Cuomo’s Telling Explosion

Gov. Cuomo is getting mighty touchy these days when it comes to questions about corruption in government. It seems the issue hits too close to home. It exploded in public Tuesday when the governor refused to discuss $400,000 in questionable donations to his campaign from Crystal Run, an upstate health-clinic chain, and its officials.

He cited an ongoing criminal investigation as the reason for his silence. He also said he can’t conduct his own internal investigation because that would “interfere” with the federal probe. (Never mind that in 2016, Cuomo hired an outside lawyer and gave him subpoena power after the feds served his office with a subpoena in the Buffalo Billion probe.)

But when NY1 reporter Zack Fink pressed Cuomo on Crystal Run and its possible use of illegal straw donors to fatten his campaign kitty, the gov exploded.

“Speaking of fraud,” he said, “Charter Spectrum has been executing fraud on the people of this state.” Charter is NY1’s parent company, and the Cuomo-controlled Public Service Commission just ordered it to sell off its assets in the state over a contract dispute.

This all has nothing to do with Fink. But Cuomo couldn’t let up: He even personalized the attack, telling Fink, “You are defrauding the people of this state. That’s a fraud.”

Cynthia Nixon, the gov’s challenger, noted the obvious irony: Cuomo “can’t hold himself up as New York’s answer” to President Trump “and simultaneously threaten members of the press for doing their job.”

Then again, this same governor has been dodging the press for ages, limiting his contacts to carefully controlled settings and having his aides choose who gets to ask him questions. (It’s yet another area where Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio are more alike than either cares to admit.)

As Joe Louis famously said: He can run, but he can’t hide. The questions will keep coming, Governor.