CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
March 19, 2009 – 5:54 a.m.
Cuomo Pursues AIG Mess With a Steady Hand
By Emily Cadei, CQ Staff
The public backlash over millions in executive bonuses paid out by insurance giant AIG has politicians of every stripe scurrying to claim the mantle of anti-Wall Street crusader — but Andrew M. Cuomo seems to be wearing it.
As New York’s state attorney general, Cuomo has been leveraging the powers of his office in an attempt to force the release of corporate information on bonuses and other behavior. In the process, he has emerged as the state’s latest high-profile law enforcer and likely boosted his own political prospects in 2010.
“This is a is a bipartisan disgrace and Andrew Cuomo has risen above the partisan game of who’s at fault by showing real leadership and taking real action,” said Robert Zimmerman, a New York-based Democratic activist and committeeman for the Democratic National Committee. Zimmerman noted that Obama administration officials and members of Congress are now embracing the same sort banking industry investigations Cuomo has been conducting for months.
Already an overwhelming favorite for re-election to his current office, Cuomo is being touted as a potential challenger to struggling Gov. David A. Paterson in the 2010 Democratic primary. It is the same post his father, Mario, held between 1983 and 1994.
Even before his picture was splashed across the nightly news, polls showed Cuomo with sky-high approval ratings in the state. In a Quinnipiac University pollconducted Feb. 10-15, 76 percent of respondents approved of Cuomo’s performance, compared to 45 percent for Paterson.
Cuomo has made headlines for going after American International Group (AIG) and Bank of America to get information about their 2008 bonus payments. Both companies received federal bailout money, and the news that they rewarded executives despite their poor market performance and need for taxpayer investment has sparked outrage from the public and in Washington.
On Tuesday, Cuomo’s office subpoenaed AIG to release the names of those employees receiving bonuses. “Taxpayers of this country are now supporting AIG, and they deserve at the very least to know how their money is being spent,” Cuomo wrote in a letter to the company’s CEO, Edward M. Liddy, sent the same day.
Local political observers say that while Cuomo’s stand on such a hot-button issue will undoubtedly benefit him politically, he’s avoided the appearance of grandstanding.
Cuomo “hasn’t done anything overt, he’s minding his manners, he’s doing what a good tough attorney general ought to do and it’s coming up platinum,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Is there a political calculation in [the investigations]? Maybe, but so what? He’s going after bad guys.”
Added longtime New York political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, “He is doing the smart thing politically, by doing a good job as attorney general.”
Cuomo’s lack of overt political posturing stands in contrast to his predecessor, Eliot Spitzer, who was often accused of that sort of behavior during his tenure as attorney general between 1999 and 2006. Spitzer also made a name for himself by going after Wall Street malfeasance, and ultimately used the post as a springboard to the governor’s mansion in 2007. He resigned a year ago this month due to a sex scandal.
“Spitzer appeared to me more involved in headlines and Andrew Cuomo seems more involved in getting things done,” said Sheinkopf, who was a media consultant for Spitzer’s first campaign for attorney general in 1998. He was also the chief strategist for H. Carl McCall when McCall defeated Cuomo in the 2002 Democratic primary for governor.
Sheinkopf said that while there are obvious parallels between Cuomo and Spitzer’s career trajectories, the two men are actually very different politicians.
Bruce Berg, chairman of the political science department at Fordham University, concurred. “Andrew Cuomo has longer legs than Eliot Spitzer,” he said, pointing to the legacy of Cuomo’s father and Andrew’s work as secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton. “Cuomo is not the flash in the pan that Eliot Spitzer was.”
Lessons Learned
Cuomo wasn’t always so well regarded in state political circles. He became persona-non-grata among many after his controversial decision in 2002 to run against McCall — the state comptroller who was seeking to become New York’s first black governor. The race was contentious, and Cuomo was accused of going after McCall personally, which especially alienated members of the African-American community. Cuomo eventually withdrew after it became clear McCall had the support of the party establishment. McCall went on to lose to Republican George Pataki in the general election.
The question now is whether Cuomo has the stomach to mount another primary challenge against another African-American Democratic leader. Despite Paterson’s obvious political vulnerabilities — his poll numbers have dropped swiftly over the last several months — many observers believe Cuomo will only jump in the race should Paterson decide to step down.
“The test is David Paterson, can David Paterson pull together a very frazzled, dysfunctional kind of administration,” said Carroll. “If he can then he’s in good shape.”
Carroll said he didn’t think Cuomo would challenge Paterson directly, and said he is also unlikely to go after Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand , D-N.Y., who Paterson appointed to fill a vacancy created when Hillary Rodham Clinton was tapped to become secretary of State.
Cuomo was among the leading contenders in January for the Senate appointment to replace Clinton. Paterson ultimately settled on Gillibrand, a young, moderate Democrat from upstate, to the derision of many more progressive downstate members of the party.
A handful of New York City and Long Island politicians are now considering running against Gillibrand in the 2010 primary, but Cuomo has thus far stayed above the fray.
“What’s inside Andrew Cuomo’s head, I don’t know,” said Carroll. “But as somebody who’s spent most of his life covering politicians, I think governor is a more likely ambition for a guy who wants to do things.”
Cuomo “seems to be a guy who likes to be in charge, to get things done,” he said.
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