The Gov’s Pet Nonprofit
Kudos to The New York Times’ Brian Rosenthal for catching Gov. Cuomo with his pants down, using a nonprofit rather than campaign funds to promote his work for immigrants.
The governor’s office says it’s all legal, citing a 2014 ruling by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics that allows pols to appear in nonprofit-funded ads, so long as the message is in the public interest. But that hardly makes it kosher.
Especially when the group officially behind the “public-service announcement,” New Yorkers United Together, claims to have no ties to any politician.
In fact, as the Times reports, NYUT’s co-founders are all pals of the gov: former top Cuomo aide Steven Cohen, ex-Speaker Chris Quinn and PR consultant Ken Sunshine.
And when the group apparently hasn’t done anything except the video, which features celebs oohing and aahing over New York’s diversity and the gov’s record on immigration. Celebrities told the Times that Cuomo’s office had asked them to appear in the ad.
Plus, the guy who filmed it featured it (until Wednesday) on his own Web site with the note, “Client: Andrew Cuomo.”
A spokesman for the governor notes that no state money was spent on the video, which is nice enough. But neither did the cash come from Cuomo’s $25 million campaign war chest. And the public may never know just why the fat-cat donors to this nonprofit decided to ante up.
But this much is clear: If you see anything, anywhere pushing the wonderful work of Andrew Cuomo, you should suspect that the governor and his team are behind it — no matter what the label says.