Some of these comments are so cynical. Isn't it entirely possible that companies doing business with NYS are contributing hundreds of thousand of dollars to Mr. Cuomo because they agree with his position on abortion rights?
1
How is it possible to look upon a governor accepting loads of campaign cash from contractors who do major business with the state as anything other than legalized bribery? No wonder he disbanded the Moreland Commission and ensures that ethics reform never gains any traction in Albany.
One thing is for sure: New York is in no danger of losing its reputation as the most corrupt state government in America.
7
What? An empty-suit frat boy without an original thought beyond glow in the dark spark plugs, a penchant for delusions of royalty, blondes, mama's lasagne and dirty money? Nah. Couldn't be. Couldn't possibly be reelected twice by sophisticates and swells, right? He deserves the pillory; you all deserve ridicule and the rotten government you get.
8
“New York does not limit donations from contractors that do business with state entities.” Hmm, I think I’ve uncovered the problem!
18
When it comes to Gov. QuidProCuomo, it invariably boils down to the money -- oodles of campaign cash he gets in the end.
This reader's favorite example from recent years is the $750 million -- that's right, three-quarters of a billion dollars -- that the state (aka taxpayers) forked over to build a white elephant for the ages in Buffalo, a near-empty solar panel "gigafactory" now owned by Tesla that has resulted in infinitesimal job creation while its solar business is in free fall.
It just so happens that the construction contractor for the factory was a major Cuomo donor who has since been sentenced to federal prison in the Buffalo Billion bid-rigging scandal. What a coincidence!
The governor, of course, goes along his merry way, ever careful to insulate himself just enough from a host of close associates -- including a former top aide and enforcer, Joseph Percoco, whom he likened to a brother -- who were convicted of bribery and related crimes for doing business the Cuomo way.
Although the "plausible deniability" mantra never stops echoing from the Governor's Office, pardon this skeptical New Yorker from considering it highly implausible. Again and again.
8
OH GEE, wait a minute. Isn't Cuomo a Democrat?? I'm sure his spending all that money on the homeless, undocumented immigrants, solving global warming, and building PPH facilities near the borders of anti-abortion states.
Right?
When will the left learn that with all their fancy educations they are just as ignorant as the uneducated on the right?
Answer - Never (We are just too smart to admit that the system is horribly broken.
5
Corruption is an equal opportunity, bi -partisan, under taking ( no pun intended).
4
If he is the "left", he should leave.
Ummmm. I don't understand this title. It sounds like Cuomo bites the hand that feeds him - and that's a good thing.
1
Politics as usual. Surprise surprise.
7
@I Heart, agree, they should do a story about the Oahu rail project, corruption, mismanagement, & waste of money. at least NY has a useful mass transit.
Many states prohibit campaign contributions from corporations or businesses that have contracts with states and cities. NY is behind the times in ethics and campaign finance regulation. Also, "stewardess" ? Has Cuomo not flown on a commercial airline in the past 30 years?
10
Corruption, corruption wherever one looks. I suppose it has always been that way but it sure is disgusting.
7
You mean the guy this paper endorsed over Cynthia Nixon? Apparently because the corrupt status quo is preferable to actual change??
29
"America's Mayor", Rudy Giuliani, had the same type of things, only much worse: I will never forgive him for turning Times Square into "Disneyworld". The only reason he and frat boy Bush were thought so highly of was they happened to be in office on 9/11. In fact, Bush waited 15 minutes (if not longer) to leave a schoolroom of kids, AFTER he was told New York City was under attack. It only took him 3 days to run down to Ground Zero and get a photo op with an FDNY hat on. Even worse, he started a war with Iraq with a blatant lie; then got a truly great man (Colin Powell) to say "It was a mistake." Everyone knew there were no WMDs, but Bush claimed aluminum tubes were being used to enrich uranium (or something like that), which was a blatant lie. However, this very newspaper proved (beyond a shadow of a doubt) the tubes in question were for something completely different, and Bush knew it all along. Meanwhile millions of people have died from collateral damage, especially when you count Afghanistan, where we have been wasting trillions of dollars over the last 2 decades. I am not even counting all the other countries which have been flattened, and the millions of people who have lost everything. Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Charles Manson and wrote "Helter Skelter", also wrote "The Betrayal of America" about the 2000 Supreme Court;. They gave the US presidency away to George W. Bush; ignoring the US Constitution in doing so.
8
Tell me how Cuomo’s influence peddling is any different from what the Clintons have done for decades.
May Cuomo should’ve set up a foundation first.
7
I miss his father. Gov mario didn’t seem so blatantly....political.
6
Over the last 60+ years a politically bipartisan half of Illinois governors have gone to prison. Along with a herd of state and local officials.
A legendary Chicago journalist Mike Royko once said that the Chicago City motto was ' Where's mine'?
The Machine aka the Democratic Party ran Chicago politically. The Outfit aka the Mafia ran Chicago socioeconomically.
The Outfit also ran Las Vegas for the Mafia aka La Cosa Nostra. The Machine also ran the state of Illinois from Chicago for the corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch welfare elite in the District of Columbia, Hollywood and Wall Street.
1
What I don't get is how the NYT routinely reports on these frequent and egregious ethical lapses by the governor, and then at every election the NYT blithely endorses Cuomo over opponents who, at least based on what we know about them from the record, appear to be honorable and honest people.
Why can't the NYT get out of bed with Cuomo? New Yorkers deserve a governor who has integrity and who doesn't put self-preservation above the well being of the people.
29
But he's DEMOCRAT(!)
Surely, we can find some way to blame this on Donald Trump, or Global Climate Change (or both?!?)
13
Wishing SkyNet would run things
3
He is the perfect example of another NY crooked politician. And why are they all Democrats?
6
While I really, really want you, NYTimes, to keep following up on this story and the muddled mess that is the MTA, here another request: Please do a deeper dive into the least democratic, least transparent quasi-governmental entities in New York: the various "authorities"; MTA, Port Authority (with New Jersey), Bridge and Tunnel etc. They can borrow and spend huge amounts of money in our name (contracts! ), charge tolls, fees and whatever, and guess who appoints their leadership? Hint: first name is Andrew.
19
What do you expect!!! It is business as usual.
2
Lemme guess. Cuomo will say “I’m shocked, shocked to discover the money behind the ball park soirée.”
“Your contributions, sir.”
“Round up the usual suspects.”
6
Can’t wait for the full investigative reporting by Chris Cuomo later on CNN....
12
Wake up New Yorkers! Andrew Cuomo is NOT Mario Cuomo! Mario is rolling in his grave, as his corrupt son betrays every average citizen who voted for him, mostly because they thought he was a "Democrat." Am I telling you something you don't already know?
10
And Cuomo imagines that he could actually be elected president.
6
Cynthia Nixon tried to point this out when she ran against him, but typically, democrats didn't listen, and the same will happen in 2020. You have many people on the Democratic side with troubling pasts and questionable records, yet those are the ones that corporate media are going out of their way to promote and tell us are leading in the polls, while viciously attacking candidates who are not corrupt, but do not cream the corporate narrative. See a pattern here?I do, and I can already see the tea leaves.
10
As long as politicians continue to get away with the farce and pretense of legalizing and conflating bribes with free speech and legitimate contributions, state, local, and federal governments will up for sale for pennies on the dollar.
1
At what point do we not countenance bribery?
3
That headline implies their bribes are keeping him silent. Yet that’s not the case, is it? Perhaps the headline should read:
Despite donations from corrupt contractors, the governor is still criticizing them.
2
There has got to be a link between this and the congestion tax. Congestion tax is a circle of life: folks from Bronx, Brooklyn, etc. pay the tax and big lobbyists feed off of the tax - the constuction firms make a mint, Uber gets away with paying once a day and the wealthy who live in Manhattan pay nothing. I hope NY Times looks into Uber contributions too.
2
NY had a chance to vote Cuomo out in 2018. Now we are stuck with him for another 6 years.
5
I'm glad to hear the Democrats are not open to being bought. Integrity on politics is very important. Bravo Andrew Cuomo! you're nothing like that corrupt Trump guy.
2
“I don’t even see the names of the contractors.”
So he didn't know whose luxury box at Citifield he was in? Guess I won't even bother asking him what the score was.
5
@Jersey John
The electorate should be insulted as he plays us like fools. It has become a standard line among politicians that financial contributions play no role in access to or influence over they work. The follow-up questions to Cuomo (and others) are obvious: "Sir, if this is the case, why do these firms/individuals make the contributions?" " Sir, if you don't know the names of these contributors, who in your campaign does?" "Sir, do you think the lobbyists tell their clients that the contributions on other favors will have no impact."
These questions are obvious (as are their answers).
5
Hypocrisy, esp where money is concerned, knows no political affiliation, only power; at best, Cuomo might tell himself that the end justifies the means, but if those very same contractors are benefiting, then it doesn’t sound like Cuomo is even attaining his ends.
Nothing will change until we ban any large scale donations to politicians.
Make the limit $200 per person per candidate. Then the lobbying corruption goes away.
7
I’m sorry but the problem lies with campaign finance laws, not Governor Cuomo. I’m making no excuses for anyone, I’m simply stating that if the LAWS allow these types of donations then ANY candidate for public office is going to take them. And please don’t mention Warren and Sanders because they’ve never run for statewide office in New York. Bottom line is that The Supreme Court has horrifically upheld these large corporate donations and reporting on those that accept them is like telling every customer at McDonald’s that they shouldn’t eat fatty foods. They know it but it’s “there”, it’s easy and it’s satisfying.
5
When I worked for the DOD in the 1980's we could not fraternize with our suppliers; it was the law. It would seem all of these pay to play events would disappear if the legislator got a backbone and stopped the fraternizing of State employees with suppliers. This would include the governor.
7
I think that many of Cuomo’s comments are self-serving or laughable.
-Anti-corruption requirements could be drawn with reasonable limits— c’mon, Governor, it’s not rocket science. If CT and NJ can do it, obvious that NY can.
-Over time/over budget contractors are “bad.” That’s true... sometimes. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances. I agree, however, that contractors who are regularly behind schedule/over budget are subpar and should be avoided.
It’s true, however, that companies that bid on large public contracts tend to be significant campaign donors. Same thing for executives of these companies and members of their families. As has been noted elsewhere in these comments, the same story is being played out in states and localities throughout the U.S. The only cure is the public financing of elections.
5
The same scenario plays out in nearly every state and local government, with a different cast of characters. Until we see serious campaign finance reform and term limits, this will only continue and (probably) get worse over time. The principles of
democracy have been destroyed by money in politics.
16
Let's not mince words/semantics/nuance.
In USA politics today there is no distinction between illegal bribes/unlawful gratuities and legal bribes/lawful gratuities.
23
"There would be nobody left,” the governor said, adding that “if you included employees, you wouldn’t be able to take a $100 contribution from a stewardess"
This would be the best possible outcome. NO contributions, just public financing. Ge the money out of elections and make the elected responsible and responsive to the electorate.
As it is, I don't believe for a minute that a control freak like Cuomo doesn't know who is donating to his campaign, especially when the donations are so large. He should be called before a legislative committee and, if he makes those same statements under oath, he could be cited for perjury.
42
@BigFootMN
Totally disagree with public financing. Here in the US, with 'free' money, every nut job would out looking to get a piece of that pie. Heaven help us.
The best reform - no limits on contributions, BUT only from living individuals using their own money.
No PACs, no corporations, no unions, no special interest, no bundling.
1
A tsunami of money flows through our state and local governments everyday. Everyone - politicians, contractors, citizens - tries to grab their own handful because they’re so certain everyone else is doing it - and they’re right.
13
@Andy Deckman Way to rationalize corruption.
And again does anyone believe that there wasn't a back end deal in bringing Amazon to Queens .
8
AOC said it was bad for NY so I guess not.
1
@David
Of course there was but we all know what drove Amazon out. The scariest word in the world.
UNION.
They are the most anti union business in the world and abuse there workers beyond anything. They do not want to pay decent wages and make their workers compete for a few bonus dollars by killing themselves.
I don't need my items in one day, neither do most people since its on the backs of workers who have to work like robots.
7
"Mr. Cuomo has raised about $88 million in total since 2011, according to campaign filings."
-----
This is legal?
This is transparent?
This is disgusting!
23
Hey c'mon, it's New York. What do you expect? What? Maybe you think the governor will appear on his brother's CNN show for some sort of a penetrating interview?
8
This is a little ridiculous. This article is calling out some small firms and implying that they’re buying their contracts with “no evidence.”
I would expect a higher standard of care, and some level of investigation or effort before accusing these firms. This article simply looked up the amount of money donated by a massive industry that does billions in infrastructure support, then randomly picked out a few companies. How many MTA contracts were performed by those who did not contribute to Cuomo?
WSP is a huge firm that supports many different industries and types of infrastructure. You’re taking a $3M donation amount from an industry with a massive footprint, and implying graft from individual companies by name.
I would expect some actual investigation from the NYTimes.
6
Researching campaign donors is tedious but doable. It gets easier once an initial database has been assembled. A well-resourced organization like the NY Times should be able to conduct such research.
Having successfully identified donor industry ties for local political races, I strongly recommend that civic groups and media organizations undertake these efforts. The results will probably surprise you. The most significant donors (other than candidates’ families) are typically those who benefit from government contracts and, at the local level, planning and zoning decisions.
1
@Mike Cos Exactly my thoughts as well.
This article seems very long on implications and very short on actual evidence.
Just saying that Cuomo received $4.5 million (a measly 5% of his campaign's $88 million in donations) over eight years from an unstated number of somehow connected parties and that he attended some of their fundraisers and using that to imply that he's handpicking contracts on their behalf is an enormous stretch.
Show us the holes in MTA procurement practices and how they can be abused by top executives. Pinpoint the cost overruns, mismanagement, and repeated contractor negligence for us. Explain the union requirements and resultant featherbedding to us.
For example, why is $100 million excessive to clean drains? Were there better bids?
I'm no construction cost estimator, but it doesn't sound terribly unreasonable to me when you note that there's 245 miles of subway tracks, 468 subway stations, tons of other tunnels and connected areas, and lots of work would need to be done on nights/weekends to not disrupt service. We don't even know if the "former top subway official" has the expertise necessary to accurately judge construction costs, yet we're supposed to base our conclusion on that person's opinion?
We all know corruption is rife in this arena and campaign finance is a key component of that, but this article does absolutely nothing to reveal it.
1
The political parties are interchangeable. Cuomo is the same as Trump, and I can’t even get upset anymore, the rich run everything and the rule of law doesn’t apply to them or their families. After almost hitting them gently with the facts of their corruption, for appearances apparently, these are the sorts of people the NYT likes to endorse.
13
Third world countries have better trains than NYC, which everyone says is the greatest city in the world. Cuomo and the MTA [money taking agency] should be thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed. But, they are not and all theses stories don’t seem to matter to anyone. The NYC subway is a disgrace and pathetic and that’s just the facts.
27
@Mickey Indeed. Yet there is never a lack of excuses. '... all these other countries' systems were created more recently...the NYC system is very old....the NYC system is massive...it runs 24/7....etc.'
Yet, if you've lived in NYC long enough, you know that...we could throw all the money we want at the MTA, and Nothing Will Change, so long as there is corruption and politics and lack of accountability/oversight. How often does the MTA cry 'lack of funds', our fare are raised yet again...there are 'promises' of this and that, and ...nothing changes? How much time, effort and money goes into over-the-top beautiful new stations, while the rest of the system continues to languish? Where is the common sense with regards to overall spending?
The MTA's latest tactic is to imply that supposedly rampant farebeating (vs mismanagement of $) is the primary cause of their $ woes? A few farebeaters means the rest of us must suffer with front-door only bus boarding (making bus rides needlessly, intolerably slow/long). Elderly, disabled, with children/bags/luggage? Good luck opening back door to exit the bus. And you may find the Emergency doors once again locked at subway stations. Good luck managing through the narrow turnstyle!
To add insult to injury, we now must pay an MTA 'surcharge' for our Uber rides. Why do you think so many of us turned to Uber to begin with? So long as NYers continue to begrudging accept the MTA as is, nothing will never change.
4
There's a Phelany here somewhere....
Corrupt corrupt corrupt.
14
They are all crooks. I despair.
7
Being the pompous hypocrite that he is, I’m sure there will be an indignant press release accusing the press of guilt by innuendo, absent any facts! While, of course, he continues his smear campaign against President Trump, absent any facts either.
14
The stench from Albany is almost as bad as the stench on Capitol Hill. We have the best government in the world that money can boy.
10
Sarah, I think you meant buy. But I loved the line anyway....lol
In all honesty, I think that Albany might have Capitol Hill beat.
2
Every time I think I'm learning to like this guy he does something to make me hate him all over again.
Never voted for him and feel vindicated in that choice. He's just as dirty as every other politician in the cesspool that is Albany.
15
But he did wrangle a marriage equality law from state legislators. That counts for a lot.
1
Anyone who does not realize and admit that Andrew Cuomo is just another self-serving and greedy politician is simply deluding themselves. He will, and has, squeezed corporations which do business with the state to feather his own financial nest since the very day he took office.
18
Almost everything that is wrong with America starts with money in politics. Government-funded campaigns limited in scope and length would help to put an end to this corruption.
9
This is ridiculous but totally expected for this pay-to-play governor, who will let the MTA get away with anything so long as he is being personally enriched along the way. We need a new governor and we need a state law to outlaw donations of any kind from companies doing business with the state.
10
Could have had one, but I guess Cynthia was a little too honest.
Thanks NYTimes for (finally) lifting the veil on Cuomo's entanglements with some of those who use the MTA as their cash cow! Cuomo, who has never been seen taking the subway except when staged for PR events, has used and abused the MTA as his personal goody bag for years - do a web search for "ski resorts and MTA". Of course his spokesperson denies that the largess of these donors had anything to do with them getting these very lucrative (read: overpriced) contracts, but those donations sure helped. Add this pay-to-play to the chronic underfunding of public transit in New York, and the low to middling performance of our subways almost looks like an achievement. NYTimes, please follow up on this and related stories!
19
Thanks NYTimes for (finally) lifting the veil on Cuomo's entanglements with some of those who use the MTA as their cash cow! Cuomo, who has never been seen taking the subway except when staged for PR events, has used and abused the MTA as his personal goody bag for years - do a web search for "ski resorts and MTA". Of course his spokesperson denies that the largess of these donors had anything to do with them getting these very lucrative (read: overpriced) contracts, but those donations sure helped. Add this pay-to-play to the chronic underfunding of public transit in New York, and the low to middling performance of our subways almost looks like an achievement. NYTimes, please follow up on this and related stories!
3
Cuomo is the worst kind of NY Democrat - all backroom deals, ribbon cuttings, and grandstanding, with no true commitment to progressive change.
20
Great reporting NYTimes, except one missing piece of information: public contracts, such as those described herein, are mostly awarded based on price - the responsive lower bidder is awarded the contract (independent of the amount of money contributed to a politician). The NYTimes failed to mention if this was the case, or if the emergency contracts were awarded without a formal bid process, which is often the case for public “emergency” contracts. By telling us how the contracts were awarded could make this story more or less impactful, depending which process was used by the MTA (i.e. is the MTA using “emergency” designations to award contracts to its preferred contractors for what would otherwise be viewed as non-emergency work).
8
@Scott Man. Excellent point. Those prolonged "emergencies" tend to remove a lot of the usual rules and regulations of the contracting process at authorities and agencies like the MTA. Yes, NYTimes, please add this information!
5
Democrats versus Republicans in New York State = bad guys versus worse guys. Who is who changes, based on issue and venue.
6
Cuomo doesn't know the names of the contractors receiving millions of dollars of taxpayer money to maintain the subway system he is responsible for managing? So he's either incompetent or corrupt. Wild guess which is true...
10
Getting ready for more of the same. Cuomo has indicated his intention to run for a fourth term.
Jasper
5
How soon we forget. Gov. Cuomo disbanded the Moreland Commission in 2013, the very panel he established to probe official corruption. From Wiki: "Media reports alleged that Lawrence Schwartz, the secretary to the governor, barred the commission from issuing subpoenas to organizations with ties to Governor Cuomo, and that the commission was not permitted to investigate any improprieties on the part of the executive administration."
23
@BwayJoe And don't get me started on Percoco. One must ask, other than party affiliation, is there that much a difference between Cuomo and Trump?
4
@BwayJoe
Because he knows exactly what they will find as those around him take the fall much like Bridgegate in NJ.
He knew. He was happy to do it.
3
Well, Cuomo hasn't gone through half a dozen bankruptcies; hasn't stiffed contractors, cleaning people, and lawyers; hasn't opened colleges designed to fleece their students; hasn't lied to banks to get loans; hasn't called Barack Obama a Muslim foreigner; hasn't used racist tweets and crude invectives to rile up his base of supporters.
I could go on.
There's no good in comparisons that make Trump look better than he is.
1
Actually, governor, they are called flight attendants.
5
New Yorkers know Cuomo is corrupt. This is not new. They just don't care; not about Cuomo or any other part of the trash heap that is state government. If they did they wouldn't keep reelecting the same crooks over and over again, or worse, not voting at all. New Yorkers have the government they want and deserve.
4
In one paragraph Cuomo says he isn't corrupt because he doesn't even know who is an MTA contractor. Drop down half dozen paragraphs and he says "I do condemn the bad ones [contractors]. So apparently he does know. What a fraud; what a stain on New York.
Al Smith is spinning in his grave.
19
Sounds a lot like the kind of corruption the Times reported on in the recent Guatemala article. Perhaps the reason New York has a third world subway system is its third world pay-to-play contract awarding process. How quaint that Cuomo considers himself a progressive.
18
The MTA has always been a gift box to governors of NY chock full of tidbits to toss around to political pals. It goes like this, first the big project usually much needed, then the MTA installs a political operative “expert” to farm out the goodies “contracts” in the department to political friends in districts.
8
"had wanted to expand into the lucrative world of contracting for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority."
Lucrative is the key word. These projects are boondoggles, with plenty of room for corruption and fraud. But when the public pays, who cares, right?
5
Is anyone shocked about this. Cuomo is no different than another politician in NY. Time to check out all the members of the State Assembly and Senate hierarchy
5
Cuomo is a Democrat, I voted for him for Governor -- because I thought our other choices were nuts. But I did vote for Teachout in that primary.
He's a ruthless bully and master of the political grab bag. He has had some ruthless aides. He goes for the jugular against opponents, no matter what their affiliation. and he has stomped out the review of ethics in the NYS legislature.
Perhaps, both in NYS and the national arena, that is a currently necessity of survival, but I want reform. Reform in NYS and reform nationally: otherwise this is what we get.
The multitudes of contractors who do government work keeps expanding: the umbilical cord between contractors and politicians has to be severed.
We are at the mercy of whoever has bought the elected official we vote for.
55
@cheryl Yes. And NYT urged us all to vote for him, but to hold his feet to the fire as he was corrupt. Is this the fire we are to hold his feet to? I doubt he will even feel singed. What else do we do to make him stop being such a out and out corrupt and frankly nasty man?
10
@cheryl
I agree with your thesis but I have refused to vote for Andrew because, in keeping with following the money, we need to ignore his words and attend to his deeds. Unlike his dad, he is much less a progressive Democrat as he claims and far more a centrist Republican as he behaves.
6
@cheryl
Seems as if there’ve been a lot of “follow the money” stories coming from the Cuomo administration, but each time the governor seems to wiggle away. When might he be caught in one of the webs he seems to spin?
2
I'm not surprised, and yet I'm told *I* need to be taxed via congestion pricing to pay for this debacle, never mind I'm already taxed every time I cross a bridge-I already have a $250 per month EZ Pass bill.
I've had the privilege of riding the Tokyo, Berlin and London systems, and coming home, I see only an Empire in Decline.
Whatever the reason, the subway is a hole into which one pours money, never to be seen again.
Imagine a first class transportation system in the Greatest City in the World....also unicorns.
9
@Casey Yup. The NYC MTA is one big black hole. We've no idea how decisions are being made as to how to spend our taxpayer dollars and our metrocard fares. Every year the fares go up, yet nothing changes. Oh sure, there'll be a spanking new station unveiled now and then (makes for great PR and photo ops). Meanwhile, the bulk of the system languishes with ineffective P.A. systems, outdated signal systems, filthy stations with crumbling support beams oozing of mysterious slime, horrible confusing signage ('R train runs on Express track late night...' What constitutes 'late night'?) The genius MTA spent millions of our dollars installing 'communication' phones along the platforms (you know, to make up for the station booths they removed?) and yet...it apparently never occurred to these geniuses that you can't install 'communication phones' along a subway platform and expect them to be functional, when that platform has screeching trains coming and going, separate announcements being made on the platform itself, etc. Has anyone ever tried to use these phones? 9 times out of 10 you can't hear what they are saying, nor they you. The MTA is one big mess.
I too have had the privilege of riding the Tokyo metro system. After that, coming back to the NYC MTA was a literal slap in the face. Tokyo metro employees could sure show our MTA employees what it means to consider your job a privilege versus an entitlement tantamount to 'winning the lottery'.
Governor Cuomo has always said he is a “hands on” public CEO. Remember he was personally supervising the finishing touches on the new subway station on the new subway line. However, when it comes to politically connected MTA contractors, he suddenly has amnesia. This is the same defense Cuomo used when his closest aides were indicted for corruption.
41
@Matt. Cuomo: Hands-on or hands out governor in charge of the MTA? After all, Cuomo is ambidextrous - he takes donations with both hands, and can both take credit for any good development in public transit, and deny any knowledge or responsibility for the many things that are broken. Exhibit A: Not a peep from this hands-on governor on the recent, massive service disruptions in the subway that stranded many thousands of commuters on a Friday afternoon.
8
"Mr. Haugland’s companies and his family have long contributed to New York politicians, mostly Republicans, including at least $43,000 to Edward P. Mangano, the disgraced former Nassau County executive, and $25,000 to former Gov. George E. Pataki."
Nothing surprising at all here. The Government of the Divided States formalized and pretty much legalized a process for doing business with private companies, that under "normal" social conditions, might be described as "illegal" or "graft". While the citizens hope that their tax money is put up for competitive bids to accomplish public works, the accepted "norm" actually consists of having the more powerful/influential public officials receive a personal "stipend" ( cynics might call a bribe) from contractors, whose "bid" might not be especially favorable to the public interest. But to avoid the psychic pain of accepting such a reality, the public sighs, while the media reminds them, on a daily basis, of the reality they live in. The corps and oligarchs run the country, the politicians are their sales force and the public is challenged openly to do something about it.
14
@KB Everyone desires Erik Prince's connections, writing out big invoices the same as John Kelly and Jeff Sessions do for private jails, ones that cage children. Invoices to taxpayers without any checks or balances. That's what liberty means: privatization under Citizens United which equals pay to play, do what you want, take as long as you wish and answer only to the boss who helped you sign up at the trough.
Taxpayers are getting reamed by the onslaught of privatized contracts.
2
It's not just about Cuomo's cozy relationship with contractors and sub-contractors as demonstrated by the huge amount of political contributions he's raked in over the past decade. This is the chump change which shows how cheaply our politicians can be bought.
What this article highlighted is the arcane, inefficient and needlessly expensive cost of procuring services here in NYS and NYC. This is a the 'old boy network' between owners, union workers and elected leaders all of who have no incentive to reform a system that adds billions - billions - to the costs of government. Limited number of vendors bidding, bill padding with excessive overhead, featherbedding and inefficient work rules, etc. all drive up costs tremendously.
Cost effective, efficient delivery of construction and other contract services, even using more costly union labor, could save the State and the City massive amounts of money. All those savings could then go towards better transit, roads, housing and general services.
12
@Common Sense Just Tammany Hall shenanigans that didn't end with FDR, Robert Moses and Al Smith transcending the street corner bag men to the likes you see gave birth to Rudy Giuliani.
The nation was so leery of electing him at first; corruption that inspired the country to build the Nation's Capital on a swamp north of Virginia than in New York.
1
This is why having a multi billionaire like Trump is great for fighting corruption.
A couple million here or there doesn’t mean much to Trump.
But it means the world to liberals like Cuomo.
10
@Jay Lincoln
Seriously, his entire presidency has been an administration of corruption last count 37 indictments, THE most of any president in the history. More people have re-signed their posts under this presidency than any other.
8
Yeah! He's not at all like Cuomo—instead of looking the other way when companies that give money to him swindle public services, he looks the other way when countries that give money to him murder journalists and political dissidents, destroy climate-sustaining forests, seize entire countries, and attack our elections.
Hashtag MAGA!
8
@Jay Lincoln fighting corruption ? Sure, if you define deviance downward, no one is deviant.
5
You know, I got an invitation to "Empty suit Andy's" birthday fund-raiser, but I got stuck on a subway train and missed it.
36
@george eliot. Good one! However, I doubt any attendee of those fundraisers takes public transportation, except for PR events. Those people come by limo or helicopter.
5
@george eliot
Did Andy cash your mandatory $25,000 attendance fee?
1
If anyone actually cares. Six common sense constitutionally sound campaign finance reforms.
1. Any individual can use as much or as little of their personal fortune to campaign for their own election or against the election of any other individual or a state ballot issue that they are eligible to vote for/against in an election. (The freedom of political speech clause)
2. The only donations a politician or PAC can accept must come from someone that can legally vote for (or against) that politician or political cause. (The Citizens Only Clause)
3. No publicly traded for profit organization can use company money or assets to campaign for or against any candidate for any elected office or State ballot initiatives. (The Wal Mart Prohibition Clause)
4. No organization that receives any money from any level of any government can campaign for or against any candidate or any political cause. (Planned Parenthood Prohibition Clause) (This is the clause that would stop what is happening in this article)
5. No one can be forced to pay any money, give any time, donate anything of value to any organization which is then used to campaign for or against any candidate for any elected office or any political cause. (No Coercion Clause)
6. Political parties can only spend money in a state that came from residents of that state. (Level Playing Field Clause)
44
I have wanted the same thing for years. Spot on assessment!
Good list with the exception of item 1. Read John Paul Stevens’s dissent in Citizens United. There is a difference between money and speech— unfortunately, Citizens United invalidated this long-standing premise.
1
This is an example of why we need to remove corporate financing from our elections. Not a chance.
65
Follow the money. If you can. At least here it was possible. Good work.
Democracy is most threatened by hidden sources of cash lobby PACS. Transparency is a continual target and this is the front line of the war on tyranny. Corporations are not people, PACS are not people, these are the Machiavellian tools of cabals of oligarchs who service their needs at the expense of the average Joe. Campaign reform please.
94
An incestuous relationship, as Gov. Cuomo has said, only he himself is just as culpable. Welcome to Albany politics.
78
Same with Charter who simply morphed into Spectrum after fines were levied. They were taking too much time for Cuomo. This resulted in a mad dash of tree cutting, telephone pole installation and service reps banging on doors to sell broadband which can handled 30,000 phone calls from one line going to your house. Of course that inspired competition to head out on our highways and byways, hanging new lines, everyone getting ready to charge more for broadband. Are they getting permits? Do they have government oversight when they upgrade their lines?
So MTA contractors, same as military contractors and all the other contractors and sub-contractors who pay to play in the USA all march under a cloak of privatized sub-divisions in government, outside of detection, oversight and regulation. Sure, in small towns they negotiate permits, this directs money to local branches of government when curbs and overhanging lamps are installed. Or broadband. I've seen unmarked commercial vehicles undetectable by anyone performing work at the base of telephone poles with gas generators powering small offices in trailers parked for hours.
Somehow Cuomo's ribbon cutting was effected by contractors working on dismantling the Tappan Zee Bridge, throwing the whole ceremony into a tailspin. Just see the political ramifications these contractors and sub-contractors hold as they work privately with little oversight on the subways and buses, LIRR and Metro North trains behind blue plywood walls.
22
@Guy Walker
And he renamed the bridge after his father with no vote from New Yorkers. The audacity of this man is beyond.
1