Gov. Cuomo’s consideration for taxpayers evidently knows no bounds.
Since US Attorney Preet Bharara sent a letter warning that some of the governor’s post-Moreland defenses may raise questions about witness tampering, we learned that the governor back in May hired high-priced criminal lawyer Elkan Abramowitz to represent his entire office. We also learned he’s paying Abramowitz out of his $35 million campaign fund.
This, says Abramowitz, is because “the governor doesn’t want to have taxpayers pay for this.”
It’s the second time the governor has invoked looking out for taxpayer money in reference to the now-defunct Moreland Commission. Those who accuse him of shutting the commission down because its investigations were getting too close to him and his friends have it all wrong, he says.
He did it to spare Empire State taxpayers “another expensive prosecutor’s office.”
Of course, there are still some inconsistencies. For example, how does the governor’s push to adopt statewide the city’s campaign finance model — six dollars from the taxpayer for every buck a candidate raises — square with saving taxpayers money? It would only add insult to injury if candidates were then to use these taxpayer dollars to pay their criminal defense.
Over the years, New York pols have used more than $7 million in campaign funds to try to keep themselves out of the pokey. By tapping into his campaign funds for a criminal-defense lawyer, the gov has put himself in the company of such convicts as former Sens. Carl Kruger and Pedro Espada, sleazy former Assemblyman Vito Lopez and Sen. Malcolm Smith, whose trial is pending.
Four years ago, then-candidate Cuomo pointed to folks like these in his pledge to clean up Albany. Today, he’s using their tactics to defend himself. So good to know it’s all for the taxpayer!