In the last few weeks, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo has mounted his “anti-corruption” hobby horse in a charge In favor of stronger ethics laws and against state lawmakers earning outside income. But the International Business Times (IBT) has found that Cuomo doesn’t “walk the talk.”
Cuomo asserted to reporters that he should be exempt from outside income restrictions because his lucrative book deal didn’t impact (trade on) state policies. But IBT found differently.
“…[T]he Democratic governor’s strong words don’t quite square with his own personal appetite for cash earned outside the confines of his state work. Cuomo has so far raked in more than $188,000 from HarperCollins, a News Corporation subsidiary. That is part of a book deal that could ultimately net him more than $700,000. With Albany’s transactional politics now the subject of a federal probe, the context of that April 2013 book deal is particularly significant.
An International Business Times review of New York state documents reveals that News Corporation gave Cuomo a book contract after Cuomo’s administration backed a series of state initiatives that benefited the media giant.”
http://m.ibtimes.com/book-deal-andrew-cuomo-backed-bills-helped-news-corporation-1827328
Governor Cuomo is an adept practitioner of telling state legislators, “do as I say, not as I do” because apparently he’s above reproach. Cuomo thinks closing the barn door (on lawmakers) after he has benefited from the porkfest exempts him from “pay to play” criticism.
Props to IBT for holding Cuomo’s feet to the proverbial fire.
Absolutely! He speaks from both sides of his mouth. Just recently he spoke on “Time for the rich to share and help the middle class,” but he has been a luke-warm supporter of unions that history clearly documents is the main force behind a growing and strong middle class. He also speaks about increasing Charter Schools which is a rich haven for supposed charity work that takes government funds and discredits the regular public schools (since they really operate as private schools organized by the rich). Cuomo is back to his old habits (that he had temporaily suspended) of assuming the public is fickle and not paying attention (and he is often right about that).