PROBE GOV: GOPER
Party boss seeks DA inquiry over ‘abetting’ Percoco
ALBANY — State GOP Chairman Ed Cox is calling on Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. to investigate Gov. Cuomo and his office.
Cox, in a letter to be delivered Monday to Vance’s office, says testimony coming out of the trial of former Cuomo aide and confidant Joseph Percoco (photo left) raises questions about “what role other executive chamber employees, including the governor, played in Mr. Percoco’s unlawful acts and whether they knowingly aided and abetted or acquiesced to such unlawful acts.”
Cox cited testimony and evidence that Percoco, after leaving the state payroll to run Cuomo’s (photo center) 2014 reelection campaign, returned numerous times to the governor’s office to conduct either state or campaign business — both of which would violate the state public officer law.
He said there were also numerous times during key points of the campaign when Cuomo and Percoco were in the governor’s suite of offices at the same time.
Cox (photo far right) also wrote that testimony shows Percoco, who was representing two companies with business before the state, was making calls on their behalf while in his old office.
He said officials at the agencies Percoco dealt with should have known he was no longer on the payroll.
“Mr. Percoco’s political and personal conduct within the governor’s office could not have occurred in a vacuum,” Cox wrote. “He was most certainly in the offices for the specific purpose of interacting with other executive chamber employees regarding these political and personal business matters.”
A state Democratic Party source ripped Cox for “his blatant attempt to politicize the DA’s office.” In addition to asking Vance to investigate, Cox plans to file an affidavit with the state ethics commission requesting a civil probe.
The Dem insider didn’t rule out a future probe by the ethics commission, but said “they would never do it while a trial is ongoing.”
lll When Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb surprisingly dropped out of the GOP race for governor Friday, the assumption was Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco was now the front-runner to take on Cuomo.
But that’s not a guarantee, many Republicans say.
While not ruling out DeFrancisco winning the nomination, one prominent Republican county leader said, “He’s not even close to closing the sale.”
“I’m just not feeling it from the base that they’re enthused by him,” the county leader said. “He’s seen as a creature of Albany for 26 years.”
Hudson Valley county chairmen are said to be more enamored with Joseph Holland, a former aide to ex-Gov. George Pataki who is interested in running. Others, including Cox, are said to be reaching out to other potential candidates.
The most prominent name mentioned by several Republicans is Pataki, who in 1994 came out of nowhere to defeat Cuomo’s father, three-term Gov. Mario Cuomo. But few believe there’s a chance he’d do it.
Sources say Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro has received calls from Republicans asking that he reconsider his January decision not to run.
Others are hoping former Pataki chief of staff John Cahill opts to run.
“Basically, it’s wide open,” GOP consultant O’Brien Murray said. Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long, however, expects in the end, DeFrancisco will be the candidate.