The Gov’s Lame Excuses

Gov. Cuomo’s excuses for keeping money from a tainted firm prove one of two things: He’s not interested in cleaning up Albany’s reputation for sleaze — or he’s completely tonedeaf. Asked Monday if he’d take The Post’s advice and return $1.2 million in donations from Glenwood Management, the realestate firm implicated in the Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos trials, Cuomo declined.

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

Well, Silver and Skelos claimed they weren’t influenced by Glenwood money, either. But in Cuomo’s case, no one’s even accusing him of that; the question is whether it’s right to keep money from a tainted firm.

Doing so signals a tolerance for corruption — and sends an unhelpful message to Albany’s entire political class.

Officials from Glenwood were said to have conspired with Skelos and Silver in their corrupt schemes, even if they themselves were never indicted. So how can the state’s top pol justify keeping their cash, especially if he hopes to rid the capital of sleaze and restore public trust?

Remember, the gov has more than $12 million in cash on hand. So returning Glenwood’s donations will hardly cripple him.

Nor, by the way, is the issue legislative “reforms,” as Cuomo suggests. One idea has been a ban on lawmakers’ outside income; a city panel Monday backed such a ban for local pols in exchange for higher pay.

But schemers always find ways to skirt reforms. What’s needed are pols who are beyond reproach — and prove it by their deeds. Cuomo so far has little interest in that. So how can he expect anyone to think he’s cleaning up Albany?