What Cuomo Calls ‘Reform’
How much executive power is enough for Andrew Cuomo? Judging by the results of his just-passed state budget, no such thing exists.
Gov. Cuomo scored two significant extensions of his arbitrary power — one of them despite heated warnings that he was overreaching and threats of a court challenge.
Cuomo won the Legislature’s backing for a new inspector general with prosecutorial oversight on all downstate transportation projects.
Though pitched as a reform measure, it’s anything but. In reality, it gives Cuomo a special prosecutor — appointed by and answerable only to him — with jurisdiction over the Port Authority (as well as the MTA, which the gov already controls).
A Cuomo spokesman says the move is all about “fighting corruption and rooting out corruption” at the bi-state PA — and never mind that the PA and MTA both already have inspectors general.
Plus, as PA Chairman Bill Degnan notes, Cuomo was noticeably silent about PA corruption during the Bridgegate scandal.
No, what Cuomo wants isn’t yet another investigator — he wants a cudgel with which to browbeat and threaten Port Authority officials who refuse to comply with his demands.
And now the Legislature’s handed him one.
If he can keep it — New Jersey and perhaps the PA itself will likely go to court to fight a move that’s clearly at odds with the agency’s authorization in federal law.
But the Legislature’s gifts don’t end there. It actually undermined its own power by enhancing Cuomo’s ability to take action in response to any federal funding cuts.
A new law allows Cuomo’s budget director to submit a revised spending plan if Washington cuts the state’s federal aid. If the Assembly and state Senate don’t unite to pass a counter-proposal within 90 days, Cuomo’s plan wins.
And given how divided the Legislature was during the just-concluded budget fight, that’s essentially giving Cuomo unilateral power to cut spending.
One thing you can be sure of with Cuomo: Whenever he talks reform, it usually winds up as a gubernatorial power grab.