Cuomo Transparency Summit: A Press Conference In The Guise Of A Summit

The lone legislator to attend Governor Cuomo's transparency summit (via phone) explains how Cuomo tried to keep him away from it:

Two weeks ended up turning into two months; the governor’s office said it was difficult to schedule the event given the number of parties involved. The meeting, held at the governor’s office in Midtown Manhattan, fell short of a historic gathering: From the Legislature, only a representative from the Assembly’s Republican minority participated.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, was represented at the meeting by three members of his staff, including his top aide, William J. Mulrow, who expressed disappointment at what he described as a boycott by most of the Legislature.

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, both Democrats, sent representatives, and a Republican assemblyman from western New York, Andy Goodell, joined via telephone.

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In a telephone interview afterward, Assemblyman Goodell described the meeting as “a press conference in the guise of a summit, aimed at criticizing the Legislature.”

He said it took days of phone calls to the governor’s office just to find out when and where the meeting would be held. “I don’t think his staff wanted me there, or even wanted me to participate, but just couldn’t figure out how to get rid of me,” he said.

Classic Cuomo - a press conference masquerading as a summit with the aim of attacking the legislature and thus taking the heat off himself.