UFT Would Be Foolish To Announce Endorsement Of De Blasio Right Now

James Eterno wrote back in early December that UFT President Michael Mulgrew has hinted a UFT endorsement of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is coming soon.

Mulgrew's reasoning?

Other unions have already announced early endorsements of de Blasio, there will be a corporate-funded general election candidate who will look to run against public education and the teachers union, and de Blasio settled all the outstanding contracts with the municipal unions that Bloomberg refused to settle in his third term.

Since that Mulgrew hint, we also learned that AFT President Randi Weingarten will hold a fundraiser for de Blasio in January:

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, will hold a fundraiser for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s re-election campaign in January, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by POLITICO New York.

The fundraiser will be held at AFT headquarters in Washington on January 5. Guest tickets are $1,000 a head, “supporter” tickets are $2,500, and “host” tickets are $4,950.

The event will be co-hosted by the lobbyist Harold Ickes, a friend and mentor to de Blasio who has enjoyed lobbying successes under de Blasio’s tenure. Ickes’ lobbying partner, Janice Enright, will also co-host the fundraiser. John Stocks, the director of the National Education Association, the nation’s other most prominent teachers union, is on the host committee for the event.

The event comes as de Blasio begins to gather endorsements from the city’s most prominent unions — both the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union have given the mayor their early endorsements. But de Blasio has not yet won the endorsement of the United Federation of Teachers, the largest and most powerful branch of the AFT, representing teachers in New York City.

Weingarten’s upcoming fundraiser could add to pressure for UFT president Michael Mulgrew to give the mayor his union’s endorsement soon.

Now those of you who are close Randi/Mulgrew watchers know there is no daylight between either, so it's doubtful that the Weingarten fundraiser is "pressure" coming from Randi onto Mulgrew to endorse de Blasio early as opposed to another part of a multi-pronged strategy to get on board the de Blasio express early and prove loyalty to the mayor (especially necessary since the UFT worked against de Blasio in the primary last time around.)

That strategy might make some sense if de Blasio was a powerful incumbent with a proven track record of helping teachers and public schools, but as James wrote in his piece on the likely UFT endorsement, the case for that is slim:

In the school system I work in, teachers and other UFT members feel almost like they are under siege on a daily basis in multiple schools. Many of us fear drive by Danielson observations by abusive administrators, being rated based on student test scores in schools where the students are not exactly well prepared, overburdened paperwork demands made by those abusive principals and their assistants, the war on seniority with (un)fair student funding which makes senior teachers a burden on school budgets and much, much more.

Our job has been turned into a nightmare in many school buildings. In spite of the working conditions deteriorating to the point where a large number of teachers cannot physically or emotionally take it much longer, our Union President's response is hinting that we want more of the same.

Add in the de Blasio contract that holds back pay to 2020 (but only if you're still in the system!) and gives yearly increase averages of just over 1% and gee, what's not to like about endorsing de Blasio early, given all that wonderful stuff?

Well, how about the news that de Blasio is the subject of two grand jury investigations and criminal charges are likely to come against some of his cronies (and perhaps even de Blasio himself)?

Two separate grand juries in Manhattan have begun hearing testimony in connection with federal and state criminal investigations into Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign fund-raising, according to several people with knowledge of the matters.

It was unclear whether either inquiry would result in criminal charges against the mayor, but the grand jury activity appeared to be the strongest indication since the investigations came to light in April that prosecutors may be moving closer to one or more indictments, possibly against some of Mr. de Blasio’s closest aides.

The inquiries have centered on Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, and several of his senior aides, according to the people with knowledge of the matter, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.

The state investigation has focused on whether the mayor, or those acting with him or on his behalf, violated state election law by raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through three upstate county committees and funneling it to Democratic candidates during the party’s unsuccessful 2014 bid to gain control of the State Senate.

The questions asked by state prosecutors in their grand jury presentations suggest their inquiry is in some measure centered on Emma Wolfe, Mr. de Blasio’s top political aide, Ross A. Offinger, who was then his campaign finance director, and Josh Gold, a union political operative who worked on the 2014 Senate effort, the people with knowledge of the inquiry said.

The federal investigation has examined whether Mr. de Blasio or his aides took beneficial action on behalf of donors in exchange for contributions they had made to his 2013 mayoral campaign, his political nonprofit or both in roughly a half-dozen instances, according to people with knowledge of that inquiry.

As I wrote Thursday, this leak came straight out of publicity-happy US Attorney Preet Bharara's office and Preet doesn't leak this kind of stuff without criminal charges following soon.

That's how it played out with Shelly Silver, Dean and Adam Skelos and Cuomo's cronies Joe Percoco and Alain Kaloyeros - there's no reason to think it won't play out the same way here.

With criminal charges all but certain against somebody linked to de Blasio and with the NYC media already having an adversarial relationship with the churlish de Blasio, you can bet he's going to get hammered day after day after day in the newspapers and on TV, further weakening an already weak incumbent (polls consistently show de Blasio is underwater on the "Deserves Re-Election" question.)

Now I can understand why the UFT would look to finagle an early endorsement of de Blasio despite his administration showing itself to be anti-teacher in its treatment of teachers in the evaluation process (superintendents are instructing school administrators to ratchet up "ineffective" and "developing" ratings against teachers, especially veteran teachers), the budgeting process (which rewards schools that shed veteran teachers) and contractually (back pay all the way to 2020) - that's because the UFT leadership only cares about the access de Blasio and Chancellor Farina have granted them, not how they have treated their members so badly.

But why would the UFT want to announce an endorsement of de Blasio now with Preet bearing down on him and charges coming for one or more de Blasio cronies?

That Thursday night leak to the NY Times about the state and federal grand juries looking into de Blasio didn't come out of nowhere - that's a clear indication that Preet intends some charges against someone and wants to give a heads up that they're coming.

There's no indication yet that the charges will reach de Blasio himself, but even if they don't, weakened unpopular incumbent that he is, de Blasio may not be able to withstand major figures in his political circle getting taken down on criminal charges.

I think the UFT would be smart to wait for Preet to make a move and see what the political and practical fallout is before they endorse.

But the words "smart" and "UFT leadership" do not sit well together, so they just may continue with the AFT/UFT pro-de Blasio strategy despite new information that suggests that strategy may be politically and practically short-sighted and ill-conceived.

Preetmas Eve

Various outlets on the Cuomo corruption story today - first the NY Times:

Federal corruption charges were announced on Thursday against two former close aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a senior state official and six other people, in a devastating blow to the governor’s innermost circle and a repudiation of how his prized upstate economic development programs were managed.

The charges against the former aides, Joseph Percoco and Todd R. Howe, and the state official, Alain Kaloyeros, were the culmination of a long-running federal investigation into the Cuomo administration’s attempts to lure jobs and businesses to upstate New York’s limping economy by furnishing billions of dollars in state funds to developers from Buffalo to Albany. Mr. Howe is cooperating with the investigation, according to a 79-page criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday.

The charges stemmed from “two overlapping criminal schemes involving bribery, corruption and fraud in the award of hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts and other official state benefits,” federal prosecutors said in the complaint.

Politico NY:

ALBANY— Alain Kaloyeros, the now former CEO of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, has been charged with three felony counts in connection to an alleged bid-rigging scheme, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Thursday.

The complaint against Kaloyeros, 60, alleges he steered, or agreed to steer, the awarding of contracts to favorable companies, including Columbia Development, a real estate firm with extensive ties to the Capital Region.

The complaint alleges Kaloyeros improperly used the Request for Proposal process to direct contracts to certain firms for the construction of facilities for SUNY Poly. 

“A year-long investigation by my office found that Alain Kaloyeros allegedly used his perch atop SUNY Polytechnic [and] engaged in brazen bid-rigging, using taxpayer dollars and abusing his power to enrich himself and his cronies,” Schneiderman said at a press conference in Manhattan. “According to our criminal complaint, Kaloyeros gave insider information to friends and fixed the bidding process to ensure his cronies lucrative contracts, funded in part by the state of New York.

Kaloyeros, who is expected to be arraigned in Albany City Court on Friday, has been charged with three felony counts of Combination in Restraint of Trade and Competition. Joseph Nicolla, the head of Columbia Development, has been charged with one felony count of of Combination in Restraint of Trade and Competition and is expected to be arraigned on Monday.

Is Cuomo himself implicated in any of this?

Bharara was asked if Cuomo himself has any involvement in the case by a reporter who noted that he had once issued a statement absolving the governor of wrongdoing in connection with the early demise of the corruption-busting Moreland Commission. His reply:

“What I can say at this moment is that there are no allegations of any wrongdoing or misconduct by the governor anywhere in this complaint. That’s all I’m going to say.”

When pressed on whether it’s “realistic” to believe that the governor, who has a reputation of being something of a micromanager, did not know what his top aide was up to, Bharara said simply: “It’s not my job to comment on what is realistic or unrealistic.”

Bharara also said that this investigation, “as a general matter,” remains open.

Politically there's going to be some serious fallout for Cuomo and he's never going to want Sandra Lee to make "ziti" every again, but he appears to be skating on criminal charges, at least for now.

Whether that changes as a result of any of the fellows charged today dishing dirt on him, we'll just have to wait and see.

In any case Happy Preetmas Eve everybody.

Next up in the NY Corruption Season - Bill de Blasio and those donors.

Legal Fees In Cuomo Investigations Mount

From Jimmy Vielkind at Politico NY:

ALBANY — The state’s economic development authority is tripling the amount of money it’s spending to deal with a federal probe of the Cuomo administration’s Buffalo Billion, documents show.

Empire State Development voted on Thursday to amend its contract with WilmerHale, which has been advising the authority since it received a federal subpoena for records last summer.

The firm was originally retained for $200,000, but the amount was increased by $400,000 in the final minute of Thursday’s board meeting. The unanimous vote came after 40 minutes of discussion in executive session. 

...

The allocation by ESD is just one slice of taxpayer-covered legal payments related to Bharara’s probe. SUNY Poly has retained Richard Strassberg of Goodwin Procter, but a spokesman would not say how much he is being paid.

A spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month confirmed that Elkan Abramowitz is still representing the governor, as was the case with an earlier Bharara probe. It’s unclear if Abramowitz will be paid by taxpayers or from the Democratic governor’s campaign war chest.

And there is an outside inquiry by Bart Schwartz that Cuomo commissioned after his executive chamber was subpoenaed on April 29. Schwartz and his firm, GuidePost, are examining what took place and are reviewing ongoing payments.

His contract has not been finalized.

Bharara warned executive branches in the state yesterday:

We have found that corruption is rife in a lot of institutions in New York and throughout New York,” Bharara said during a national TV interview.

“That’s true in the legislature. It’s also the case that there’s corruption, we believe, in the executive branches as well. And we’ll ferret it out wherever we find it.”

Clearly a bow shot at Cuomo, as well as de Blasio - no wonder the legal fee expenditures from Cuomo and his minions are mounting.

Bharara Warns Cuomo And De Blasio He's Coming For Them

Preet Bharara was on ABC this morning with a warning for both Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio:

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara publicly put Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo on notice Sunday that he’s actively searching for evidence of corruption in their branches of government.

“We have found that corruption is rife in a lot of institutions in New York and throughout New York,” Bharara said during a national TV interview.

“That’s true in the legislature. It’s also the case that there’s corruption, we believe, in the executive branches as well. And we’ll ferret it out wherever we find it.”

Bharara’s stinging comments on ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” come amid probes by his office into fund-raising efforts by Mayor de Blasio and suspected bid-rigging in state-funded development projects.

They also followed an interview last month in which Bharara bristled at the suggestion that Cuomo had been cleared of wrongdoing when Bharara declined to charge him for unexpectedly shutting down the anti-corruption Moreland Commission in 2014.

“Nobody gave a clean bill of health to anybody. A non-indictment is not an endorsement of anyone’s conduct,” Bharara told the New Yorker in what the magazine described as “an uncharacteristically icy tone.”

Cuomo's administration is the subject of a massive federal investigation into his economic development projects all over the state.

Cuomo's top former aide, Joe Percoco, is one focus of that investigation.

A second is another former Cuomo aide and close associate, Todd Howe.

A third is SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros, Cuomo's man in charge of the economic development projects.

As the Post piece notes, de Blasio is the subject of a few investigations too.

The election is coming in November, so if anything is going to come of these investigations, it will come before then.

It's not a mistake that Bharara was on ABC News this morning to talk about corruption in the executive branches in this state.

That's a little head nod that something's coming soon.

We know that one of de Blasio's fund raisers is cooperating with the feds, so my guess is, the de Blasio investigations will get movement first.

But there's a lot going on with the Cuomo investigations too.

There's no certainty that Cuomo's going to go down, but given the subpoenas that went out across the state as part of the investigation into his economic development programs, you can pretty much bet some of those associates of his are going down.

And there's an outside chance that after some squeezing, some of those associates will have tales to trade to prosecutors for lighter sentences.

One way or another, it's beginning to sound a lot like Preetmas.

John Flanagan Is Nothing But Cuomo's Flunky

Fred Dicker in the NY Post:

As the 2016 session of the Legislature wrapped up last week and came to a typically ugly end in the wee hours Saturday morning — with bleary-eyed lawmakers forced to vote on measures they didn’t even have time to read — The Post asked several lawmakers, lobbyists and journalists to assess the first full year’s performance of Democrat Heastie, a key ally of Mayor de Blasio, and Flanagan, the most powerful Republican in the state.

...

“It’s clear that Carl lacks Shelly Silver’s strengths — keen intelligence and tough negotiating skills — while possessing his own weaknesses of indecision and a lack of clear strategy,’’ said the influential lobbyist.

“While Carl took on [Gov.] Cuomo on behalf of the mayor, he wasn’t very effective in doing so because he’s basically afraid of the governor, and hence you wound up with just that one-year extension [of mayoral control of the city schools],’’ the lobbyist continued.

As for Flanagan, “It’s clear that to an embarrassing degree Flanagan is Cuomo’s flunky, his most loyal ally in the Legislature, a guy who will abandon the supposed fundamental positions of his own Republican Party in order to hold on to power,’’ said the lobbyist, a Democrat who has worked with both leaders.

Nothing to add here except this:

As corrupt as he was, when Silver was taken out, the only check to Cuomo's power was removed from Albany.

Now the governor essentially gets whatever he wants and makes sure that what he doesn't want - like real ethics reform - doesn't happen.

About the only possible check on Cuomo's power resides in the Southern District of New York, but it remains to be seen if and when that power will act to take down Cuomo.

It's Pay-To-Play All The Way With Andrew Cuomo

Jon Campbell takes an extensive look at Governor Cuomo's economic development programs and finds the following:

Two of New York’s most-powerful landlords are little-known nonprofits with deep pockets, well-connected boards of directors, ties to Rochester contractors and a growing portfolio worth billions that has attracted attention from federal prosecutors.

Meet the Fort Schuyler Management Corp. and Fuller Road Management Corp., owners of an increasing number of the facilities at the center of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s push to revitalize upstate New York’s long-lagging economy.

The two nonprofits act as the real-estate arm of the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, the Albany- and Utica-based college whose clout has spread as Cuomo entrusted founding president Alain Kaloyeros with overseeing the Buffalo Billion development program, a $600 million photonics institute in Rochester and facilities in Greece, Canandaigua, Utica and Syracuse.

The nonprofits have awarded lucrative contracts to big-money donors to Cuomo’s political campaign, including two Rochester-based contractors. Board members at various points have seen their companies or clients receive leases and deals, a review by Gannett’s Albany Bureau shows.

For years, Fort Schuyler and Fuller Road have operated with little scrutiny — largely faceless, quasi-public organizations existing as a mechanism to comply with IRS rules when transferring billions in state funds to facilities that house private companies.

That has changed: U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman are separately investigating contracts awarded by the two entities, with Cuomo’s administration acknowledging the federal investigation is examining possible “improper bidding.”

Here's the way this worked:

Contractors submitted bids (often rigged by the state so that only one local contractor could win), then submitted contributions to Cuomo, then won the contracts - whee!!!!

How often did this happen?

A lot - take the Rochester contracts, for example:

As their portfolio grew, Fort Schuyler and Fuller Road have doled out construction contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. Often, those contracts went to Cuomo campaign donors, records show.

In Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany and Plattsburgh, Fort Schuyler put out separate requests for proposals for a “qualified local developer” to develop a “strategic partnership” with.

The requests for proposals were detailed and extensive, requiring a locally based contractor with at least 15 years experience and the ability to build high-tech infrastructure such as clean rooms and smart classrooms.

Fort Schuyler’s contract in Rochester went to LeChase Construction and The Pike Co. in 2014, meeting minutes show.
...

On Sept. 24, 2014, eight days after Fort Schuyler’s board was informed of the Rochester bids, LeChase CEO Wayne LeChase contributed $25,000 to Cuomo’s re-election campaign, state records show. The same day, Pike President Rufus Judson contributed $10,000.

Five days later, Wayne LeChase contributed another $11,181.

And the Buffalo contracts:

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is probing the process by which three developers who are Gov. Cuomo donors came to get the bulk of a billion dollars in state contracts to develop major projects in Buffalo. Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, the president of which, Alain Kaloyeros, oversees the Buffalo Billion program. The program is supposed to generate thousands of upstate jobs through the tech, clean-energy, and pharmaceutical facilities the Cuomo cronies were tapped to build with $855 million in taxpayer money.

Pressed earlier this summer by a reporter for Buffalo's Investigative Post who was seeking details of the bidding process and faced illegal stonewalling across multiple state agencies and state-run nonprofits, Kaloyeros said, "We are not political operatives nor do we respond to perceived threats and terrorism." That "terrorism" apparently consisted of repeated phone calls, emails, and Freedom of Information Law requests.

Still, little is known about the selection process. What is clear, according to the Investigative Post, is that developer McGuire Development scored the $55 million contract to renovate skyscrapers in Buffalo to accommodate IBM, then three months later, donated $25,000 to Cuomo's campaign. The firm LP Ciminelli scored a heftier $750 million contract to build a solar-panel factory. Its president, Louis Ciminelli, is one of Cuomo's biggest donors in the region, having contributed $96,500 to the governor's two campaigns. Until competitors balked, the request for bids was written with the requirement that bidders have 50 years experience working in Buffalo, which only LP Ciminelli did. That company and Ciminelli Real Estate, run by Louis Ciminelli's brother, won the $50 million contract to build drug research space at a Buffalo medical campus. Paul Ciminelli's $10,500 to Cuomo and $5,000 to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul cannot have hurt.

And the Syracuse contracts:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- COR Development, the politically connected company developing the state's nanotechnology hub in DeWitt and Syracuse's Inner Harbor, gave Gov. Andrew Cuomo $50,000 in the past six months, making them Cuomo's top donor in Central New York.

Cuomo has $16 million in his campaign account, according to a campaign finance report he filed Friday.

Cuomo received $25,000 last week, on Jan. 12, from a COR Development subsidiary, Clay South Development Co., and four COR executives, including President Steven Aiello, Executive Vice Presidents Joe Girardi and Paul Joynt, and Julie Aiello, the wife of Executive Vice President Jeffrey Aiello.

That came on top of $25,000 that COR Route 31 Co. LLC gave to Cuomo on Aug. 24.
COR has been the governor's biggest contributor from the Syracuse region since Cuomo was elected governor in 2010, giving him more than $300,000.

The company has received contracts from the state for numerous projects under Cuomo. COR built a $15 million film hub for New York state in 2015 on land it owns in DeWitt. Cuomo announced COR would also build a $90 million facility for Soraa, an LED lighting manufacturer at the same nanotechnology hub.

And the timing of the donations?

Often coordinated:

COR Development, its subsidiaries, four partners and their wives are among the largest Cuomo donors in Central New York. They have given a combined $337,500 to Cuomo's election campaigns between October 2010 and January 2016.

Partners and family members write checks to the governor's campaign for as much as $25,000, sometimes on the same day, records show. A statewide candidate can accept up to $44,000 per individual for the four-year election cycle. An individual donor is limited to $150,000 in combined contributions to all candidates in a calendar year, according to the NYS Board of Elections.

A clear pattern - RFP's rigged so that only one or two contractors can win them, proposals submitted by the contractors, donations sent to Cuomo concurrent to the proposals, contracts doled out to the donors.

Now whether Bharara is able to tie Cuomo to this, make a criminal case out of it and take him out in handcuffs is another matter.

But the pattern throughout is quite clear - it's pay-to-play all the way with Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo Administration, Reeling From Federal Probe, Touts "List Of Successes"

Ken Lovett in the Daily News:

Trying to divert attention from a federal probe into his administration, Cuomo's state agencies have been asked to put together lists of their successes that can be touted publicly, sources said.

On top of that, state Operations Director James Malatras has twice convened staff in recent weeks to urge them to keep focus on their work, the insiders said.

"He said that the best way to get out from the cloud over us is to just work hard," said one source. 

"You don't know what's going to happen here and you just can't wait. The tendency when things are going like this is to withdraw. He said you have to do the job and have to work harder now."

A Cuomo aide called it "routine" for agencies to highlight the work they've done and for the director of state operations to meet with staff.

The diversionary tactics may work with the public (as a recent Siena poll suggests), but they will not work with the feds investigating Cuomo's administration.

So, good luck with that list, Jim.

Some of the Cuomo boys can take it with them when they go to prison.

Preet Bharara Aware Of How Close Todd Howe Was To Andrew Cuomo

These past few weeks Governor Andrew Cuomo has been playing the "Corrupt lobbyist under federal investigation who kept showing up at my functions and raising money for me?  I have no idea who that guy is!" game.

According to Fred Dicker of the NY Post, it's not working:

Gov. Cuomo’s renewed effort to distance himself from lobbyist and longtime associate Todd Howe flies in the face of Howe’s continuous role as a member of Cuomo’s “inner circle,” a source close to US Attorney Preet Bharara’s corruption probe told The Post.

“From the start, when Cuomo took office, Todd was part of the inner circle of decision makers. He was basically part of the Cuomo administration,” said the source, who has first-hand knowledge of Bharara’s investigation.

“Todd was a coequal to Joe Percoco and Howard Glaser and absolutely seen as the governor’s guy, even though he wasn’t on the state payroll and officially part of the government.

“For Cuomo to suggest otherwise is ridiculous.”

Percoco, Cuomo’s once-powerful deputy secretary and one of his closest friends, is being investigated by Bharara over money he received from state contractors while running the governor’s re-election campaign in 2014. Glaser is Cuomo’s former state operations director.

The source said Glaser’s successor, James Malatras, regularly deferred to Howe when it came to decision-making, acting as if Howe “was his superior.”

“Howe has been regularly dispatched by the governor as a handler on many issues over many years,’’ the source said.

I dunno how close this "source close to US Attorney Preet Bharara's corruption probe" really is, but I'm not at all surprised that the feds investigating Howe are aware of the proximity Howe had to the governor and the power he held in the administration.

As we learned last week, Cuomo's current Director of State Operations, Jim Malatras, considered Howe part of the "Cuomo Team," saying so in an email in which Howe and he discussed how to get SUNY Poly head Alain Kaloyeros to act according to Cuomo's wishes.

Howe, though not paid by the state or SUNY, simultaneously had offices in Cuomo's 2014 re-election campaign apparatus and at SUNY Polytechnic (was raided two weeks ago as part of the probe.)

The raid of Howe's office was just one part of a much wider investigation into Cuomo's administration.

The public may not be paying much attention to any of this and may think Cuomo is an ethical prince, but you can bet Preet has been paying attention and will not be similarly fooled by any of the governor's jive.

As Fred LeBrun wrote in Yesterday's Times Union:

The governor is dancing as fast as he can to deflect attention from himself over the broadening scandal engulfing his administration, eventually reality will catch up. He can pretend the federal investigation is really only focused on "a couple of people" who were once very close to him but now he barely knows, and everything else is fine. But in all likelihood that is not the way it's going to play out.

No state administration in living memory has been embroiled more deeply in a federal investigation of how it does business than Andrew Cuomo's. That, in spite of the fact that Cuomo is a lawyer, and there appear to be far more lawyers per capita in the political state workforce now than ever before.

Let's repeat: No state administration in living memory has been embroiled more deeply in a federal investigation of how it does business than Andrew Cuomo's.

Again, nothing Cuomo says to the cameras will make that reality go way and eventually, when the indictments come down (and they will - Cuomo's men Todd Howe, Joe Percoco and Alain Kaloyeros are as good as done), the public that thinks he's an ethical prince now (see link above) will learn the truth of Andrew Cuomo and how he operates.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?