charter School may not open as NHA hoped.