ALBANY — The head of the New York state Republican Party is calling on the feds and the state ethics panel to investigate Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Ed Cox says the US Attorney and JCOPE — the Joint Commission on Public Ethics — should look into whether Cuomo improperly meddled in the deliberations of the commission he impaneled to probe political corruption.
Cox pointed to recent remarks Cuomo made to Crains New York in which he called the Moreland Commission “my commission.”
“…Interference? It’s my commission. I can’t ‘interfere’ with it, because it is mine. It is controlled by me,” Cuomo told Crain’s.
The Moreland Commission was put together in July 2013 by Cuomo. He promised to organize the body after the state legislature failed to pass a campaign finance and ethics bill.
A watered-down version of the bill was passed earlier this year. The panel was disbanded by Cuomo shortly after.
The head of the statewide GOP called Cuomo’s remarks “arrogant.”
“The Governor’s statement last week to an editorial board that he can turn the prosecutorial powers of the state on and off for political purposes, and his inadvertent admission that he actually did so cross a line that warrants investigation by the United States Attorney and certainly an ethical inquiry by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics,” Cox stated.
Cuomo’s office declined to comment. The governor has maintained he acted appropriately.