Andrew Cuomo

DENVER—“It was a very powerful moment,” Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said, after Hillary Clinton suspended the roll call and made Barack Obama the nominee by acclamation.

Cuomo said that with Clinton’s speech last night and her remarks today, she had clearly sent the message that unity behind Obama was the party’s priority.

"It had to come from her mouth,” he said. “And it did.”

Also: When asked if he was planning to run for mayor or governor, Cuomo said, “I’m doing what I’m doing.”

DENVER—Here's billionaire and State Senate crusader Tom Golisano, who was hanging out at Andrew Cuomo's reception in the Sheraton Hotel this afternoon.

When I asked him why he, a Republican, is here, Golisano said, "I'm an American."

Also, as Cuomo was leaving the event, I asked him how he would vote in the roll call. Cuomo told me he would be voting for Barack Obama.

Andrew Cuomo’s $20 billion settlement with UBS was just the beginning. The attorney general is now looking to settle with three other firms that his office says defrauded investors of about $13 billion through the mis-marketing of auction rate securities.

In letters to JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia, the chief of the Cuomo's Investor Protection Bureau wrote, “It would be unfair to consumers with accounts at other firms, and well as to the firms that settled, if our investigation were to slow down or stop. Accordingly, our investigation’s focus is shifting to the next group of market participants.”

Investors lost more than $3 billion with JPMorgan Chase, more $3 billion with Morgan Stanley, and more than $7 billion with Wachovia, according to a spokesman for Cuomo. If the firms settle, money would be paid to the state, according to a spokesman.

The Wall Street Journal this morning on state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's regulatory pushes against investment banks and credit-rating agencies:

If the 50-year-old is now hitting his stride, it is attributable to some key strategic hires as well as a style that pursues institutions without demonizing individuals in the manner preferred by his predecessor, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

"Andrew Cuomo certainly has been an aggressive attorney general, and he hasn't resorted to some of the more extreme practices of his predecessor," says Stanley Arkin, a veteran New York defense lawyer.

"Well, there's bankers and more brokers/ What do they know know know?/ Go to work in some high-rise/ And vacation out at the Hamptons, oh no!" ["Andrew Cuomo Birthed Subprime Crisis--Or Maybe Not"]

The Village Voice's cover story this week slams Andrew Cuomo as a sort of bumbling godfather of the current subprime mortgage crisis that has done so much to damage the American economy and to ruin lives.

A summarizing paragraph from the long story by legendary investigative reporter Wayne Barrett:

Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country's current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments.

 read more »

Representative Charlie Rangel, who has recently faced a flurry of tough , intense press coverage, is having what appears to be an enormous birthday party for himself at Central Park's Tavern on the Green on Wednesday, August 6.

The invitation notes that Bill and Hillary Clinton, David Paterson, Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, Tom DiNapoli, Malcolm Smith, Bill Thompson and Christine Quinn will be there. The "special guest" is Howard Dean.

The event will be a fund-raiser for Rangel's campaign committee, the Victory Fund. The committee is highlighting the "top ten targeted house races," all of which are in the DCCC's "Red to Blue" project.  read more »

Here’s Sheldon Silver playfully introducing Democratic County Leader Jose Rivera, also an assemblyman, at the Bronx Democratic County Dinner last night.

Silver told the crowd that Rivera was “in the Assembly for five years and he went to Albany Medical Center and the doctor told him to go on light duty. So, he went to the City Council for 13 years. And then he was all cured and he came back. Now he’s working again real hard.”

“I say that in jest,” said Silver to Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Guests also included Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, likely Republican mayoral candidate John Catisimatidis (who had brief chats with Silver and Cuomo); City Council members Eric Gioia, John Liu, and David Weprin; Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV; and former county leader Roberto Ramirez.

   read more »

Jerry Goldfeder, a prominent election lawyer in Manhattan who has been working for Andrew Cuomo will be joining the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, according to a source.

Among Stroock’s many clients is the former state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, who is being investigated because of an alleged pay-to-play scheme that allegedly may have included his political consultant Hank Morris, and millions of dollars from the state pension fund.

When asked about the move, Goldfeder e-mailed to say that a statement will be made later in the morning.  read more »

Goldfeder closed his private practice and joined Cuomo’s office in March of last year. By December, he had

Andrew Cuomo raised $2,083,528.37 during this last filing period (January 12-July 11), spent $233,143.23 and finished with a closing balance of $3,008,259.86

Here are some notable transactions:

$1,000 donated from Darrison Barrett & Associates, L.L.C., the firm that does fund-raising for David Paterson.

$5,000 donated from Global Strategy Group, the consulting firm that worked with Eliot Spitzer, and now works with Paterson.

$10,000 donated in January from the political action committee for the New York State Troopers, a group of people Cuomo began investigating earlier this year.

$101 was paid to the city’s taxi and limousine commission on June 23.

And $469 was paid to the A.  read more »

These pre-pre election polls have limited significance for any actual contest, but according to this poll from Siena, Michael Bloomberg is benefiting from his continued popularity as mayor, beating both David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo in a hypothetical gubernatorial election.

Here are some other interesting bits:

Paterson wins over Andrew Cuomo among upstate Democratic voters, 51-28.

Rudy Giuliani beats Bloomberg among Jewish Republican voters, 80-20.

Bloomberg beats Paterson among independent voters, 62-26.

And Giuliani edges Paterson among upstate voters, 43-42.

The poll was conducted by phone between July 7 and 10 and included responses from 626 registered voters.

Andrew Cuomo announced he won't appeal the court's decision to side with Dick Grasso, further eroding Spitzer's legacy as attorney general. Here's the statement:

"We have reviewed the Court's opinion and determined that an appeal would not be warranted. Thus, for all intents and purposes, the Grasso case is over."

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal editorial board called for Cuomo "to cut his – and taxpayer – losses" on the Grasso case.

In yet another quality-of-life initiative, Andrew Cuomo announced that after an investigation by his office, Anheuser-Bush will no longer sell alcoholic beverages with caffeine in them. Cuomo's probe found they were being illegally marketing to minors. 

Getting alcohol out of the hands of minors is the latest example of Cuomo focusing on tangible issues, in contrast to Eliot Spitzer, who took on the more complicated financial issues of Wall Street.

From Cuomo's office:

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that Anheuser-Busch will stop selling all caffeinated alcohol beverages after an investigation showed the company was illegally marketing these drinks to young people.  read more »

• 4 comments

The M.T.A. board voted this morning to amend its policy of handing out free E-ZPasses and transit passes to current and former board members. Now, only current board members will get the perks and only for use on official M.T.A. business.

Andrew Cuomo, who came out strongly against the M.T.A.’s previous policy, was glad:

"I am pleased the MTA board today adopted a new policy recognizing that under the law board members are not entitled to compensation of any kind. In taking this step, the MTA board now recognizes that no one, including government agencies and officials, is above the law.  read more »

• 1 comment

Observer intern Bharat Ayyar reports:

Andrew Cuomo made it clear today that he will be holding former and current M.T.A. board members "personally responsible" for using free E-ZPass tags he says are illegal, although he noted that there is a limit on how far back back the probe will reach.

Speaking during a press conference in his downtown office, the attorney general said he will start by recouping the funds. If the board does not vote to discontinue the practice of doling out free passes during a vote next week, Cuomo said, he will pursue litigation.

He would not say whether the board members will be fined or otherwise punished beyond paying restitution.  read more »

• 0 comments

New Yorkers don’t want to see Hillary Clinton or Michael Bloomberg as anyone’s vice presidential candidate, according to a poll out today by Siena.

New York voters oppose a Clinton vice presidency 49 - 41 percent. They oppose a Bloomberg vice presidency 49 - 36 percent.

But -- just for fun, I guess -- Siena determined that an Obama-Clinton ticket leads a McCain-Bloomberg ticket in New York 55 - 37 percent.

Separately, Michael Bloomberg leads David Paterson in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup for governor in 2010 (making it the second poll to show that kind of result.)

And Democrats chose Paterson over Andrew Cuomo, 43 percent to 31 percent.

When voters in a new Quinnipiac poll out today were asked who they’d like to elect as governor in 2010, Michael Bloomberg came out on top, slightly edging out Rudy Giuliani.

The survey gave respondents four choices: Bloomberg, Giuliani, David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo.

Paterson, who enjoys a 67-20 approval rating according to this poll, came in third.

Here are the numbers:  read more »

The speculation that Rudy Giuliani might try to run for governor in 2010 has one of his earliest supporters pretty excited.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo just held a press conference about an agreement he brokered with major internet providers to get them to block access to websites featuring child pornography.

It's the latest example of Cuomo taking (and succeeding with) an issue with national implications. (School loan industry, mortgage lenders, social networking sites, Credit Rating Agencies and now Internet providers.)

At the end of today’s press conference, a reporter asked why those companies - Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint - needed the attorney general to broker such a deal. Which, is another way of asking Cuomo, basically, what exactly is your strategy here, and why does it keep working?

“Why do you need the attorney general?” Cuomo asked, to some laughter.

“This question comes up, often, in different contexts,"

"Well, it’s not that easy,” he said. “They’re competitive companies--one is vying with the other. And to do an industry-wide reform, [to] get the main players to agree to simultaneously is very hard, if not impossible to do.  read more »

At the Bronx Democratic County Dinner on June 24, for the first time, checks for the annual event should be made out to “Friends of Assemblyman Jose Rivera," not to the county organization. (Rivera is also the county leader).  read more »

One of the big reasons that real estate is where it's at now is because subprime mortgage-backed securities got such fabulous ratings from credit-rating firms when, in fact, greater scrutiny was in order.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Thursday announced a deal with the nation's major credit-rating agencies aimed at ensuring such scrutiny. The reforms would require greater disclosure and would change how the agencies are paid by the investment banks that seek their ratings.

Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings agreed to five reforms expected to be implemented over the next six months:  read more »

Around the streets near City Hall are a bunch of signs for Andrew Cuomo’s June 2 community forum about housing, employment and civil rights (here's the P.D.F.). The event is taking place at 168 Grand Street in Chinatown.

More pictures over here.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo won a lawsuit against Dell computers for what Cuomo’s office called “false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices.”

Once again, it's a victory (and future talking point) for Cuomo over a corporate mischief-maker on Main Street, rather than Wall Street, where his predecessor made his mark.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo just announced he’s creating a new position in his office to fight intellectual property theft like pirating movies,which Cuomo called the “new high-tech form of organized crime in the State of New York.”

At a press conference in his Broadway office just now, Cuomo said, “It is theft of a work product. It is widespread. It is growing. It is organized. It costs New Yorkers jobs and money.” Cuomo said the problem costs the state $2 billion and 140,000 jobs per year.  read more »

A person attending Reform Day in Albany called just now to relay a few remarks made there by Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith.

“Joe Bruno, your time has come -- reform is on its way,” Smith told the audience of more than 150 people, according to the attendee.

Smith went on to say that he will push for campaign finance reform and nonpartisan redistricting, the attendee said.  read more »

Unlike most public officials, New York’s hard-charging attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, doesn't keep a written daily schedule.

That's according to his office, which, after two separate Freedom of Information requests from The Observer, finally said that Mr. Cuomo simply didn’t have any pre-existing documentation of his day-to-day professional and political activities that he could make public.

It's the nature of his job, an aide explained.

"The vast majority of the attorney general's time each day is spent working on and being briefed on our cases and investigations," said Benjamin Lawsky, a special assistant and deputy counsel to Mr. Cuomo.

Mr. Cuomo’s office eventually did provide a reconstituted outline of his public schedule between January 2007, when he took office, and April 2008. It is five pages long, listing press conferences, public outings and political events. They said it includes everything of a nonsensitive nature.  read more »

Dan Squadron is trying to unseat fellow Democrat Marty Connor for state Senate, in the district that represents lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.

But more interesting than the people on the ballot are how Demoratic power brokers are lining up in that fight. Schumer is supporting Squardon, his former aide, against Connor, who didn’t support Schumer in his 1998 primary for Senate.

But as the invitation for Connor’s May 8th fund-raiser at the Ritz Carlton shows, he's got a good chunk of the rest of the party establishment.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo just announced the names of two lawyers who will serve as advisers to his investigation of state police: Robert Fiske and Michael Armstrong.

According to the press release, Fiske "served as Independent Counsel in the Whitewater Investigation from January to October 1994." According to the bio on his firm's web site, he also represented Exxon during investigations of the Arthur Kill oil spill. The press release does not mention this.  read more »

Councilman Tony Avella wants Andrew Cuomo to investigate the City Council’s former practice of funneling money to fake organizations as part of a budget mechanism to ‘hold’ taxpayer money for future use.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo’s office just released two letters related to the Troopergate investigation.

The first, dated yesterday, is from Albany County District Attorney David Soares to David Paterson's office, asking that the governor waive privileges to documents related to Troopergate. (Soares is expected to issue his second report on the effort to smear Joe Bruno later this week.)  read more »

Blair Horner is leaving Andrew Cuomo's staff and returning to his work with N.Y.P.I.R.G.

Here's the statement:  read more »

New Yorkers have high expectations for David Paterson, a new Quinnipiac poll shows, with 75 percent believing that he will govern effectively, 46 percent holding a favorable opinion, and only 3 percent having an unfavorable opinion. (The data was collected between March 16 and 18, and one pollster is quoted as saying opinions shifted slightly after news broke of his affairs).

The poll also shows that, given four choices, New Yorkers overall like Michael Bloomberg for the next governor. He earned 29 percent to Paterson’s 27 percent, although Paterson leads Bloomberg among Democrats. Andrew Cuomo was in fourth place, with 11 percent. The third most favored choice was Rudy Giuliani, who took first place with Republican voters.

Here's the release:  read more »

On the agenda for David Paterson today…a lot of smiling.

From his schedule, which the governor's office just sent out:  read more »

So what does it mean for Andrew Cuomo if (when?) Spitzer goes?

Cuomo ran for governor once already and, as attorney general, never really took his eyes off the possibility of higher office, according to people who know him.  read more »

Some of the reporters scrambling to report on Eliot Spitzer right now are also facing a major rewrite job on the Inner Circle Show, an annual charity event where New York City reporters make fun of elected officials.

It's taking place Saturday in Midtown, with a dress rehersal on Friday. 

A high-ranking Inner Circle source said,"There's an Andrew Cuomo and Eliot Spitzer number, but now, it's going to be totally rewritten."  read more »

As he said this week on NY1, Russell Simmons told me today that he is angry that Eliot Spitzer has failed to reform the Rockefeller Drug Law sentencing guidelines—one of his campaign pledges.

“Not only will I campaign against him," Simmons said over the phone. "I’m going to campaign for a change in those laws and he is going to have to stand up and explain why he promised the state of New York that he is going to make this change and when he got in office, he pushed it to the side.”

“We know Eliot Spitzer has to be our target," he added.

When I asked Simmons about his plans for 2010, the hip-hop mogul said, "Is he going to run again? He ought to step down.”

More after the jump.  read more »

So Russell Simmons has put out a statement explaining his endorsement of Barack Obama for president.

It's not necessarily a natural choice for Simmons, given how involved he has become in New York State politics. He previously endorsed Andrew Cuomo for office and made numerous trips to Albany during George Pataki's governorship to reform the Rockefeller drug sentencing laws.

In his endorsement, Simmons writes, "I have great respect for the accomplishments of Senator Clinton and I have personally worked with Senator Clinton successfully on issues concerning education, prison reform and poverty."

But in the end, Simmons, who brought rap music from the predominantly black audience into middle class consciousness with groups like Run D.M.C., the Beastie Boys and solo artists like L.L. Cool J, says he’s supporting Obama because the Illinois senator “has and will continue to transcend race in America.”

Although Obama has a wide lead in the world of hip-hop endorsements, Hillary Clinton does have her supporters, including Darryl McDaniels, a.k.a. D.M.C. of Run D.M.C., and Timbaland.

Full statement after the jump.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo announced he’s conducting a major investigation of the healthcare industry that could explain why healthcare costs are so expensive.

According to Cuomo’s office, insurers have low-balled the cost of medical treatment, pushing off a majority of the expenses to customers. The companies being investigated include UnitedHealth Group, Ingenix and others.

Here’s an example of how the scheme worked, according to a public statement from Cuomo’s office:

United insurers knew most simple doctor visits cost $200, but claimed to  read more »

• 0 comments

Here are the latest fund-raising numbers for Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo.

Spitzer raised $3,246,526.82, and spent $1,810,720.60. At the moment, Spitzer has $2,914,230.93.

During that same 6-month period, Andrew Cuomo raised $531,275.34, and spent $193,837.78. Cuomo has $1,141,321.30 on hand.

In a quick scan of contributions, it appears that Spitzer is adhering to his self-imposed contribution limit of $10,000. Cuomo’s limit is slightly higher for his contributors, at $12,500, with some exceptions.

Steve Roth, Aby Rosen, Michael Fuchs, Carl Icahn all gave Cuomo $25,000 (which Cuomo’s people have said is acceptable because half is eligible for the primary and half for the general election).

Andrew Cuomo wins another one for the little guy:

STATEMENT FROM ATTORNEY GENERAL ANDREW CUOMO

“It has come to our attention that Ticketmaster had restricted sale of tickets for the upcoming New York Giants versus Tampa Bay Buccaneers football playoff game to be held in Florida this weekend. The Ticketmaster restriction allowed only Florida residents to purchase tickets.

We believe Ticketmasters’ restriction raises significant legal issues and was causing consumer frauds in schemes to circumvent the restriction. We contacted Ticketmaster about our concerns.

 read more »

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has proposed legislation to cut the wait time for developers who submit plans for new co-op and condo projects.

The legislation would increase funding for the Real Estate Finance Bureau (REFB), the group in the attorney general's office responsible for approving encyclopedic offering plans detailing everything from floor plans to certificates from architects before a developer can start advertising or pre-selling any apartments. In the past five years, the REFB has been inundated with 300 percent more condo and co-op conversion applications, according to the press release issued by Mr. Cuomo's office Thursday.

The legislation, which is currently in committee in both chambers of the New YorkLegislature, would also increase the cap from $20,000 to $30,000 on filing fees for projects over $5 million for the first time since 1989 to cover the cost of additional REFB staff.

Eliot Spitzer and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced a plan today for reforming the management of the $154 billion state pension fund.

But they did not recommend putting the fund under the control of a board of trustees. (Currently, the state comptroller’s office manages it alone). After DiNapoli's predecesssor, Alan Hevesi, resigned over alleged misuse, it reawakened a long-standing debate about the safety of the fund in the hands of one official.

Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating Hevesi, seems to be reserving judgment. From a statement:

"We agree that the Comptroller's Office needs significant reforms and will comment on them at the end of our ongoing investigation concerning that Office."