Authorities’ hiring soars while Cuomo claims public payroll is shrinking, the New York Post reported 7/16/18:
Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis observed, accurately, that public authorities have typically been used as “backdoor” funding mechanisms, and charged, to the Post, that Cuomo “has taken this a step further by using them to put many more high-paying, top-level patronage jobs under his control — and putting the costs on the backs of taxpayers.”
Still, this isn't new. As the New York Times reported 4/27/13, in Many Openings at State Agency Go to Those With Ties to Cuomo:
Hiring at dozens of state-controlled public authorities soared at the same time Gov. Cuomo was claiming credit for shrinking the public payroll, according to records reviewed by The Post.Watchdogs from both the right and left have expressed qualms. And while Cuomo has especially boosted the state Housing Trust Fund Corporation, a subsidiary public benefit corporation of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, Empire State Development, the public authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, has not been immune, as the Post writes:
And a slew of the new authority employees are Cuomo patronage hires who earn big bucks while actually working for governor.
Since Cuomo took office, there has been a net increase of 8,226 workers at 42 public authorities through fiscal 2015-2016 — nearly equal to the 9,350 employees the governor says he has trimmed from the state workforce during the same time.
Other Cuomo aides employed by public authorities include his special counsel for ethics and compliance, Carolyn Pokorny, who was formerly Obama’s deputy chief of staff and whose $158,000-a-year salary is paid by Empire State Development, which funds the governor’s economic-development projects.An evolution for authorities
Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis observed, accurately, that public authorities have typically been used as “backdoor” funding mechanisms, and charged, to the Post, that Cuomo “has taken this a step further by using them to put many more high-paying, top-level patronage jobs under his control — and putting the costs on the backs of taxpayers.”
Still, this isn't new. As the New York Times reported 4/27/13, in Many Openings at State Agency Go to Those With Ties to Cuomo:
While some of the new employees at Empire State had experience in economic development, others did not. Some of the jobs were not open to competition, and were filled with little input from the agency itself.
Empire State has also hired friends of Mr. Cuomo who may help form his political brain trust should he decide to run for president in 2016.
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