LIZ BENJAMIN’S MORNING MEMO ON FALLOUT FROM ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION BOMBSHELL (CAPITAL TONIGHT) Moreland Morass How long can Gov. Andrew Cuomo go without a public appearance at which he will undoubtedly be peppered with questions about yesterdays NYT Moreland Commission bombshell? NYPIRG has called on the governor to offer a full public accounting of the now-defunct commissions work. So far, the administration has refused to say anything at all - other than the 13-page response it provided to the paper. At 9:44 p.m. last night, the governors press office advised he would be in New York City today with no public schedule. At 10 p.m., another advisory was sent out, announcing Cuomo would, in fact, be in Albany - again with no public schedule. No word on why the sudden change in plans, but perhaps Cuomo will make an appearance after all? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, now that it has been proved - pretty much beyond a shadow of a doubt - that the administration did indeed seek to guide and/or block some of its corruption-busting commissions work, only one major question remains: Did anyone break the law? The administrations response to this is an emphatic no. It was the governors commission, the reasoning goes, and so despite any comments or promises he might have made about independence, he had the legal right to meddle as much as he wanted. Not so, says former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who noted last summer when Cuomo was first moving to create the commission that - by its legal definition - a Moreland Commission does NOT have the power to investigate anything other than executive agencies, UNLESS its members are deputized by the state attorney generals office. The governor did just that, striking a brief detente with his fellow Democrat and political frenemy, state AG Eric Schneiderman, to get him to deputize all 25 commission members. This, according to Brodsky, is what empowered the commission to extend its reach into the legislative branch, but also exposed the Cuomo administration to potential legal problems. Brodsky, speaking yesterday from his ranch in Montana, refused to opine on whether the law was broken based on the NYTs reporting, saying: Thats for law enforcement to do. What you can say without a doubt, however, is that it was the attempt to investigate the Legislature through a referral that raises the hard legal questions, Brodsky said. The governor has the unfettered power to investigate the executive branch in any way he wants - or doesnt want to. The problem arises when the governors office interferes with the attorney generals office. Presumably, US Attorney Preet Bharara knows this, too. Schneiderman, through a spokesman, refused to comment on the NYT story. The AG has steadfastly declined to get involved in anything having to do with Moreland, basically saying that beyond deputizing the commissioners, he had zero to do with the bodys work - even though its chief counsel, Kelly Donovan, is a top aide in his office, and just so happens to have already received a subpoena from Bharara. Schneidermans Republican opponent, John Cahill, yesterday, sought to capitalize on the NYT story fallout. He stood in front of the AGs Manhattan office and accused Schneiderman of abdicating his responsibility to speak up when things on the commission started going south. Cuomos GOP challenger, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, is also trying to make political hay of the NYT report, saying the governor is in big trouble and predicting that criminal charges and indictments are in the offing. Not to be left out of the fun, Cuomos other opponents - Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Zephyr Teachout and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins - are also piling on, with Teachout going so far as to say that the governor should resign if he directed, or even knew of, the interference with the commission by his top aide, Larry Schwartz. But will any of this actually stick to Cuomo as hes seeking re-election, eroding his massive lead in the polls? An April survey conducted by Siena found 61 percent of voters supported Bhararas criticism of the Moreland Commissions early demise and belief that its work should have continued. Voters also said the deal Cuomo struck with legislative leaders on a new ethics reform package in exchange for shutting down the commission was a bad compromise. Then again, a Siena poll released earlier this week found Cuomo leading Astorino by a whopping 37 percentage points. Most voters said the governor has made New York better over the past four years, undercutting the county executives central campaign theme that the state has actually fared poorly on Cuomos watch. As the Daily News Bill Hammond astutely pointed out, most New Yorkers just dont care about the inside baseball at the state Capitol. They want results, and Cuomo is delivering on an agenda designed to appeal to the broadest possible spectrum of voters. But if Bhararas investigation into the administrations Moreland meddling bears fruit - and fast - things could potentially get very dicey for Cuomo. Imagine a subpoena delivered - mid-campaign - to the governors door, calling on him to testify about what he knew of Schwartzs efforts to derail certain commission investigations that could have lifted the curtain on Cuomos own fundraising. Voters might actually pay attention to that. Appearing on PBS Charlie Rose late yesterday, Bharara pledged that his work of picking up where Cuomos commission left off will continue because if other people arent going to do it, then were going to do it; thats our main mission. He did not specifically speak to the question of the administrations interference in the commission, but has said before that he would not rule out pursuing that line of inquiry.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 18:29:48 +0000
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