FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE $1,000 REWARD ----- GET GOV. CUOMO TO ANSWER YES OR NO TO FIVE QUESTIONS ON HIS ROLE IN MORELAND COMMISSION SCANDAL AT BARNES & NOBLE APPEARANCE WEDNESDAY AND WIN CASH PRIZE ----- Astorino Calls on Street Smart New Yorkers to Give it a Go New York--Oct. 14...Get the answers; win a thousand bucks. Thats the gauntlet Westchester County Executive and New York gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino threw down to street-smart New Yorkers Tuesday in challenging them to do what no New Yorker has yet accomplished: Get Governor Cuomo to answer five yes-or-no questions about his role in the ongoing Moreland Commission Scandal. Mr. Cuomo is under federal investigation for possible obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and failing to report crimes after abruptly shutting an independent anti-corruption commission when it began investigating his own administration and people close to him. Mr. Cuomo has since lawyered up. New Yorkers are the sharpest people on the planet; if anyone can get Andrew Cuomo to crack its them, Mr. Astorino said. Mr. Cuomos criminal defense team instructed him not to discuss his role in the Scandal, and, incredibly, questions to the governor about Moreland stopped. But now, at a book signing, Mr. Cuomo is making himself available to savvy, everyday New Yorkers -- I just know one of them can make him talk. All things are possible. Mr. Cuomo will sign his book at Barnes & Noble at Union Square in Manhattan at 7:00 pm Wednesday. (In other words, he wont be able to ignore questioners like he did Professor Zephyr Teachout at a Labor Day parade.) The Astorino campaign has prepared a primer (below) followed by the five yes-or-no questions it urges New Yorkers to ask. The rules of the contest are below as well. THE FACTS In July 2013, Governor Cuomo created the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, or Moreland Commission, which he said was needed to generate transparency and accountability and restore the public trust. At Governor Cuomos request, Attorney General Schneiderman granted the commissioners authority to act as Deputy Attorneys General. Attorney General Schneiderman told the New York State Supreme Court that the Commissioners had separate and independent subpoena authority. As a result, Attorney General Schneiderman said, the Governor chose to create a Commission with independent authority to make investigatory decisions that he does not control. The Commission was just halfway through its 18-month term when Governor Cuomo shut it down. In July 2014, the New York Times detailed how the Governors staff repeatedly interfered with the Commissions attempts to investigate his friends. For example, according to the Times: * A Cuomo aide directed the Commission to steer clear of the Committee to Save New York, a group the Times said spent millions to support the governors own agenda, but did not disclose where its money came from. The Governors staff even had a reference to the Committee to Save New York deleted from the Commissions December 2013 preliminary report. * The Commission cancelled its plans to subpoena the Real Estate Board of New York, which the Times described as a powerful trade group whose members have been among Mr. Cuomos most generous supporters, after a Cuomo aide told it not to. * After a Cuomo aide complained to the Commission because it subpoenaed Buying Time, a political TV advertising firm whose biggest client was Governor Cuomo, the Commission had the subpoena rescinded. Governor Cuomos top aide admitted to the Times that he gave the commission some advice on investigative or tactical decisions. For anyone else, such advice would be considered obstruction of justice. Not surprisingly, Governor Cuomo and his top aides are now under federal investigation. The Governor has refused to answer any questions related to the United States Attorneys inquiry. Here are five questions the Governor must answer by November 4: THE FIVE QUESTIONS 1. Are you a subject or a target of the federal investigation concerning obstruction of justice and other issues related to the Moreland Commission? Federal prosecutors have an obligation to tell you if you ask, and the voters have a right to know. 2. Did you or any of your aides request, direct, or demand that a subpoena to the Committee to Save New York be withheld, withdrawn, or modified? 3. Did you or any of your aides request, direct, or demand that a subpoena to the Real Estate Board of New York be withheld, withdrawn, or modified? 4. Did you or any of your aides request, direct, or demand that a subpoena to Buying Time be withheld, withdrawn, or modified? 5. Did you or any of your aides ask or direct anyone affiliated with the Moreland Commission to delete a reference to the Committee to Save New York, the Real Estate Board of New York, or Buying Time from the Commissions December 2013 preliminary report? The Rules There will be only one winner (you think we have Andrew Cuomos pay-to-play cash?) The first person to get Governor Cuomo to answer yes or no to the five contest questions listed above will be awarded $1,000. The answers must be captured on video, so please bring your video cameras.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 01:50:04 +0000
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