Cuo’s sticky lingers

Appointees hang on

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is gone, but the long shadow he cast over the New York government empire over a decade will remain for years.

Gov. Hochul has inherited a massive bureaucracy filled with key Cuomo appointees over several major agencies. In many cases, the Cuomo appointees serve fixed terms and cannot be replaced even if Hochul wants to get rid of them.

Former Gov. David Paterson — who suddenly became the state’s chief executive when predecessor Eliot Spitzer resigned in a hooker scandal in 2008 — said Hochul has to “clean house.”

“You just have to get rid of people,” Paterson said.

Cuomo’s entrenched lieutenants include:

Embattled SUNY Chancellor James Malatras — a longtime Cuomo aide who last year edited both the state Health Department’s discredited COVID-19 nursing home deaths report and Cuomo’s pandemic memoir — is not going anywhere.

Fifteen of the voting SUNY board of trustees who hired Malatras are Cuomo appointees, including former Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy; Eric Corngold, who served as Cuomo deputy when he was attorney general; and former Secretary of State Cesar Perales.

Spencer Freedman, a former deputy director in Cuomo’s state Inspector General’s Office, also landed at SUNY. He wrote a much-criticized report into a whistleblower’s claim that Cuomo was illegally tipped off about an ethics probe involving former Cuomo confidante and convicted felon Joe Percoco.

Cuomo appointee Rick Cotton is the executive director of the Port Authority.

Cuomo confidante Steve Cohen — mentioned in Attorney General Letitia James’ sexual harassment report as taking part in strategy sessions to undermine one of the ex-governor’s accusers — is on the PA board until June 30, 2024.

At the state’s Empire State Development Corporation, Cuomo allies on the governing board of trustees include former Chairman Howard Zemsky and Eric Gertler, a former ESD CEO.

Cuomo Budget Director Robert Mujica, who is at least serving through Hochul’s 45day transition period, sits on both the MTA and CUNY boards of trustees and is an ex officio member of nearly 30 other entities.

Cuomo COVID-19 adviser Larry Schwartz also sits on the MTA board through Jan. 1, 2023.

The Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, is packed with Cuomo aides and allies. The chairman, John Howard, previously worked as a top Cuomo aide in the Executive Chamber.

Cuomo appointed another former top aide, John Maggiore, to the commission earlier this year.

Elkan Abramowitz, whose law firm is representing Cuomo and former aides in the COVID nursing-home death-coverup investigations, is a Cuomo trustee on the Long Island Power Authority’s governing board.

Three Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) Cuomo appointees — Robert Cohen, Colleen DiPirro and William Fischer — remain.