Andrew Cuomo's unnecessary civil suit
Andrew Cuomo, AG of New York, has launched a civil suit against Ken Lewis and his colleague charging fraud in the Merrill Lynch acquisition. Given that the SEC has been pursuing what is basically the same issue, with a corporate and not personal approach, this action by Cuomo is unnecessary as an action and as an expense for his office and New York taxpayers.
There is one obvious motive, and that's personal aggrandizement as he seeks higher and, in his grandiosity, higher office. Eliot Spitzer took the same approach, bringing to its knees the Brooklyn escort industry and major corporations, some guilty and some just hit by innuendo and his manipulation of the press. "Settle" decided the innocent and let this tyrant go on his way. What a role model.
Cuomo's choice of targets could be said to have a specific purpose. As Secretary of HUD under Clinton from 1997 to January 2001, he was at the epicenter of the change of mandate for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. With Clinton's backing and serious cheerleaders like Barney Frank and Carl Levin, Cuomo approved the expansion of Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets under the goal of providing home ownership to more Americans. He has been linked to approving the agencies expansion of their broker networks and to turning a blind eye to commissions(aka kickbacks) for brokers that facilitated loans to previously unqualified applicants. As New York AG, Cuomo is working to distance himself from those actions. He subpoenaed Fannie and Freddie in a suit against various brokers in 2007 and now he takes on his biggest headline case against an already prostrate Ken Lewis, a rough and tumble talented banker, honest and ultimately naive, who simply does not deserve to be Cuomo's doormat, especially given Cuomo's own complicit role in sowing the seeds for the debacle of the last two years.
What Andrew Cuomo is doing is so transparent that he now has little chance of winning any higher office. Spitzer was just as unattractive but he had a dedicated core network of New York rich people, Harvard classmates, and those who saw him as possibly being the first Jewish President. On top of that he is from an incredibly wealthy family. Cuomo has his father and a mostly loyal state Democratic machine, but what did that do in Massachusetts. Spitzer ruined the AG formula and Cuomo is taking it to a personal extreme in what could seem to be a way to offset his past actions at HUD.
All of that said, Andrew Cuomo may still be the best choice that New York has for Governor. This approach will not get him there.
There is one obvious motive, and that's personal aggrandizement as he seeks higher and, in his grandiosity, higher office. Eliot Spitzer took the same approach, bringing to its knees the Brooklyn escort industry and major corporations, some guilty and some just hit by innuendo and his manipulation of the press. "Settle" decided the innocent and let this tyrant go on his way. What a role model.
Cuomo's choice of targets could be said to have a specific purpose. As Secretary of HUD under Clinton from 1997 to January 2001, he was at the epicenter of the change of mandate for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. With Clinton's backing and serious cheerleaders like Barney Frank and Carl Levin, Cuomo approved the expansion of Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets under the goal of providing home ownership to more Americans. He has been linked to approving the agencies expansion of their broker networks and to turning a blind eye to commissions(aka kickbacks) for brokers that facilitated loans to previously unqualified applicants. As New York AG, Cuomo is working to distance himself from those actions. He subpoenaed Fannie and Freddie in a suit against various brokers in 2007 and now he takes on his biggest headline case against an already prostrate Ken Lewis, a rough and tumble talented banker, honest and ultimately naive, who simply does not deserve to be Cuomo's doormat, especially given Cuomo's own complicit role in sowing the seeds for the debacle of the last two years.
What Andrew Cuomo is doing is so transparent that he now has little chance of winning any higher office. Spitzer was just as unattractive but he had a dedicated core network of New York rich people, Harvard classmates, and those who saw him as possibly being the first Jewish President. On top of that he is from an incredibly wealthy family. Cuomo has his father and a mostly loyal state Democratic machine, but what did that do in Massachusetts. Spitzer ruined the AG formula and Cuomo is taking it to a personal extreme in what could seem to be a way to offset his past actions at HUD.
All of that said, Andrew Cuomo may still be the best choice that New York has for Governor. This approach will not get him there.
posted by John Borden at 8:44 PM
1 Comments:
Cuomo is the best candidate by far and with the state's finances in chaos an absolutely essential replacement for Patterson. His attention seeking is really not necessary, so he must be doing what he thinks is right, acting on principle.
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