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Cuomo free with comments on pension abuses

Dan Janison | dan.janison@newsday.com

May 23, 2008

By far the most common public response from top law enforcement officials to a question about a matter being probed is: "No comment - it's under investigation."

Not true of Andrew Cuomo, certainly not yesterday.

New York State's attorney general insisted on commenting on pension abuses, the subject of a criminal investigation he is running, as he led a public hearing of nearly four hours on the issue in Farmingdale.

Like his predecessors, Cuomo makes sure to keep himself in the public eye. And the flexible mandate that the state constitution allows his office means agendas can be shaped accordingly.

It may strike you as strange that he conducted a public inquiry - flanked by a bipartisan panel of four Long Island legislators - on a matter in which potential criminal cases have yet to be resolved.

This even surprised jaded veterans of state government. "It is highly unusual," said a skeptical former state official who is still part of the Albany mix. "Usually a law-enforcement guy lets the investigation speak for itself - and doesn't jazz it up on the side."

"I've never seen this kind of thing before," added a legislative aide.

For his part, however, Cuomo said yesterday of the dual role he's assumed as prosecutor and system fixer: "I call this the definition of the attorney general's office."

He stressed that no specifics of potential criminal cases were discussed at the hearing. He also made clear during the hearing that he respected the confidentiality of matters under review by Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who testified.

Rather than just bring one allegation after another, his job calls for identifying abuse and helping eliminate it, Cuomo said. And there are plenty of past findings to confront - including Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota's 2006 report on lavish school-supervisor benefits that make this scene ripe for reform.

Cuomo talked in terms of his job, in which he's serving his first term. But for someone mentioned as a prospect for governor, there are obvious political advantages to his conducting this type of hybrid, ad-hoc, quasi-legislative hearing, which has occurred rarely if at all since the days when Robert Abrams held the post.

At one point, Cuomo drew applause from some of the 150 or so spectators in the room when he said: "If you steal from a taxpayer, it's stealing, a violation of law, not a matter of controlling or auditing. ... Prosecute the violations of law and the culture will change." At another point, he said, "We have to change the system."

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, a key player in the drama, was among those absent, his spokesman saying he wasn't invited. For those present, the hearing displayed Cuomo as an alert, coalition-minded leader, who drew collegial backing from Republican Senators Dean Skelos and Kenneth LaValle, and Assemblymen Harvey Weisenberg and Robert Sweeney.

Remember, the State Legislature as a whole bears responsibility for a huge host of pension sweeteners. Now, privilege in pensions has come due as a populist issue, sparking angry rants from many a citizen. So lawmakers have motive to join with a law-enforcement drive by a newcomer driven to show results cleaning it up.

Democrat Abrams, now a lawyer in private practice, confirmed that as AG from 1979 and 1993, he conducted many local hearings, especially on environmental issues. At times these involved local legislators, he said, but not always. "I'm delighted," he said, "that the attorney general is utilizing the full potential powers of his office."

Cuomo has a lot yet to prove and resolve, as he does with the Martin Tankleff case, demolition at the former Deutsche Bank building in lower Manhattan, home health care industry practices and the state police.

But all told, this counts as a good day for him, and - who knows - maybe even for Long Island.