Andrew Cuomo's Forgotten Past

I'm simply amazed that New York Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo has been able to distance himself from the damage he personally caused as Bill Clinton's HUD secretary.

Perhaps only Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad bear as much personal responsibility for the recent housing finance crisis and the financial meltdown it triggered.

Cuomo's ineptitude was reinforced by a recent article in the Wall Street Journal entitled Audit Faulted Cuomo's HUD Overhaul.

Within the piece, details inform us that,

"The Inspector General's audit report also claimed that senior officials under Mr. Cuomo sought to impede investigators examining the program and took the unusual step of asking the Inspector General's office for the names of HUD employees who spoke with auditors.

Several HUD employees "feared reprisal" and urged investigators to keep their communications confidential, according to the audit report."

Further on in the article, Cuomo's attempts to get these names, and the excuses offered by his minions, are provided. It makes for incredibly transparent and disturbng reading,

"Saul Ramirez, a deputy secretary under Mr. Cuomo, said the requeset for the names was "standard procedure" and intended to help headquarters  organize the schedules of field staffers involved in the auditing process."

It's a non-answer answer, isn't it?

But, moving back to the big picture, it's simply incredible to me that Cuomo has so successfully danced away from his culpability for the housing mess. And now wants to run an entire state.

It's probably a mark of the inadequacy of political opposition in New York that none of Cuomo's opponents seems to have bothered to connect the dots and hang this liability around the son of a former governor of the state.

Which I guess demonstrates that New York has a bad habit of selling its Senate seats to carpetbaggers and allowing for way too much plutocracy and cronyism in important elected state positions.

New York: US Capital of Corruption?

It's been quite a week for New York politicians.

First, tax cheat Charlie Rangel suffered yet another damaging disclosure. This time, in addition to revelations of his non-payment of taxes on various real estate properties, and misuse of rent-controlled apartments in New York City, the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, it was revealed that he took trips to the Caribbean which were paid for by corporations. This is a clear violation of ethics rules.

His, and Frisco Nan's reactions were both predictable and disappointing. Rangel essentially claimed that his aides' actions aren't his responsibility, so he was innocent of anything.

Of course, members of Congress are among the first to conduct public hearings accusing corporate CEOs of guilt when employees of their companies engage in misconduct.

The House Speaker, having recently alleged she runs 'the most ethical House' ever, refused to remove Rangel from his Ways & Means Committee post, claiming that there was no serious national damage involved, so she saw no reason to take disciplinary action.

Further, as the linked article notes, she was surprised a Democratically-controlled ethics panel even bothered to publicly admonish Rangel.

Suffice to say, all of this demonstrates just how hopelessly tone-deaf and out of touch with voters Rangel and Frisco Nan are. They may be re-elected in their safe districts in November, but I'm guessing neither will be in the majority when they are.

Then we come to New York governor David Paterson's decision not to run again, amidst two scandals. One is his misuse of his office to strong-arm and intimidate a woman from proceeding in her case of physical violence abuse against one of Paterson's aides.

Paterson unwisely got involved, rather than show some sense and tell the aide that, as governor, nothing he would do would be proper.

Paterson also evidently set the state police upon the complainant.

Then it has come to light that Paterson may have favored a political supporter in the choice of to whom to let a casino-related contract.

Lest you think Paterson's final capitulation to his party to not run again is good news, look who is waiting in the wings.


AG Andrew Cuomo, running for governor, was one of the major culprits in sparking the recent financial sector meltdown, as HUD secretary for Bubba Clinton.

Cuomo has behaved thuggishly, using the Martin Act to bully several financial executives and companies, including BofA, Merrill Lynch, John Thain and Ken Lewis. Oblivious, all the while, to his own culpability in the mess, due to his actions while HUD Secretary to provide more, riskier mortgages to poorer people who could not really afford home ownership.

It doesn't look like New York's governance nightmare is going to end anytime soon.