First News article shows — Companies run by Governor Cuomo's biggest donors win millions in state grants
Second Daily News feature points out that — Former Cuomo Staffer, who has contributed $83K to the Governor, is an “Approved” “Finalist” for New York State’s top Court — for the second time in two years
President of NYPIRG blasts Governor for failed promises to overhaul political financing of campaigns so as to prohibit businesses receiving large grants from making donations like these; and raises other questions about decisions based on donations
Governor Andrew Cuomo has been taken to task in a Daily News “Exclusive” for the fact that state records show big-time donors to Governor Cuomo have won millions of dollars in state economic development grants since he took office....” (See “Companies run by Andrew Cuomo's biggest donors have won millions in state grants...” by Glenn Blain & Kenneth Lovett, 9/4/14, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/companies-run-andrew-cuomo-biggest-donors-won-millions-state-grants-state-records-article-1.1927236]). The article went on to name the names of the donors and to describe the projects that were awarded “grants” of multi-millions of dollars.
According Messrs. Blaine and Lovett’s report Cuomo aides attempted to defend the process as far better than the prior “member item” system in which it was only the state legislators that picked projects in their districts for funding, usually without much vetting. Those aides to Governor Cuomo also argued that there had been some donors to the governor, who had applied for project funding, but who did not receive any grant money; clearly indicating that somebody keeps track of who gets grants and who doesn’t among Cuomo’s contributors. (Hmmm ! Does Preet Baharara know about this ?)
This Daily News article finished off its expose of the Governor's developement grants with this: “Bill Mahoney, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said the awarding of grants tied to donors raises questions. 'Businesses rarely contribute to candidates for purely altruistic reasons - in most cases, they're hoping to help their bottom lines,' Mahoney said. *** 'If Gov. Cuomo had fulfilled his promises to overhaul the campaign finance system, perhaps there wouldn't be concerns over decisions like these.’ ”
In an equally distressing article in the same edition of the paper, the Daily News pointed its searchlight on among others “...Maria Vullo, a private lawyer who once worked for Cuomo in the Attorney General’s Office and donated more than $83,000 to his campaigns since 2005, is a finalist for a vacancy on the highest court in the state, the New York State Court of Appeals. Vullo also had been an approved finalist for an opening on the court in 2013 (See “Lawyer embroiled in 'Merry Christmas' flap, former Cuomo staffer on short list for top state court judgeship” by Kenneth Lovett, 9/4/14, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/lawyers-vie-judgeship-top-state-court-article-1.1927461]).
It’s articles like these that give faces and names to the culture of corruption that Governor Andrew Cuomo allows to flourish in Albany; and which he continues to encourage by his ongoing activities in almost all areas of government.
