Cuomo hits foe Molinaro as pay-to-play politician

ALBANY — On a day his former top aide and confidante was sentenced to prison, Gov. Cuomo sought to change the subject by hitting his Republican challenger on pay-to-play issues.

Cuomo released what his campaign said is a television and digital ad again criticizing Marc Molinaro, Dutchess County executive, for accepting donations from a company that wound up getting county contracts and hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax breaks while also employing his wife for a time.

The new ad calls Molinaro “the worst of pay-toplay politicians.”

“Marc Molinaro handed over hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax breaks to Tinkelman Corp., a county contractor,” the ad says. “Then Molinaro personally profits when Tinkelman hires a member of Molinaro’s family.”

Unlike a previous ad on the subject that specifically mentioned Molinaro’s wife and prompted Molinaro to blast Cuomo as a “classless buffoon,” the new one simply says Tinkelman hired a “member of Molinaro’s family” before getting contracts worth tens of thousands of dollars.

The new ad also blurs out the word “wife” when discussing the hiring. “Molinaro profits, taxpayers pay,” the ad concludes. “You can’t clean up government with dirty hands.”

Cuomo’s handpicked Democratic Chairman Byron Brown, the Buffalo mayor, called for an investigation into the matter.

The call and the ad came not only on the day former Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco was sentenced to six years in federal prison, but also as Molinaro has spent this week on what he has called a "Cuomo corruption tour" blasting the governor over ethical and corruption problems within his administration.

Molinaro aides dismissed Cuomo’s attacks as nothing more than an attempt to deflect from Percoco sentencing.