If Andrew Cuomo means to undermine the credibility of his new corruption-fighting Moreland Commission, he couldn’t be doing a better job.
Cuomo’s campaign committee took to the airwaves this week — 16 months before the next election for governor — with commercials touting the new commission. “The politicians,” says the ad, “won’t like it.”
Neither will the voters, at least if they suspect that the commission is little more than a re-election gimmick.
True, the governor appointed the commission after the Legislature failed to pass his anti-corruption initiatives, and he says these ads are about public awareness. But it’s also true they are being financed with Cuomo campaign dollars.
There’s nothing illegal about this. But it raises a question so obvious that even former Public Advocate Mark Green, who served on an earlier Cuomo Moreland Commission, recognizes it: “The political ad allows people to think that this Moreland Commission is as much about looking good politically as doing good legislatively or prosecutorially.”
At the least, the governor’s campaign ad is a trifle premature. The commission is just getting started and has held one (closed-door) meeting. If the governor is going to trumpet his corruption-fighting, wouldn’t it be better to wait until he has something to show for it?