Bharara's review of former Cuomo commission not offering hope for Astorino

The last best hope of Rob Astorino's candidacy for governor may live in its vision — or mirage — that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo soon finds himself in serious federal trouble over the closing of his state corruption commission.

But U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office is doing a review of the defunct panel after slamming its closure, did nothing in a public appearance yesterday to feed that notion.

Specifically, Bharara was asked at a Crain's New York forum in Manhattan if Astorino is accurate in claiming in an ad that Cuomo is "under federal investigation for corruption, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice."

On this topic, it may matter most how Bharara phrases his least informative statements. He demurred, as is routine, then said: "I do find it interesting that a lot of people try to use the work done by my office — or the work that they presume my office is doing, because most of it is kept under wraps — for their own purposes." (Emphasis added).

As he has before, Bharara said he wanted to ensure the commission's nine months of work didn't go "down the drain." "The commissioners, basically the two remaining chairs, asked us to take all the files. And we did and we're working on them in our own time and not according to anyone else's political timetable or schedule," he said.

Astorino's timetable appears short; he trails in polls barely a month before Election Day. If his campaign can be accused of fictional claims about the probe, well, the Cuomo camp, perhaps pre-emptively, also was hurling mud weeks ago.

"The Rob Astorino story: racketeering, conspiracy, fraud," blared one ad, citing a lawsuit by Independence Party leaders in Westchester, where Astorino is county executive — while the state party backs Cuomo.

For Bharara's audience, political curiosity focused more on the guest speaker himself and where he may go next. Several civic and lobbying figures believed he wasn't likely to succeed Eric Holder as U.S. attorney general but could one day seek elected office.

Bharara was coyly uninformative on the topic. In one of the quick, flip asides that typically mark his extracurricular speeches, the India-born prosecutor quipped about his mother publicly pushing him for attorney general.

"Here's the problem," he said. "I have a very proud Indian mother, and a vacancy seems to be coming open. She will call all the newspapers and say, please put me on the list."

One commentary on cnbc.com this week gave 10 reasons why Bharara should be attorney general. It came from Dawinder S. Sidhu, a law professor at the University of New Mexico, who noted he has known Bharara for his "entire life," as their fathers attended medical school together.

Bharara Tuesday was asked about not being invited to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week in New York City.

"I think a lot of countries have a fraught relationship with expatriates," he said.