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Corporations & Rich People Doing Everything They Can To Reelect Cuomo
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 19, 2014
Modified Oct 19, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 19, 2014
Modified Oct 19, 2014
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Thanks to real estate interests, corporations, and rich people, Governor Cuomo has $45 million in his campaign fund. But you can never been too careful when consolidating power, so Cuomo has been using the state's Democratic "housekeeping account" to pump unlimited amounts of corporate money towards his reelection effort.
The New York Times reported over the summer how Cuomo's anti-corruption commission began to investigate how a political firm, Buying Time, took money from both the governor's campaign fund and the state housekeeping fund, which is barred from making any specific campaign expenditures. The commission was blocked from doing any meaningful investigation of the ties, but this past week, WNYC connected the dots, reporting that $5 million worth of ads were placed thanks to Cuomo's maneuvering.
In May 2013, the housekeeping committee wrote a $900,000 check to Buying Time. A day later, an ad began appearing, featuring Cuomo looking straight into the camera. “I am proposing a clean-up Albany plan to fight corruption," he said. "It empowers our district attorneys, it increases criminal penalties. It decreases the influence of money in politics.”
Yes, that’s right. To pay for an ad about decreasing the influence of money and politics, Cuomo used an account with no contribution limits whatsoever. One of the main goals of ethics reformers has been to curtail housekeeping contributions.
And this was after The Committee to Save New York (that "committee" consisted of billionaires) spent $17 million to burnish Cuomo's image before quietly disbanding.
A Cuomo spokesperson told WNYC that the governor's activities are within “the letter and the spirit of campaign finance law.”
The more money you spend making your candidacy and inevitability, the more pointless the physical act of campaigning becomes, unless of course your aim is to impress people outside of New York State.
“What’s he’s doing is clever and smart,” said Steve McMahon, a Democratic strategist who has advised three presidential campaigns. “Whether it leads to anything depends more on Hillary than on him.”
“This is a governor who has been rather reclusive, staying in Albany, not doing media,” said Baruch College Political Science Professor Doug Muzzio. “It’s a well thought-out public exposure strategy that benefits him whether he holds national ambitions or not.”
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara vowed to investigate Cuomo's activity related to the Moreland Commission, but will likely not find enough to prosecute under federal law.
“The scandal is not necessarily what’s illegal but what is legal," Bharara said this week, according to WNYC. "And we have limited powers and we can only go after things that are illegal.”
Tagged
andrew cuomo
campaign finance reform
governor cuomo
Our Democratic Governor
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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