
Cuomo claims he thought Percoco was doing 'transition work'
Campaign manager's use of taxpayer-funded office during 2014 subject of ethics complaint
Updated 3:43 pm, Wednesday, March 14, 2018
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that he believed his former top aide and confidant Joe Percoco was doing "transition work" whenever he would return to the Executive Chamber's midtown Manhattan office during the eight-month period in 2014 when Percoco was serving as campaign manager for Cuomo's first re-election effort.
"When he left state government, he would come back into the office to handle transition matters," Cuomo told reporters. "He was there (in the administration) for a long time, he was in an important position, and he would come back and he was handling the transition. Which is fine. But there should be no other work done from a government office besides that transition work. And in the trial, there was a suggestion that there was — and that's a violation of the rules."
Use of public resources to benefit a political campaign is a violation of state public officers law, as reported in January by the Times Union and noted in complaints subsequently filed by state GOP Chairman Ed Cox.
Percoco was found guilty Tuesday of swapping his considerable influence as Cuomo's executive deputy secretary for more than $300,000 in cash bribes.
Based on evidence presented at Percoco's trial, Cuomo must have been impressed with the sheer extent of the transition work he was getting from his campaign manager: As the New York Times reported, prosecutors presented evidence that from May 1 to Dec. 7, 2014, 837 calls, made over 68 days, were placed from the telephone on the desk that Percoco used at Cuomo's suite of offices at 633 Third Avenue.
The governor has stumbled in the past when asked for facts regarding Percoco's work in 2014. After the federal investigation came to list in late April 2016, Cuomo initially claimed that Percoco had merely served as a "consultant" to his campaign — a claim that did not comport with campaign records.
Also Wednesday, Cuomo batted back when asked about Republican criticism that his close ties to Percoco demonstrated he allowed a culture of corruption to fester in his administration.
"Look at the facts, right? We're in the political silly season and people can say whatever they want to say," Cuomo said. "But there are still facts. This was a two-year trial (and) investigation. There was absolutely no suggestion ever made that I had anything to do with anything. Right? An exhaustive trial, and there was never any suggestion about any involvement by me. ... The governor's involvement was never mentioned, his name was never mentioned." (Cuomo's name was mentioned abundantly, of course — though not in relation to any criminality.)
Cuomo called Percoco's crimes "a violation of everything my administration stands for," and reiterated his sympathy for his former aide's daughters.