The chief defender of Gov. Cuomo’s tainted anti-corruption panel is married to a judge up for reappointment next year — by Cuomo, if he wins re-election.
Moreland Commissionpanel co-chair William Fitzpatrick issued a statement Monday insisting Cuomo didn’t interfere or impede the panel’s investigations, a position that contradicts Fitzpatrick’s private e-mails.
The governor — who reportedly closed the panel as it subpoenaed his allies — repeatedly referred to Fitzpatrick’s statement to bolster the claim that the committee was independent, despite calls it fielded from Cuomo aides with instructions on how to proceed.
Fitpatrick, the GOP Onondaga County DA, is married to Diane Fitzpatrick, a judge on the Syracuse Court of Claims who is up for reappointment to a third nine-year term next March.
The governor determines the appointments and reappointments of state judges.
The connections raised eyebrows as US Attorney Preet Bharara probes the panel’s operations and the governor’s role in them.
“This whole thing stinks and exposes the corrupt web of Albany politics, led by Andrew Cuomo,” said Republican Rob Astorino, who is running to unseat the governor. “We are all paying a stealth corruption tax for their slimy deals. The people of New York should say enough is enough.”
Cuomo, William Fitzpatrick and a lawyer representing the Moreland panel, Mike Koenig, declined to comment.
Meanwhile, in a sign that he’s taking Bharara’s probe seriously, Cuomo hired prominent criminal-defense lawyer Elkan Abramowitz to represent him.
Abramowitz represented Woody Allen against child-molestation accusations.
Cuomo — responding to a letter from Bharara’s prosecutors threatening to investigate the governor and his office for possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering — said he will no longer comment on the probe.
Bharara’s warning was issued just two days after William Fitzpatrick and other Moreland members put out pro-Cuomo statements in what appeared to be an orchestrated effort.
But Fitzpatrick had privately fumed over interfering by Cuomo’s office, sending an e-mail to colleagues saying the office “needs to understand this is an INDEPENDENT commission and needs to be treated as such,” The New York Times said.
Joe Percoco, Cuomo’s longtime aide and campaign manager, was one of the governor’s emissaries who contacted several panel members to support the governor, the Albany Times Union reported.
“We are aware of the letter sent by the US Attorney for the Southern District. The New York Times published a story last week that generated a wave of news reports across the state, some with numerous inaccuracies, and we wanted to correct them,” Cuomo said in a statement Thursday.
“We discussed these concerns with relevant parties. Several members of the commission (district attorneys and a law-school dean) issued personal statements to correct the public record. These statements reiterated comments they had made over the past year,” Cuomo added.
“As I believe the US attorney has made it clear that ongoing public dialogue is not helpful to his investigation, we will have no additional comment on the matter.”
Additional reporting by Marissa Schultz