Schneiderman disengaged?

Here’s an affirmative thing that you can say about Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. His recent comments on the Eric Garner matter were compelling. . . .

Schneiderman, in truth, has been the least focused, least aggressive Attorney General in the modern era. Even Dennis Vacco was more dedicated to the job. . . .

Now nobody begrudges a man his personal interests or his relationships or his grooming habits – so long as he respects the public office that he holds. But Schneiderman, all too often, has shown a lack of interest in the activities of his office and the people who work for him.

He only talks to a handful of staffers and then only those who’d tell him what he wants to hear. Except for a few pet projects, he takes no interest in anybody’s work. He’s in a bubble within a bubble in Manhattan.

'Mass exodus' from Cuomo administration expected post election

ALBANY — A “mass exodus” is expected from the Cuomo administration after November’s election, according to several sources.

“They all want out,” one source said of top Cuomo staffers. A former staffer said the rush has been spurred by the work environment.

“You’re micromanaged to the point you can’t make a decision,” the ex-staffer said. “It’s not the work, it’s the model. It is secretive and clandestine.

-snip-

Getting out of the administration’s grasp is tough, ex-staffers say. Those who express a desire to move on are “wooed” to stay — and threats of reprisal are not uncommon, said a source.

“It is professional purgatory,” the source said.

Top Cuomo Minion to resign

The man widely considered Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top deputy is stepping down, according to sources—and some insiders put a high probability on his landing a lucrative slot in the real estate industry.

Howard Glaser, who has served as the governor's director of state operations and senior policy adviser since Mr. Cuomo took office in 2011, will leave government after the legislative session ends in late June. Those familiar with his exit say that a senior post in the real estate industry is among the new careers Mr. Glaser, 55, is now weighing.

Dems Won't Support Cuomo For President in 2016

Gov. Cuomo, long known for his presidential aspirations, won’t enjoy the support of his own Democratic Party if Hillary Rodham Clinton decides not to run for president in 2016, top state Democrats have told The Post.

The Democrats said Cuomo’s worsening relations with his party have led many to look elsewhere for a presidential standard bearer, should Clinton not run.

How about it, Gov. Cuomo?

We’ve long been dubious of claims that taking statewide New York City’s six-for-one matching system using public dollars is a cure for corruption. But if Cuomo is as serious about public financing as he claims to be, instead of trying to impose a pilot program on a fellow Democrat he’s been sparring with, he should be stepping forward to volunteer himself.

But there’s the rub. Because if the governor agreed to play by the rules of public finance, he would have to refund roughly half of the $33 million war chest he has ­accumulated.

Cuomo, Amid Moreland struggles, realizes he might lose.

After his worst week in office since becoming governor, Andrew Cuomo is now viewed for the first time by important Democrats as potentially vulnerable to Republican challenger Rob Astorino, The Post has learned.

The changing sentiment results from the extraordinary criticisms Cuomo received last week from corruption-fighting Southern District US Attorney Preet Bharara — because of the governor’s summary dismissal of his anti-corruption Moreland Commission panel — and from an assortment of “good-government’’ over his transparently phony plan for a severely limited system of publicly financed elections.

“It was a disastrous week for Andrew. He was being attacked all over town, and it appeared to be the culmination of not just weeks, but months, of eroding support for the governor from within his own Democratic base,’’ one of the state’s most influential Democrats told The Post.

Cuomo's Ethics Carve-out

Andrew Cuomo has a complicated attitude toward ethics reform.

(snip)

Some good-government critics say the fact that the governor has raised $33 million for his re-election proves he’s an enemy of ridding the system of political money, but this is unfair. Until the law is passed, he shouldn’t be expected to stop playing by the rules governing his campaign. A far more salient piece of evidence to support the claim that the governor doesn’t want public financing is simply his record.

As I outlined last year, his play on the issue is simple. Make a show of pushing really hard to get it done, and simultaneously ensure the thing dies, whether by pushing it too late or weakly (or just pinning its failure on Dean Skelos).

But this year, he came up with something particularly clever, even by Cuomo standards.

In what’s being billed as a “pilot” program, public financing would be implemented for one race only: the office of comptroller. Which means Cuomo gets to claim that something is being done about ethics while leaving himself unaffected (he still gets to rely on his tens of millions in his reelection race). He gets to inconvenience his rival, DiNapoli, who now must decide whether to give back 73 percent of the money he has on hand already (per NYPIRG), or take a public relations hit by opting out of the system. And for good measure, DiNapoli and other reformers once supported the idea in a different context years ago—which means it will be hard for them to publicly condemn it now (although they'll certainly try).

This measure doesn't apply to the comptroller’s race in perpetuity, but for one historically bound moment in time: the 2014 election. In other words, Cuomo gets to say he did public financing, protect himself from having to practice it himself, and assure opponents of the measure that it’s not really happening beyond this one quirky example.

Cuomo's Second Largest Donor contributes $109,500 in 5 weeks

(By skirting election laws?).

Ironic given lip service he gives to election financing reform.

ALBANY—There were 22 checks in all, arriving in the last five weeks of a fund-raising period in which Gov. Andrew Cuomo raked in $7 million for his re-election campaign.

They totaled $109,000, sent in chunks of $5,000 or less because New York law caps its corporations annual political contributions at that amount.

They all came from the same place: the Greenwich offices of The Richman Group, a real estate company that regularly interacts with the state of New York and its related entities. According to an analysis by the New York Public Interest Research Group, the firm's various legal components have contributed $264,000 to Cuomo since he took office in 2011, and are his second largest donor.

Relationship between Cuomo & Schneiderman Toxic . . .

And Cuomo reestablishes himself as a shallow, vindictive by accusing Schneiderman, who suffers glaucoma, of wearing eyeliner.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/16/nyregion/cuomo-and-schneiderman-prepare-to-fight-over-jpmorgan-settlement.html?_r=0

Very Classy Mr. Governor.

Cuomo says no room for conservative Republicans in New York

… You’re seeing that play out in New York. … The Republican Party candidates are running against the SAFE Act — it was voted for by moderate Republicans who run the Senate! Their problem is not me and the Democrats; their problem is themselves. Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.