Free Republic

Andrew Cuomo is currently fighting for his political life after becoming engulfed in a sexual harassment scandal. But this is not the first time the three-term Democratic governor has faced similar obstacles. Since taking office in 2011, Cuomo has frequently been mired in scandal in a state with a history of corruption. His administration’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and the snowballing sexual harassment allegations are only the latest in a long line.. Here are five other scandals that have threatened Cuomo’s grip on New York. 1. The Mario Cuomo Bridge.. When the rickety Tappan Zee Bridge needed replacement in...

NEW YORK – A former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo was convicted on corruption charges Tuesday at a trial that further exposed the state capital's culture of backroom deal-making. A federal jury in Manhattan found Joseph Percoco guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and one count of soliciting bribes after deliberating for parts of three weeks. "Joseph Percoco was found guilty of taking over $300,000 in cash bribes by selling something priceless that was not his to sell – the sacred obligation to honestly and faithfully serve the citizens of New York," Manhattan...

A federal grand jury indicted former Gov. Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco Tuesday for allegedly hustling upstate companies that wanted profitable government contracts, prosecutors said. The feds charged Percoco — Cuomo's ex-executive secretary and campaign manager — with six corruption counts in September. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara charged seven others in relation to the pay-to-play plot, whom a grand jury also indicted. They include the onetime honcho of State University of New York Polytchnic Institute, as well as six execs from prominent Upstate firms. Todd Howe, another Cuomo confidant-turned-lobbyist, secretly copped to corruption charges two days before cops collared Percoco...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, addressing a scandal that has rocked his administration and its economic development initiatives, said Friday that while he finds the corruption allegations “reprehensible” and disappointing, they won’t derail efforts to revitalize the upstate economy. The Democrat addressed the corruption allegations against former aide and friend Joe Percoco and seven others head on during a speech in Buffalo. He said afterward he knew nothing about the allegations in advance. […] Court papers allege Percoco took more than $315,000 in bribes from 2012 through 2016 from Syracuse-based COR Development, a construction and development firm, and from Braintree-Massachusetts-based Competitive Power...