So, why did Andrew Cuomo blink?
The attorney general yesterday backed off a probe of possible crimi nal conduct on the part of Gov. Paterson, handing the task to former Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye — a woman with no prosecutorial experience who has spent much time lately sweeping other people’s dirt under rugs.
Why Cuomo even began the probe is a mystery: When he did, Paterson was running for a full term and facing a primary from all-but-certain-candidate Cuomo.
Indeed, Cuomo himself yesterday acknowledged that those who noted the obvious conflict “had a legitimate point.”
But he did it anyway.
New Yorkers seem to have decided that there was too close a connection between Cuomo the AG and Cuomo the candidate.
His popularity — which has been sky-high since he took office more than three years ago — plummeted 13 points in just two weeks, according to the Marist Poll.
And the same survey, as well as a Quinnipiac Poll, showed that most New Yorkers, while disapproving of Paterson, don’t want him forced from office.
Thus, Mr. Rectitude seems to have decided that this was one hot potato best juggled by someone else.
And whose coat will he be holding?
The above-mentioned Kaye — New York’s recently retired top jurist and, as we noted last Sunday, a go-to gal for dubious clients.
She whitewashed the shady Working Families Party — then provided cover for top State University brass, who’d been severely embarrassed by a basketball scandal at SUNY’s Binghamton campus. (One small nugget of good news here: Because Kaye’s working pro bono, her firm isn’t in line for another million-dollar payday, as it got from SUNY.)
To be sure, the AG did throw cold water on reports that Paterson will soon be off the legal hook.
“My office has conducted a preliminary review” of both cases at issue — possible witness tampering in a domestic-abuse case involving the governor’s closest aide and possible perjury in his scoring World Series tickets — and “determined that there are credible issues . . . and that a thorough investigation is warranted,” said Cuomo.
Moreover, he added, “an immediate resolution is not at hand” — that is, it will take “as long as it takes.”
Sure. If the polls stabilize, that is.