Cuomo Billion Dollar NY Economic Redevelopment Program Investigated for Corruption
19th May 2016
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is urging caution by the media as a far-reaching federal investigation into a
slush fundeconomic redevelopment program the state set up for the Buffalo area, “Buffalo Billion.”“Questions are normal, questions are natural,” told reporters in Rochester yesterday as the federal probe got closer to Alain Kaloyeros, the president and CEO of SUNY Poly, which administers the Buffalo Billion program. “Get the facts, don’t rush to judgement.”
Gee, that doesn’t sound like a Democrat.
The investigation has engulfed a number of former top Cuomo aides, including one who the governor has called a “brother” and another that is a friend of the Cuomo family. “If there is something wrong, I want to know about it,” Cuomo told reporters. “We will fully prosecute according to the law.”
Uh-huh. And if you believe that one, he’ll tell you another one.
Politicians like Cuomo talk a lot about money in politics but they don’t mean the money politicians spend on programs like Buffalo Billion that enrich all kinds of government hangers-on, from the donors looking for a kickback to the low-level bureaucrats those government functions depends on. The kinds of campaign finance reforms Cuomo and his ideological fellow-travelers support could stifle attempts at blowing the whistle on wasteful, corrupt spending like Buffalo Billion while keeping the routes to government money open for exploitation by the political class.