Cuomo Watch: Corruption panel opens hearings

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's Commission to Investigate Public Corruption begins hearings Tuesday night in Manhattan at Pace University. Leadoff witnesses are Preet Bharara and Loretta Lynch, two U.S. attorneys who have brought high-profile corruption charges against state legislators.

Bharara, who has charged Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) with trying to rig the New York City mayoral primary and Assemb. Eric Stevenson (D-Bronx) with selling legislation, said earlier this year that the "show-me-the-money culture in Albany is alive and well."

The commission, co-chaired by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, is to make recommendations for changing state election laws. But many are waiting to see if the panel launches its own independent investigations.

-- Yancey Roy