Opinion

Deploying the deflectors?

Will Gov. Andrew Cuomo be the first witness to testify under oath in front of his newly appointed Moreland Commission?

And if so, will he be asked: “Governor, why didn’t you live up to your responsibility to fill long-vacant board seats on the Long Island Power Authority immediately after Hurricane Irene demonstrated its incompetence?”

As if. But it sure would be interesting to hear Cuomo thread his way through an answer under pain of perjury.

In recent days, he has come under withering criticism — spurred by an editorial on this page — for what amounts to nonfeasance regarding the LIPA board.

Yes, he has been pounding New York’s public utilities black and blue since Sandy receded. Yesterday, he used his executive power to appoint a Moreland Act commission, with broad investigative and subpoena powers, to tighten the screws.

That move certainly serves at least one short-term interest:

It means Cuomo can now deflect all questions — such as why, in 22 months as governor, he never took charge of LIPA — by simply saying: “It’s under investigation.”

Now, Cuomo’s not wrong when he contends that LIPA “has been beyond repair for a long, long time.”

That was true shortly after his father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, created the panel a quarter-century ago to replace the equally flawed Long Island Lighting Co.

The current governor’s commission is headed by former state Attorney General Bob Abrams and Financial Services Superintendent Ben Lawsky, and includes John Dyson, ex-head of the New York Power Authority — so it doesn’t lack for heft.

Questions: Does Cuomo really mean it when he says there will be no “tinkering around the edges” of the state’s public utility system. Or has he simply constructed just another blame deflector?

That is, does the man have the honor to blow the whistle on himself, if need be?

Convene the commission.