Paying his cronies with taxpayers’ money.
Via Times Union:
The FBI is investigating the Cuomo administration’s practice of hiring employees to work in the governor’s office, while actually paying them through various state agencies and public authorities, the Times Union has learned.
The practice of hiring pricey political appointees to work for the Executive Chamber – but paying them through other entities – has allowed Cuomo and prior governors to increase the size of their staffs while escaping criticism for inflating the Executive Chamber budget.
In recent months, however, FBI agents have interviewed a number of people who work for the governor’s office, but are paid by agencies or authorities, about the circumstances of their hirings, according to people familiar with the matter.
One type of evidence being explored by the FBI, sources said, are the written notifications that are sent by agencies or authorities to the governor’s office informing them of a new hire.
In at least some instances, those letters have stated an employee would be working for the agency or authority – when the intention was for them to work for Cuomo’s office, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Another line of questioning by the FBI has been whether the Executive Chamber officials’ job duties have any correlation with the agency or authority actually paying them.
A FBI spokeswoman said she could not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. It’s unclear what criminal law might have been violated by the hiring practice.
An analysis by the Times Union a year ago found that more than 40 percent of the Executive Chamber staff was actually on the payroll of public authorities or agencies. At the time, 89 of 209 Executive Chamber employees were on agency or authority budget lines.
That trend accelerated when Cuomo announced 27 new hires or promotions last March. All but a handful of the hires were to Executive Chamber jobs, but the Executive Chamber was actually paying just five of those people.