Will the Legislature stand up to Gov. Cuomo in the wake of the Buffalo Billion scandals?
His onetime right-hand man and other ex-intimates face federal corruption scandals, but the governor still doesn’t want officials he can’t control reviewing the kind of contracts at the heart of the scam.
A measure to restore oversight powers to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli got a thumbs-up from a key state Senate panel last week, while Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie promises only that his Democratic majority will consider the idea.
It should be a no-brainer for both chambers to get behind the reform: Major public spending ought to be done in a transparent and accountable way — which requires independent oversight.
But Cuomo insists it’s better done by officials he appoints, and strongly opposes the DiNapoli-drafted legislation.
You’d think it wasn’t the gov’s former campaign manager and deputy executive secretary, Joe Percoco, who stands charged with bid-rigging contracts at the heart of Cuomo’s signature economic-development project.
Or that the alleged scam hadn’t been made possible by the way billions in contracts are awarded via state-controlled nonprofits that were removed from Comptroller’s Office scrutiny back in 2011.
The new state budget boosts these economic-development outlays; taxpayers ought to have some assurance the funds won’t be abused again.
No, Governor, the fact that state and federal prosecutors are on the job now isn’t proof of adequate oversight: The point is to prevent robbery, not have law enforcement move in after the fact.
If Cuomo wanted New Yorkers to trust him to control all the state’s anti-corruption officials, he shouldn’t have shut down his Moreland Commission probe so abruptly back in 2014. After all, dirt that the commission dug up became part of the evidence that got Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos convicted for corruption.
The governor doesn’t like anyone else having the slightest role in reviewing his pet projects, but the people of New York have ample evidence that it’s needed.