TIGHT GRIP
Gov aide played boss at office after leaving: witness
PROSECUTORS’ STAR witness against one-time Gov. Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco said Tuesday afternoon that he bossed around executive chamber staff even after he left the governor’s office.
Todd Howe, a Cuomo cronyturned-lobbyist, testified in the Manhattan Federal Court bribery case against Percoco, who for years was a close friend and adviser to the governor.
When Percoco left the state payroll from April to December 2014 to head Cuomo’s reelection campaign, prosecutors have charged, he “continued to function in a senior advisory and supervisory role with regard to the governor’s office during that time period.”
In summer 2014, while Percoco was managing Cuomo’s campaign, Howe said, “I witnessed Joe pick up the phone and call the governor’s staff . . . for campaign and noncampaign.”
“On a few instances, I saw him talk to state employees and instruct them on various topics,” Howe (inset below, left) said.
When several key Cuomo staffers wanted to leave, Howe said, Percoco (inset below, right) acted to block their departures despite the fact that he was on the campaign.
Previous testimony from an FBI agent also hinted at Percoco's active presence in the governor’s office during the campaign.
“Between May 1, 2014, and December 7, 2014, there were 837 calls on 68 days from Percoco’s executive chamber desk telephone in New York City,” an FBI agent testified Jan. 29.
According to the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics, “No state resources of any type may be used in furtherance of (campaign) activities, including, but not limited to, telephones, office supplies, postage, photocopying machines, computers and support staff. Nor may campaign activities be conducted from a state office or during state business hours unless leave is taken.”
Howe also said he wanted to help Syracuse developers Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi, who are also on trial for allegedly bribing Percoco, make the most of their political contributions.
As part of this “strategy,” Howe said, he encouraged the two COR Development execs to donate to Cuomo’s campaign, saying robust donations would bolster their relationship.
He said he instructed a COR exec to talk to Cuomo about Corvette autos at a Cuomo campaign fund-raiser. The exec did — and wound up talking with Cuomo for more than half an hour.
Howe’s testimony also revealed that he and Percoco mocked Peter Galbraith Kelly, who is on trial alongside Percoco and the others for allegedly giving the Cuomo confidant’s wife a $7,500-a-month low-show job.
Percoco, 48, was supposed to help Kelly get a desirable deal with the state to help development of a controversial Orange County power plant.
In an email exchanges, Percoco and Howe referred to Kelly as “fat man” and “fatso.”
Howe, 57, copped to corruption counts in 2016. He has been working with the feds since June of that year.