Gov. Cuomo’s office interfered with and hindered probes being conducted by a state investigatory panel he appointed to root out Albany corruption, according to an explosive new report.
A three-month New York Times investigation details how Cuomo’s top aide, Larry Schwartz, repeatedly intervened to steer away the Moreland Commission from looking into groups with ties to the governor.
Schwartz ordered the commission to pull back a subpoena it planned to issue a media ad buying firm, Buying Time, that counted Cuomo as well as the state Democratic Party as its clients.
“This is wrong,” Schwartz told one of the commission co-chairs, Onondaga DA Bill Fitzpatrick, according to The Times. “Pull it back.”
Schwartz, the powerful secretary to the governor, also called to complain when the commission drafted a subpoena to the influential Real Estate Board of New York, whose members are generous campaign contributors to Cuomo as well as other pols.
The subpoena sought to examine potential pay-to-play politics by inquiring about a tax break approved by Cuomo and the Legislature and inquired about discussions with lawmakers.
An angry Schwartz called one of the commission’s co-chairs demanding that a subpoena not be issued to the Real Estate Board.
The commission backed down and instead asked the Real Estate Board to hand over information voluntarily, which it did, according to the Times.
The commission also reportedly got blowback from Cuomo’s office — through the governors’s hand-picked executive director Regina Calcaterra, when it decided to subpoena a “major retailer” to investigate whether its campaign contributions were tied to approval of a tax credit to the firm.
The reason? The tax credit was included in Cuomo’s budget and could make the governor look bad, Calcaterra reportedly told members of the investigative panel.
Cuomo created the panel with much fanfare last July to combat political corruption following a series of high profile indictments and convictions of state lawmakers. The governor also had become frustrated that the Legislature had refused to pass ethics legislation to address the issue, including stiffening penalties for misconduct and campaign finance reform.
Cuomo said the panel would operate independently — without fear or favor — and had no restrictions on what it could review.
“Anything they want to look at, they can look at — me, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the comptroller, any senator, any assemblyman,” he said at the time.
Cuomo’s office on Wednesday referred to its 13-page statement to the Times piece when asked for comment.
“A commission appointed by and staffed by the executive cannot investigate the executive,” the statement said.
“It is a pure conflict of interest and would not pass the laugh test.”
The statement didn;t explain why Cuomo originally said the commission could examine his own office if it wanted to.
The commission was disbanded by Cuomo in March when the state budget was approved. At Cuomo’s behest, reluctant state lawmakers agreed to a watered down version of ethics reform.
The governor announced the mission accomplished and said the commission’s work was completed — despite numerous ongoing investigations.
The shutdown of the Moreland panel, drew a rebuke from Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, who suggested that Cuomo had traded off probes into potential corruption in exchange for legislation.
Bharara’s office retrieved all the commission’s files and communications. His office is not only following up on the commission probes, but is investigating whether there was obstruction of corruption investigations by the Cuomo administration.
Cuomo has riding high in the polls as he seeks re-election.
But his opponents now see a clear line of attack.
“Governor Cuomo is in big trouble. Today’s bombshell New York Times investigative report reveals clear obstruction of justice and calculated public dishonesty by Mr. Cuomo and his subordinates,” said GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino.
Astorino, urging on Bhara’s probe of Cuomo’s office, said, ,“New Yorkers cannot afford to have a crook in the governor’s mansion.”
Meanwhile, Democratic rival Zephyr Teachout called on Cuomo to step down.
“I’m calling for the resignation of Andrew Cuomo if he knew that his top aides did interfere with investigations of the Moreland Commission,” said Teachout, who is seeking to challenge Cuomo’s re-election in the Democratic primary.
Teachout claimed that the Cuomo administration’s meddling into the corruption probe was worse than the prostitution scandal that drove former Gov. Eliot Spitzer from office.
“When a private indiscretion became public, Governor Eliot Spitzer quickly resigned from office. The Cuomo administration’s indiscretions – public acts that violate the public trust – are far worse. The administration’s direct obstruction of Moreland suggests there is deep corruption within the Governor’s office.”
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