Even top supporters of Gov. Cuomo are refusing to swallow his blanket denials of any involvement in that scurrilous campaign mailer implying campaign foe Cynthia Nixon is anti-Semitic.
Yet Team Cuomo spent the hours before Thursday’s primary hunkered down in its political bunker, refusing to answer questions about the growing scandal.
Except, that is, for accusing The Post of “a violation of journalistic ethics” by reporting that one of the governor’s top campaign aides had repeatedly tried to pitch a story that mirrored the flyer’s talking points before it became public knowledge.
In other words, Cuomo & Co. are more indignant over The Post undercutting his lame “I knew nothing” excuse than about the malicious mailer itself, which the gov has mildly criticized as “inappropriate.”
Funny: No one at Cuomo’s campaign or the Cuomo-controlled Democratic State Committee, which paid for and sent out the mailer, will identify who was responsible — other than a mysterious “individual helping the campaign.”
Nonsense, says former Syracuse Mayor and state party Chairwoman Stephanie Miner. Based on her experience, she told The Post, there’s “no way” this happened “without the consent of Andrew Cuomo or one of his top lieutenants.”
Several other veteran campaign operatives told Politico the same thing: The “central approval process” Cuomo says he wants instituted “moving ahead” already exists — and it revolves around the top levels of the governor’s campaign.
Which is why Cuomo supporters like City Council Speaker Corey Johnson are demanding that “heads need to roll” for this “despicable” attack — for which no one has even apologized to Nixon. But the governor’s campaign plainly means to stick with its “bunker” strategy.
That leaves New York to wonder: If Cuomo acts this desperately when polls show him with a 40-point lead, what dirty tricks would he resort to in a real horse race? Come the fall campaign, we just might find out.