Cuomo should lead by example on lobbying ties

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June 15, 2012

Cuomo should lead by example on lobbying ties

Anonymous Daily Star The Daily Star Fri Jun 15, 2012, 03:25 AM EDT

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's seemingly Teflon-coated reputation as a crusader against special interests was sullied somewhat last week by reports that he may have been influenced by undisclosed lobbying from the gambling industry.

First, The New York Times reported that the Committee to Save New York _ a lobbying group aligned with Cuomo that has spent more than $10 million promoting the governor's agenda _ received a $2 million donation from The New York Gaming Association last year. Another $400,000 was donated to the CSNY by Genting Berhard, a Malaysia-based casino company that was in talks with Cuomo to open a casino at Aqueduct racetrack in Queens.

One day later, The Wall Street Journal revealed that in October, Cuomo met with Genting executives at a fundraiser hosted in Westchester by real estate magnate Barry Gosin. The Genting officials were invited to the fundraiser by co-host Jeffrey Gural, who owns two upstate racinos.

Cuomo allegedly watched a 20-minute presentation on Genting's plans for a $4 billion casino resort at Aqueduct during the private meeting. Three months later, Cuomo used much his State of the State address to advocate legalized gambling.

At the beginning of his term, Cuomo launched a website called CitizenConnects, which purportedly lists all of his meetings.

"These are actual schedules," Cuomo said last year of the site. "Legislators, lobbyists, public meetings, official meetings, you know, that's what's all there."

But the October fundraiser was never listed until The Wall Street Journal asked Cuomo in March about the event. Even after Cuomo's office revised the calendar to disclose the fundraiser, the private meeting still wasn't listed _ an "inadvertent" error, according to Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto.

Given that Cuomo supported legalized gambling long before he took office, one shouldn't assume his relationship with gambling interests is a case of quid pro quo. But while it's fine for the governor to have a dialogue with private business interests, it's a bit insulting for him to tout his administration's transparency while concealing meetings with private lobbyists.

Cuomo has also tried to have it both ways on the state's new ethics laws, which will require groups such as CSNY to disclose their financiers. Negotiations remain in progress, but unless the rules are made retroactive to 2011, CSNY will not be required to list its donors, and Cuomo has said it isn't his place to call on CSNY to reveal such information.

If the governor wants to be taken seriously as a crusader against special interests, he should lead by example. For now, it seems he's more concerned with maintaining an image as the man cleaning up Albany than with actually cleaning it up.