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Related: About this forumCuomo critics charge illegality after Times' Moreland expose
Jimmy Vielkind
ALBANY—Critics of Governor Andrew Cuomo are pouncing on a lengthy front-page New York Times expose describing in detail how he and his top aide, Larry Schwartz, meddled with the supposedly independent Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption.
The Times reviewed emails between commissioners and professional staffers and discovered that the commission's executive director, Regina Calcaterra, was felt to be the governor's eyes-and-ears within the supposedly broad-mandated investigatory panel. She clashed with Danya Perry, the director of investigations, and worked to have a subpoena sent to Buying Time—a media placement firm used by Cuomo as well as the Democratic State Committee—withdrawn. As reported previously by the Daily News, another subpoena to the Real Estate Board of New York was drafted but never sent.
The commission was also steered away from looking at the Committee to Save New York, a pro-Cuomo coalition of business groups, real estate magnates and private-sector labor unions that broke records for its spending in support of Cuomo's agenda in 2011 and 2012. Commission co-chair Bill Fitzpatrick wrote the Times that “Larry [Schwartz] made clear to me that he was concerned about the perception of subpoenas going to that entity so closely affiliated with the governor.”
Finally, the Times detailed how Cuomo aides edited the preliminary report that the Moreland Commission issued in December. The administration nixed attempts to hire an independent author, as had been reported by City & State, and also edited the document to remove quotes from a memorandum by REBNY's executive director talking about th eimportance of donating to Assembly Democrats to maintain positive legislative outcomes. A draft also made refrence to communications between Cuomo aides and real estate developer Extell, as they discussed how to use the so-called LLC loophole to direct donations to Cuomo related to his birthday party. These references were also excised.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/07/8549467/cuomo-critics-charge-illegality-after-times-moreland-expose
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hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Jon Campbell
Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues to face questions about his office’s alleged interference with an anti-corruption commission he vowed would be “independent.”
Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham Law School professor challenging Cuomo’s re-election bid, said Cuomo should step down as governor if he was aware of the role his top aide, Larry Schwartz, had in curtailing Moreland Commission subpoenas that were headed for Cuomo supporters and advertisement makers.
In a lengthy report Wednesday, The New York Times detailed a number of instances where Schwartz and Moreland Commission executive director Regina Calcaterra took actions that helped keep the anti-corruption panel from investigating Cuomo himself. Cuomo appointed the panel last year to investigate corruption in Albany, but abruptly disbanded it in late March after lawmakers agreed to a series of reforms.
“Today’s revelations in the New York Times are deeply disturbing,” Teachout said in a statement Wednesday. “If Governor Andrew Cuomo directed or even knew that his top aide was obstructing and interfering with the Moreland Commission, he should immediately resign.”
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/23/opponent-cuomo-should-resign-for-corruption-probe-interference/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Jon Campbell
A top good-government group is calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to release internal documents associated with an anti-corruption commission he abruptly disbanded earlier this year.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo gets together with the Democrat and Chronicle Editorial Board in Rochester, N.Y. on Friday February 17 2012.The New York Public Interest Research Group issued its call Wednesday after The New York Times published a lengthy investigative report on the Moreland Commission, a panel created last year by Cuomo to investigate corruption in Albany.
The Times report detailed instances in which Cuomo’s office—specifically top aide Larry Schwartz—urged the commission to withdraw or pull back a subpoena to Cuomo supporters and advertising buyers. A reference to the Committee to Save New York, a major lobbying group that pushed Cuomo’s agenda in 2011, was deleted in the Moreland panel’s sole report, according to the report.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/23/government-reform-advocates-knock-cuomo-for-moreland-interference/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Joseph Spector
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino said this morning that “Governor Cuomo is in big trouble” after a New York Times report today that found Cuomo and his top aides interfered with the work of a corruption-busting panel that Cuomo created and pledged would be independent.
All of the Moreland Commission’s work is now under scrutiny by the U.S. Attorney Office, the Times reported. Cuomo disbanded the commission in March, saying it led to some ethics reforms.
“Today’s bombshell New York Times investigative report reveals clear obstruction of justice and calculated public dishonesty by Mr. Cuomo and his subordinates,” Astorino said in a statement.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/23/astorino-governor-cuomo-is-in-big-trouble/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Josh Benson
The New York Times did something extraordinary today, producing a report on a much-hyped state investigative commission that, thanks to Governor Andrew Cuomo, could end up having a greater impact than anything the commission was allowed to produce during its short and brutal existence.
The conclusion—that Cuomo gamed the ostensibly independent Moreland Commission on Public Corruption—isn't surprising, and reconfirms reports that surfaced early on in the commission's proceedings that the administration was setting the parameters.
But what the Times has done, in a potentially governorship-defining piece of work by Susanne Craig, William Rashbaum and Thomas Kaplan, is lay out in highly entertaining detail how the administration's cynical manipulation of this hand-picked group of untouchables actually worked.
Investigative red lines, explicitly political reprimands, an administration mole—it's memorable stuff.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/07/8549470/andrew-cuomo-has-reform-sell-you?top-featured-1
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Liz Benjamin
Today’s New York Times story on the Cuomo administration’s extensive meddling in the now-defunct Moreland Commission is exhaustive and comprehensive, laying out in detail the (successful) effort by the governor’s top aide, Larry Schwartz, to derail any lines of investigation that might expose or embarrass the executive.
But while the piece notes that US Attorney Preet Bharara is now investigatig the commission’s demise – shut down by Cuomo in exchange for agreement on an ethics reform package by legislative leaders – it does not directly address the question of what laws may have been broken during this entire mess, and by whom.
The governor, both in interviews following the commission’s shuttering and in his 13-page response to the Times, has insisted that this body was never independent of the executive branch – despite his initial claims to the contrary – and therefore any interference by his office could not possibly be considered meddling. In late April, Cuomo told Crain’s New York Business:
“It’s my commission. I can’t ‘interfere’ with it, because it is mine. It is controlled by me.”
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/did-anyone-break-the-law/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Nick Reisman
Republican comptroller candidate Bob Antonacci on Wednesday urged his Democratic opponent to audit the spending of the now-defunct Moreland Commission on Public Corruption.
“Taxpayers deserve to know the truth. The Moreland Commission was put in place to do the Cuomo administration’s bidding and it ran up a very steep bill punishing the Governor’s enemies and protecting his friends. It’s time for Tom DiNapoli to wake up and get to the bottom of this so hardworking taxpayers can make an informed judgment about what really happened,” Antonacci said in a statement.
The statement from Antonacci suggests the fallout from today’s New York Times story could potentially spread to other races this election year.
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/antonacci-wants-to-dinapoli-to-audit-moreland-spending/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Will Bredderman
Westchester State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins–the Democratic minority leader in the state legislature–defended Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s interference in the functioning of the anti-corruption Moreland Commission in the wake of a lengthy New York Times report alleging that Mr. Cuomo’s office “hobbled state ethics inquiries.”
Speaking on the Capitol Pressroom radio program, Ms. Stewart-Cousins echoed the governor’s arguments that because he assembled and staffed the investigatory panel, he was free to intervene in its work. The Times reported today that Mr. Cuomo’s top staffers repeatedly ordered members of the commission to drop subpoenas sent to groups connected with the governor in the two months between when Mr. Cuomo started the commission in July 2013 and when he dissolved it.
“I see the argument that it was the governor’s commission, it was staffed by him, and they served at his pleasure,” Ms. Stewart-Cousins said in response to questions from host Susan Arbetter, repeatedly stumbling as she spoke. “Rationally one would suspect that they would not–I think it would be difficult, and I think they called that a conflict.”
Read more at http://observer.com/2014/07/stewart-cousins-defends-cuomo-interference-in-the-moreland-commission/#ixzz38JV4PnFQ
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)By Thomas Alston
A New York Times investigation into the governor's Moreland Commission on public corruption published Wednesday revealed that during the commission's nine-month existence, Gov. Andrew Cuomo interfered with the commission when its ethics investigation sought to subpoena organizations with ties to Cuomo.
The Times story offers a vastly different picture of the commission than Cuomo suggested when he announced the creation of the independent ethics commission at the Capitol on July 2, 2013.
http://www.legislativegazette.com/Articles-Top-Stories-c-2014-07-23-88713.113122-Times-article-spurs-outrage-from-good-government-groups-political-candidates-over-unanswered-Moreland-questions.html
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Elizabeth Ganga
It’s not only with the Moreland Commission that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his deputy Larry Schwartz, who formerly worked in Westchester County government, have been accused of aggressively controlling information harmful to Cuomo’s political interests. Here are a few other recent examples:
New Castle renovations
When Cuomo’s girlfriend Sandra Lee renovated her home in New Castle without (apparently required) permits, thereby escaping a tax increase, Schwartz was the one who pushed back in exchanges with reporters, arguing all the work was decorative. He also dealt with the New Castle Building Department over earlier violations. Lee’s assessment was increased in June based on an exterior inspection after the assessor was denied access to the home. Cuomo tried to blame his Republican opponent, Rob Astorino, for the story.
Tappan Zee tolls
Cuomo has been criticized for a lack of transparency around future toll increases on the new Tappan Zee Bridge, a signature initiative of his governorship. The state has not released a detailed financial plan for the bridge and never set up a promised toll task force. The federal government, in consultation with the state, denied a Freedom of Information request by The Journal News for loan documents that would show toll estimates. An Environmental Facilities Corporation loan was also arranged behind closed doors.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/23/moreland-fallout-cuomos-heavy-hand/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Joseph Spector
Even after its disbandment in April, five staffers from the defunct Moreland Commission remain on the state payroll, including its former executive director at a salary of $175,000 a year, records from the state Comptroller’s Office showed.
Regina Calcaterra, the former executive director, was earning just slightly less than the $179,000 that Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes. Calcaterra is at the heart of the scrutiny over whether the Moreland Commission was inappropriately steered by Cuomo’s office.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/23/five-moreland-commission-staffers-still-on-state-payroll/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Jimmy Vielkind
ALBANY—The anti-corruption Moreland Commission was never meant to be independent, aides to Governor Andrew Cuomo now say, and the notion that it should have looked at the governor himself “would not pass the laugh test.”
It seems doubtful that the now-defunct panel's former leaders are laughing.
“I think we've learned that politics trumps reform every time,” said Barbara Bartoletti, the longtime legislative director for the League of Women Voters who was appointed as a 'special adviser' to the committee. “As it all begins to come out … of course I'm disappointed.”
As was laid bare in a New York Times expose published Wednesday morning, Cuomo aides directed the commission of district attorneys and legal experts that the governor himself convened whenever their investigative noses drew them toward his major allies, vendors or contributors.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/07/8549510/gov-says-commission-wasnt-independent-despite-what-members-thought
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Jillian Jorgensen
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino said he believed there was a “strong likelihood” that criminal charges would follow a New York Times story alleging Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration interfered with the Moreland Commission investigating public corruption.
“This is obviously very serious – it’s likely, a strong likelihood, of resulting indictments and criminal charges,” Mr. Astorino said on a conference call with reporters. “Andrew Cuomo has a lot of questions to answer, and I call on him to immediately hold a press conference.”
Asked what criminal charges he thought could arise, Mr. Astorino responded, “I would probably say obstruction of justice.”
“This was not an advisory board that reports to the governor,” Mr. Astorino said, in reference to Mr. Cuomo’s response to the Times that his office was always meant to oversee and direct the commission’s work. “This was a separate, independent commission that is supposed to be looking into corruption wherever it led — and it seems that when it led to the governor’s office, it was turned away, it was crushed, it was stopped. That’s obstruction of justice.”
Read more at http://observer.com/2014/07/astorino-expects-cuomo-administration-indictments/#ixzz38KQT5St0
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Nick Reisman
Green Party candidate for governor Howie Hawkins on Wednesday said today’s Times story on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office’s role in shaping the Moreland Commission’s investigation of corruption should spur a debate on ethics.
“For me, I came out here to say we need a debate on jobs, but after reading that we need a debate on ethics and campaign finance reform,” Hawkins said in an interview.
Hawkins said he wasn’t surprised by the Times story, given previous accounts of the governor’s office’s efforts to direct subpoenas away from political sensitive areas for Cuomo.
But he added the story confirmed much of his skepticism over the panel.
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/hawkins-lets-debate-ethics/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Nick Reisman
Political opponents of Governor Andrew Cuomo were quick to pounce on an exhaustive New York Times story revealing how a top aide played a key role in directing and blocking subpoenas from the anti-corruption Moreland Commission, created last year.
The story that chronicled the governor’s involvement in the commission, as well as his secretary Larry Schwartz, provided new ammunition to the candidates running against Cuomo this elections season.
Zephyr Teachout, a Democratic candidate for governor and Fordham law professor, previously blasted Cuomo for his handling of ethics in Albany.
Gov, Andrew Cuomo should resign if he directed or even knew what his top aide was doing obstructing with the anti-corruption commission.
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/cuomo-opponents-pounce-on-moreland/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Conor Skelding
At the funeral for Eric Garner Wednesday night, the Rev. Al Sharpton told hundreds of mourners that he was "ready for the long haul" in the fight for justice in the Staten Island man's death.
At the same time, Sharpton called for persistent, but peaceful protests.
"We are not the violent ones. We marched Saturday in Staten Island—not one brick thrown. They marched last night—not one window burst," Sharpton told the congregation at Bethel Baptist Church in Brooklyn during the two-hour service. "Don't worry about us. We don't choke folks. ... We're not the chokers, we're the redeemers of this city."
Sharpton also promised to hold the de Blasio administration accountable.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/07/8549539/garners-funeral-sharpton-calls-justice-peaceful-protests
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Joseph Spector
Republican attorney general candidate John Cahill criticized Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for his role in the Moreland Commission “fiasco,” saying he hasn’t taken steps to clean up Albany.
“The most basic responsibility of the office is to uphold the integrity of our government and Eric Schneiderman has done little to fight the corruption that’s so plainly eroding people’s confidence in Albany,” Cahill said in a statement.
Schneiderman and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the Moreland Commission on July 2, and Schneiderman deputized the commissioners, giving them broad power to investigate corruption in state government.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/24/cahill-rips-schneiderman-on-moreland-commission/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Robert J. McCarthy
Alleged political interference by Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration into the Moreland Commission that the governor created to investigate public corruption is now emerging as a major issue in a suddenly intensified statewide campaign.
Republican opponent Rob Astorino demanded late Wednesday that Cuomo answer questions about his administration’s role following a New York Times article outlining several accusations of interference with the Moreland Commission. He wants to know who in the governor’s administration may have been subpoenaed in connection with a federal probe of his handling of the commission, what role he may have played in steering the panel away from investigating his administration, why top officials named in the article are still in office, and why he should not be charged with obstruction of justice.
He pointed to a front-page report Wednesday in the Times indicating that Lawrence S. Schwartz, secretary to the governor, worked to quash subpoenas issued by the commission as it zeroed in on a media firm that once worked for Cuomo’s campaign. The newspaper’s three-month investigation concluded that the Governor’s Office compromised the commission’s work by objecting whenever it focused on groups close to Cuomo or on issues important to him.
The Times reported that the Governor’s Office interfered with the commission as it probed politically allied groups, and that the panel never tried to investigate anyone in the Cuomo administration.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/state/moreland-interference-report-roils-race-for-cuomo-20140723
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Matthew Hamilton and James M. Odato
Following a New York Times report on the Cuomo administration's meddling with the Moreland Commission panel on public corruption, one question could prove crucial: While the governor has the legal right to involve himself in the workings of a Moreland panel, do he or his staffers face steeper legal peril because this panel was also empowered as deputy attorneys general?
The Times story detailed attempts by the second floor to steer the panel, including efforts to wave off subpoenas to entities with connections to Cuomo's campaign. It described attempts by Cuomo's Secretary Larry Schwartz to block one subpoena issued to a media ad-buying firm used in the past by the governor, and commission Executive Director Regina Calcaterra's efforts to put the brakes on a subpoena to the Real Estate Board of New York City, a group that includes many generous Cuomo donors.
Wednesday brought a barrage of criticism for Cuomo from both left and right.
http://m.timesunion.com/local/article/Did-Cuomo-cross-line-5642767.php
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Phil Reisman
The Mel Brooks comedy classic, "Spaceballs," has a catch line that epitomizes Gov. Andrew Cuomo's dark obsession with power and control — "May the Schwartz be with you."
The Schwartz is certainly with Cuomo.
Larry Schwartz is the governor's secretary, which does not mean he takes dictation. Far from an ordinary factotum, he is a consummate fixer, an inside guy who vigilantly stands behind the throne, lightsaber at the ready. As such, he is the second most powerful figure in the Cuomo administration — and most people outside of state politics don't know who he is.
Crafty figures like Schwartz are not supposed to get public attention. They're supposed to be invisible, skilled in the art of stealth. But now Schwartz is at the center of a growing scandal that has exposed the Machiavellian calculations of his boss.
http://www.lohud.com/story/opinion/columnists/phil-reisman/2014/07/23/cuomo-schwartz-moreland-scandal/13079801/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Teri Weaver
DeWitt, N.Y. -- Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy declined to give his thoughts today on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's handling of an anti-political corruption commission, saying he did not have "any direct knowledge" of the Moreland Commission.
"I will keep my thoughts to myself," Duffy said when pressed by WRVO's Ryan Delaney for reaction to today's story in The New York Times.
Duffy said his duties as Cuomo's No. 2 in Albany did not include any work or discussions of the Moreland Commission.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/duffy_nothing_to_do_with_cuomos_moreland_commission.html
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Nick Reisman
A special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s involvement in the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino said in a radio interview this morning.
Astorino told Fred Dicker on his Talk-1300 radio show the special prosecutor should be appointed by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and act on a parallel track to the work being done by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office assumed control of records generated by the now shuttered commission.
“This is beyond outrageous,” Astorino said. “Obviously, it’s criminal.”
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/astorino-calls-for-special-prosecutor-in-moreland-case/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Jon Campbell
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Democratic primary opponent says his office’s alleged meddling in a corruption probe is a bigger violation of voter trust than ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer soliciting prostitutes.
Fordham Law School Professor Zephyr Teachout took to the radio Thursday morning to question Cuomo’s role in interfering with the Moreland Commission, an anti-corruption panel he launched last year with the broad charge to investigate public malfeasance.
On public radio’s “The Capitol Pressroom,” Teachout reiterated her call for Cuomo to resign—but only if he knew of top aide Larry Schwartz’ actions in curtailing subpoenas to Cuomo allies, as detailed in Wednesay’s New York Times.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/24/zephyr-teachout-cuomo-administrations-moreland-meddling-worse-than-spitzers-issues/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Jon Campbell
When Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption last July, it came with a pledge to give the panel free rein and independence to investigate any branch of government it saw fit—including the governor’s office.
Nine months later, Cuomo said he couldn’t “interfere” with the Moreland panel because it was his to begin with.
And this week, as The New York Times reported on a top Cuomo aide’s efforts to pull back planned subpoenas to Cuomo allies, Cuomo’s office said the Moreland Commission was never independent to begin with.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/24/then-and-now-gov-andrew-cuomo-on-the-moreland-commissions-independence/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Elizabeth Ganga
The media buying company Buying Time was the most prominently featured campaign-related company in the New York Times story this week detailing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s apparent meddling with the Moreland Commission.
The Times said Cuomo administration officials ordered the commission to withdraw a subpoena it had issued to the company, which did a lot of work for the Cuomo campaign and the state Democratic Party. The subpoena was eventually served later.
http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2014/07/24/buying-time-under-the-microscope/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Ross Barkan
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in Albany with no public schedule. His Republican rival, predictably, is fuming.
A day after the New York Times published a lengthy report about Mr. Cuomo’s interference with an anti-corruption commission he created, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is accusing the governor of ducking the press. Mr. Astorino, a long-shot rival who predicted yesterday that Cuomo administration officials would eventually be indicted for meddling with the Moreland Commission, charged today Mr. Cuomo had breached the public’s trust and needed to explain himself.
“Governor Cuomo can’t keep hiding from the New York press corps. His office tampered with multiple investigations to protect political cronies and financial contributors. He needs to account for that in a public forum — today,” Mr. Astorino said in a statement. “Mr. Cuomo has perpetrated one of the greatest breaches of public trust in New York history, and that’s saying something.”
Read more at http://observer.com/2014/07/astorino-calls-out-cuomo-for-hiding-from-press/#ixzz38POsJbYu
Follow us: @newyorkobserver on Twitter | newyorkobserver on Facebook
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Matthew Hamilton
Republican statewide candidates are using The New York Times’ Moreland Commission scoop from Wednesday to hit their incumbent opponents, who hold healthy leads in the polls.
Both gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino and attorney general John Cahill made radio appearances on stations in separate parts of the state Thursday morning. Both candidates were slated to appear on additional programs throughout the day.
Astorino made the rounds with the media yesterday as well, making radio appearances and holding an afternoon conference call with reporters to lambaste Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration for meddling with the Moreland Commission’s work.
On Thursday, Cahill took shots at state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has remained silent since the Times story came out, for not discussing his role in the commission publicly. Schneiderman deputized some members of the commission to give them the power to serve subpoenas. That has created questions about if there is legal peril for Cuomo or his staffers.
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/217421/republicans-use-moreland-for-full-court-press/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I had a story earlier in the week about the lack of action in creating a review panel to assess the effectiveness of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics which was set up three years ago by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. While the panel was supposed to have been appointed by now, that hasn’t happened.
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/217427/nyc-bar-looks-at-jcope-too/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Teri Weaver | tweaver@syracuse.com
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said today no one from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office ever directed him to stop any investigation while he was co-chair of a commission to target political corruption in Albany.
There was a time when top Cuomo aide Larry Schwartz did indicate that a subpoena to Buying Time - an ad buying firm used by Cuomo - could prove embarrassing to the governor, Fitzpatrick said this afternoon.
But neither Schwartz nor anyone else directed Fitzpatrick to hold up that subpoena, Fitzpatrick said today, and it ultimately was served.
"He didn't direct me to do anything," Fitzpatrick said today of his conversation with Schwartz.
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/da_bill_fitzpatrick_cuomo_didnt_prevent_moreland_commission_from_investigating_c.html#incart_river
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Laura Nahmias
That big New York Times article detailing the Cuomo administration’s interference with the panel he created to investigate public corruption came a little more than two months after U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara seized the commission's records, and publicly excoriated the governor for shuttering it before its scheduled sunset.
According to the Times, top aides to the governor had a direct line to the executive director of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, and exterted influence to dissuade inquiries and rescind subpoenas to entities connected to the governor.
What's not clear is whether the administration could have violated any federal laws in doing so.
Legal experts differed over whether federal prosecutors could bring charges against Cuomo or his aides and what kind of charges could be brought, based on any of the conduct described in the Times report.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/07/8549505/legal-experts-differ-cuomo-administrations-exposure
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Nick Reisman
The Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption suffered from “personality problems” among its members with some being unaccustomed to and uncomfortable issuing subpoenas, Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney said in an interview.
“Generally speaking, I don’t feel like we have an accurate representation what happened inside Moreland yet,” she said. “With patience, I think people are going to see more of the story. Whether there were problems, I would put them in the category of personality problems. I think there were people who had a difficult time getting along and some of that has spilled out.”
Mahoney, a prominent Republican backer of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a member of the short-lived anti-corruption panel, stressed the commission would ultimately be judged a success and, to her knowledge, wasn’t directed by the governor’s office.
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/mahoney-there-were-personality-clashes-on-moreland/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)JOHN CASSIDY
and restores your faith in investigative journalism. The latest example: Wednesday’s front-page story in the Times about Governor Cuomo’s efforts to hobble an anti-corruption commission that he himself had set up.
If you haven’t read the Times article yet, make sure to do so. The product of three months of reporting and writing by Susanne Craig, William K. Rashbaum, and Thomas Kaplan, it takes up almost three pages of the print edition of the Times, and it’s packed with details about how Cuomo’s appointees used their offices, and their influence, to prevent the commission’s investigators from delving into areas that might ultimately have proved embarrassing to their boss, or to target groups that were allied with him.
The Times reporters have got the goods, as they say in the trade, including internal documents, e-mails, reconstructions of meetings, and details of a phone conversation in which Cuomo’s top aide, Lawrence S. Schwartz, ordered one of the commissioners, William J. Fitzpatrick, to nix a court subpoena issued to a media-buying firm that had worked for the governor’s election campaign. “Pull it back,” Schwartz ordered, the Times reported, citing Fitzgerald, whose account “was corroborated by three other people.”
http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/cuomo-vs-bharara-battle-heavyweights
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)BY GLENN BLAIN , KENNETH LOVETT NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo may have given himself a potential legal headache by having the members of his now-defunct anti-corruption commission elevated to deputy attorneys general.
With U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara looking into Cuomo's handling of the commission, some legal experts say the fact that Cuomo had Attorney General Eric Schneiderman deputize the panel’s members could call into question the governor’s argument that he was free to do with the panel as he saw fit.
Under the state Moreland Act that Cuomo used to create the commission, the panel could only probe the executive branch. But by deputizing the members, Cuomo and Schneiderman made the commission a law enforcement body that could also look at issues involving the Legislature.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/moreland-commission-deputies-bite-back-cuomo-article-1.1879595
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Brendan J. Lyons
The Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption was poised to issue subpoenas to the treasurers of several state Senate campaign committees when Gov. Andrew Cuomo abruptly shut down the panel at the end of March, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
It's unclear whether the governor or anyone in his administration was aware of the commission's plans to issue the subpoenas at the time he said the panel would be disbanded. Earlier that same month, at a meeting in Albany, members of the anti-corruption effort formulated a plan — at what would be their final meeting — to obtain the treasurers' records of various Senate campaign committees as part of a months-long investigation of the accounts.
Their discussion included a proposal to set up a law enforcement task force to refer any potential criminal cases of campaign-finance violations to the appropriate prosecutors across the state, according to interviews with two former members.
"All (the commission's nine) district attorneys were going to get together and review these cases, subpoena records from the treasurers and then have meetings with U.S. Attorneys and have a summit to determine where the best jurisdiction lies," said one of the former panel members, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to an ongoing investigation of the panel's shutdown by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of Manhattan.
http://m.timesunion.com/local/article/Timing-an-issue-in-panel-demise-5645692.php
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Matthew Hamilton
Republicans have wasted no time slamming statewide officeholders over what is perhaps the juiciest piece of news they've had to run on during this election cycle: the unfolding Moreland Commission meddling scandal involving the governor's office.
But while Rob Astorino, John Cahill and Robert Antonacci already are using on the campaign trail the revelations printed Wednesday in The New York Times, polling of voters about corruption and specifically the Moreland Commission seems to point toward a small impact.
Only 1 percent of likely voters statewide — and 1 percent of upstaters — said government corruption and ethics is the top issue on their minds when choosing a gubernatorial candidate to support, according to Monday's Siena Research Institute poll, taken before the Times story was published.
http://m.timesunion.com/local/article/GOP-jumps-on-Moreland-scandal-5645663.php
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Nick Reisman
It’s probably too early to determine whether the ongoing controversy surrounding the Moreland Commission To Investigate Public Corruption will be a scandal of Spitzer-esque proportions.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino certainly hopes that will be the case.
Astorino has been quick to capitalize on the latest revelations this week reported extensively in The New York Times and elsewhere that Cuomo and his office meddled in the anti-corruption panel and the direction of its subpoenas.
Indeed, for a week that began with Cuomo holding a 37-percentage point advantage in the poll as well as $33 million more in campaign money, the swing at the outset seems dramatically to be in Astorino’s favor, who is calling the story a “game changer.”
http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/07/three-reasons-why-moreland-wont-stick-and-why-it-might/
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Chris Smith
The Times’ 6,500-word front-page story exploring Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission machinations was terrific reporting and a fun read. The commission was empaneled in 2013, by Cuomo, to probe corruption and pressure the legislature to enact ethics reform, and it wielded subpoena power. The Times story depicted the governor and his staff trying to curb Moreland inquiries that might cause Cuomo political trouble.
Yet, in some ways, the more fascinating piece of writing is the 13-page response to the Times’ questions. It is unsigned; on the first page, addressed to reporter Susanne Craig, it says, “We are writing … ” and “We think,” and no doubt the missive was a joint, heavily lawyered effort. But the tone, and the thinking, is unmistakably Cuomo’s.
There are the muscular denials (“The premise is legally, ethically, and practically false”). There are the twisty, almost-convincing definitions of what “independence” and “interfered” mean. There are history lessons. There are the inside-Albany jabs (subpoenas must be issued on some rational basis, “not just … to appease a newspaper columnist”).
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/cuomo-needless-moreland-commission-headache.html
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Rick Karlin, Capitol bureau
I say void because, despite a rather bland remark from GOP Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, which avoided mentioning Cuomo by name, and the Tweets from Steve McLaughlin, who is already known as a Cuomo critic, members of the Legislature have been rather quiet in their response to the NY Times story earlier in the week about Gov Cuomo’s meddling with the now-closed Moreland anti-corruption commission.
Certainly Cuomo’s gubernatorial opponents and GOP candidates for other statewide offices have made hay with the report, but lawmakers have been oddly quiet.
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/217563/katz-jumps-into-moreland-void/
