ALBANY — Thanks for the info. Now here’s a sweet job.
The executive director of Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission — accused of reporting its every move to Cuomo aides — is in line for a cushy landing at the State Insurance Fund, sources said.
Although Cuomo disbanded the Moreland Commission panel in April, Executive Director Regina Calcaterra continues to receive her $175,000-a-year salary.
One source said her move to the low-profile insurance agency, which sells disability and worker-compensation policies, wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with government.
“Anything in parole or insurance is a reward,” the source said.
The governor’s office declined to comment about what Calcaterra is currently doing or where she might be headed.
In its scathing takeout on the commission last week, The New York Times said Calcaterra tried to block a subpoena to the Real Estate Board of New York to protect the governor, who has gotten large contributors from the real estate industry.
The Times also said she resisted sending a subpoena to a major retailer to determine if its political donations were tied to passage of a tax credit that was included in Cuomo’s budget.
“Investigators began to suspect that Ms. Calcaterra was monitoring their activities and reporting back to the governor’s office,” the Times said.
Rob Astorino, Cuomo’s Republican challenger, charged Wednesday that Calcaterra, a former securities lawyer, is being given a new job to keep her quiet.
“It sounds like it could be hush money on the corruption merry-go-round,” Astorino said outside the Tweed Courthouse near City Hall.
“Why she still has a job is beyond anyone, with her direct interference in the Moreland Commission. What does she know, and how is she trying to protect the governor?”
Calcaterra, a former securities lawyer, released a best-selling memoir last year telling how she and her siblings survived an abusive childhood and foster care.
Cuomo on Wednesday continued to defend the commission, citing a memo written by co-chair William Fitzpatrick, a Republican DA, backing the governor’s claim the administration didn’t interfere in its operations.
Cuomo said the other co-chairs, including Nassau DA and congressional candidate Kathleen Rice, must agree because they haven’t contacted Fitzpatrick.
“I’m sure if they had a different opinion you would’ve heard from them because he [Fitzpatrick] was basically the spokesperson for the commission all through it,” Cuomo said.