Cuomo's Completely Rigged And Corrupt Government

An excellent summary of the various strands in the Cuomo scandals by Jon Campbell - here's the key quote I took from it:

There are “so many red flags” that it’s “hard to know where to start,” said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, a group that’s been critical of Cuomo’s economic-development work.

“The exact same lawyers and consultants are representing both the government and the businesses that are either getting contracts or subsidies,” Kaehny said. “You have the same people sitting on both sides of the deals again and again and again. It just really reeks of a completely rigged and corrupt process.” 

Now, Bharara’s inquiry — as well as an internal investigation launched by Cuomo — appears to have focused on a small handful of individuals and companies with plenty of business before the state and myriad ties to Cuomo himself.

That includes Percoco, Cuomo’s former trusted aide; SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros, who led many of the state’s economic-development projects; and Todd Howe, a former Cuomo staffer who until Friday led Whiteman’s Washington subsidiary.

Indeed, that's the pattern in these scandals.

The boys were making money coming and going, both the "consultants" like former Cuomo aides Todd Howe and Joe Percoco as well as the Cuomo campaign itself (via campaign donations from companies doing business with the state.)

And of course the companies were getting millions in contracts.

I don't know that this ever reaches as high as Cuomo, but even if he is never carted out in handcuffs on criminal charges, there is more than enough evidence emerging in these scandals that he has allowed the hen house to be run by the wolves and ought to be run out of Albany on the first Amtrak to Westchester.

The Journal News Calls For Merryl Tisch's Resignation

LoHud mincing no words:

The stunning success of the test-refusal movement in New York is a vote of no confidence in our state educational leadership.

Even as the numbers showed clear dissatisfaction with the path and pace of education "reform" in New York, Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch downplayed the opt-out movement, and painted parents as confused patsies of a labor action, a misreading of the facts.

The Board of Regents sets educational policy for our state. The board needs a strong leader who is willing to guide education policy, communicate the mission clearly and stand up to meddling politicians. Merryl Tisch should cede leadership of the board and allow a fresh start for the board, and for education policy in New York.

Read the whole editorial - it's a scathing indictment of Tisch's failure as a leader.

In particular, they call her out for being Cuomo's lapdog instead of acting in the best interests of the people of this state.

They also note how time and again, she fails to listen to parents and teachers and continues to impose the state's reform agenda.

Tisch enjoys the support of many editorial boards around the state so I doubt she'll accede to LoHud's call here.

And the LoHud editorial page has not been a supporter of many of the reforms Tisch and the Regents have imposed over the years.

Still, it's extraordinary that they're calling her out in public like this.

One more symbol for why Tisch's time in charge is almost done.

Her buddy Shelly Silver's under indictment, she's lost allies on the Board of Regents, many parents and teachers despise her, and now we have the Journal News calling her Cuomo's lapdog and demanding she step down.