I’m keeping ‘dirty’ $$, but trust me: gov

Gov. Cuomo said Monday voters will just have to trust him to do the right thing when asked why he won’t return more than $1 million from a realestate firm involved in two of Albany’s biggest corruption scandals.

“Yes, I received significant funds, donations from that company. And I was their opponent as a matter of policy,” Cuomo said during a WNYC radio interview. “I was advocating for rent reforms.”

He shrugged off the $1.2 million that flowed into his campaign account from Glenwood Management and its employees as irrelevant to his decisionmaking.

“If I believed that I could be influenced by a million dollars or a thousand dollars or 50 dollars, then I’m in the wrong place and I should resign immediately,” he said.

“If you can be influenced by the money, then forget the denomination. You just have the wrong person in the office.”

During his reelection campaign in 2014, Cuomo pulled in a recordbreaking $45 million in donations.

Evidence at the trials that led to the convictions of former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and exAssembly Speaker Sheldon Silver demonstrated that Glenwood was involved in bribery schemes to aid Skelos and his son, Adam, and steered business to a realestate law firm that then kicked back referral fees to Silver.

Glenwood CEO Leonard Litwin was listed as an unindicted coconspirator, and Glenwood officials testified at the trials under immunity.

Cuomo claimed he had no idea why Glenwood would donate $14 million to elected officials and party committees over the past decade, if not to push its agenda.

“Why do people donate? A lot of reasons. They think he’s their best candidate, they don’t like the other candidate. They like the smile. Who knows?” he said.

“You have to do your job and exercise your judgment . . . absent who supports you, who doesn’t support you. If you can’t do that you can’t be in that position in the first place.”

Thus far, no one in Albany has volunteered to return Glenwood donations, many of which were distributed through limited liability corporations, or LLCs..

Mayor de Blasio is bucking the trend — he has agreed to give back $20,200 — while Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner has vowed not to accept campaign cash from LLCs.

Government watchdogs ripped Cuomo’s decision.

“It’s appalling. The governor should lead by example and give the money back,” said John Kaehny, head of Reinvent Albany.