New York Dem Gov Andrew Cuomo Called Out For Dodging the Press, Planting Questions

Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo promised New Yorkers transparency, but with scandals piling up, a looming massive budget deficit, and failed economic development initiatives, Cuomo is dodging the press – and now he’s being called out for it.

According to Politico, Cuomo has been planting questions during conference calls and refusing to answer questions from reporters that won’t play ball.

The New York Post editorial board blasted Cuomo for his dodging, saying he’s “turned tail and run from the press.”

“Sure makes you think he’s got something to hide.”

Politico:  Cuomo takes questions by phone as staff tries to plant queries

To show their dissatisfaction with the arrangement, Albany reporters from several outlets, including POLITICO, phoned in to the conference from outside Cuomo’s Capitol suite. Gubernatorial press aides then contacted several reporters, three of them said, hoping to have them ask if the governor was inclined to give state lawmakers a pay raise this year. They refused and were not called on during the conference call.

‘We are a step away from Cuomo having his staff interview him on phone conferences,’ Ken Lovett, the Daily News’ veteran Albany bureau chief, said on Twitter.

… Cuomo promised record transparency when he took office in 2011, but through a series of actions he has tightly centralized and restricted the release of information from state agencies, pushed for the automatic deletion of email records after 90 days and once sent aides to screen records that reporters requested from the State Archives.