Thread by @ppolitics

The @NYGovCuomo coverup is gathering attention in part because this is one of the few times he forgot the Boss rule: always use a messenger! Maintain plausible deniability. Threatening Kim directly changes story from gray Albany bureaucracy.

But Cuomo has a decade of scandals...

After his 2010 election, the IDC formed in 2011, and controlled the NY Senate with Republicans starting in 2013. The system amassed Cuomo a huge war chest while centralizing power and denying responsibility for over two dozen progressive bills killed off.

politico.com/states/new-yor…

After massive corruption scandals around the "three men in a room," Cuomo weakened the Moreland Commission. In the Senate, the IDC blocked election reforms that would have increased NY's dismal voter turnout, keeping @NYDems machine in power in primaries.

nytimes.com/2014/07/23/nyr…

Even after Moreland Commission, the Cuomo administration didn't adopt ethics and corruption safeguards, to say the least. See five close associates below. This goes beyond the standard pay-to-play system into pay-offs, but the systemic corruption is huge.

cityandstateny.com/articles/polic…

Much of the pay-to-play for state contracts—and ineffective state subsidies—was happening plain sight. The Buffalo Billion scandal might seem distant, but Cuomo held on to the state party machine's power by rewarding campaign donors with major contracts.

nytimes.com/2016/05/25/nyr…

Watchdogs have called on @NYSA_Majority members to step up and challenge the Cuomo administration on oversight, e.g. by passing a "database of deals" that make the state's $8B in subsidies transparent.

news.littlesis.org/tag/andrew-cuo…

readsludge.com/2018/08/30/as-…

gothamgazette.com/index.php/gove…

Cuomo and NY Dems machine spent years delaying measures like automatic voter registration, early voting, vote-by-mail, but the 2018 progressive wave and the pandemic pushed them forward—e.g. a public campaign financing option supposed after 2022 election:

readsludge.com/2020/06/18/gra…