26 July 2021: Editorial - Team Cuomo's Defense: Lies, Rage and Underhanded Attacks

Team Cuomo continues its underhanded attacks on his investigators

The New York Post's editorial board have weighed in on Team Cuomo's continuing and expanding attacks on the investigators looking into Andrew M. Cuomo's multiple scandals. In doing so, they draw a connection between the governor's loss of a powerful labor union's political support fro non-scandal-related reasons and his team's increase in the volume level of its attempted smears:

How about that: Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine actually slapped Rich Azzopardi, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s loyal spokesthug, for bad-mouthing state Attorney General Tish James, who’s overseeing a key investigation into the many sexual-harassment claims against the gov.

Lavine (D-LI) is overseeing the Assembly’s own (incredibly slow-moving) impeachment probe of Cuomo, over the sex stuff as well as the coverup of nursing-home deaths while the gov was negotiating his $5 million book deal. So it was entirely appropriate for him to write Azzopardi to put him officially on notice (again) of potential “severe repercussions.”

Specifically, Lavine moved after Azzopardi tweeted that James “says she may run against the governor” as the spokesman sought to downplay The Post’s report that Transport Workers Union International President John Samuelsen says he’s “over” Cuomo.

The union chief is plainly furious that Cuomo is playing destructive political games with the MTA, which employs so many TWU workers. But Azzopardi tried to pretend it was all about Samuelsen backing James instead: “We also understand he is a political supporter of Tish James and she says she may run against the governor, and he wants more benefits in his contract. Everyone gets that.”

The NYP's editors describe what they see as behind Team Cuomo's attacks:

Back in May, we noted that Cuomo’s main “defense” in all these scandals is nothing but lies and rage. Let the record show that his team is offering one more counteroffensive: underhanded attacks on the investigators.

They don't seem to have much else.