Gov. Cuomo defended his decision to choose Westchester DA Janet DiFiore to chair the state ethics panel despite an investigation into the actions she took to ensure that her former maid received welfare benefits.
There may be “local politics” at play in the internal investigation by the Westchester Department of Social Services, the governor said.
“I’ll leave that to Westchester County to sort out,” Cuomo said, referring to The Post’s article Monday on the investigation by county anti-fraud investigator Dhyalma Vazquez, an activist with Yonkers Independence Party.
“I’ll stay out of the county’s process and stay out of the local politics,” he said. Cuomo, who in December named DiFiore to a fixed five-year term as head of the newly formed Joint Commission on Public Ethics, further said DiFiore has an “impeccable reputation.” DiFiore, who has denied wrongdoing, is scheduled to chair a JCOPE meeting this morning.
Vazquez, whose party had endorsed DiFiore’s first run for DA in 2005 but later had a falling out, has denied politics played any role in the probe.