Friday, October 18, 2013

Off the leash


Just when Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission seemed a dying quail, its leaders barraged the state’s major political parties with subpoenas — on top of issuing demands for information from the Legislature.


What explains the sudden show of aggression? You connect the dots.


Dot 1: Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman create the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, with the governor declaring that the panel would be an “independent” force, free to pursue all leads — including any that lead to his desk.


Dot 2: Daily News Albany Bureau Chief Kenneth Lovett reveals that the commission is not so independent after all. Sources tell Lovett that it dropped certain subpoenas under pressure from Cuomo’s top aides.


Dot 3: The shelved subpoenas include one aimed at the state Democratic Party’s “housekeeping” account, which had financed ads promoting the governor’s agenda. In one case, the commission actually delivers a subpoena to the Democrats’ ad-buying firm, then pulls it back.


Dot 4: Reform-minded voices, including this page, warn Cuomo that back-room meddling risks trashing the commission’s credibility — and ruining this generation’s last, best shot at cleaning up Albany.


Dot 5: In a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board, Cuomo acknowledges that the panel is not truly independent since it answers to him and uses staff borrowed from his office. He also says that he was concerned only that all subpoenas approved by the commission’s co-chairs — Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Syracuse DA William Fitzpatrick and former federal prosecutor Milton Williams — would be legally defensible.


“If a subpoena is challenged — or the authority of the commission is challenged — and the commission loses, you go to a very bad place right away,” he said, adding that subpoenas were going out.


Dot 6 : A few hours later, the commission announces a unanimous vote to subpoena the “housekeeping” records after all — and not just from the Democrats, but also from the Republican, Conservative and Working Families parties, plus the housekeeping accounts controlled by legislative leaders.


“The meeting was like turning over a new leaf, a fresh start,” one insider told Lovett.


Sunlight brought a not-so-pretty picture into useful focus. Cuomo should stand back and let it stay that way.





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