While Paterson's popularity plummets, Andrew Cuomo's stock continues to soar. The difference is attributable to what each politician is doing. The former can't keep his agenda straight, with budget woes, being off-message, inability to control his staff and starting off with the Senate appointment saga, looks like the typically secretive Albany pol. Meanwhile Cuomo is busting financial bad guys.
From The Huffington Post:
Some of the top earners at Merrill Lynch who were given $209 million in 2008 were subpoenaed by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday, a source close to the investigation tells the Huffington Post.The subpoenas were served on the seven executives - including Andrea Orcel, the firm's top investment banker (who was paid $33.8 million in cash and stock in 2008), trading chief Thomas Montag and former head of strategy Peter Kraus, who were named in a story in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, according to the source.
The subpoenas compel the executives, some of whom currently work at Bank of America, to come in and discuss their bonuses, who they communicated with regarding their bonuses, when they got their bonuses and other relevant information, says the source.
He's forcing these crooks out into the opening with their books in hand. It seems that these companies protest and then Cuomo swoops in and while not giving these people the jailtime they deserve yet, certainly working hard to expose what they've been up to and showing how they screwed the economy for their own personal gain.
The news must be bittersweet for Paterson, as catching corporate criminals that caused the state's budget woes is a great thing, but his competition in the Democratic primary is the one getting all the credit. Of course, no one knows how Cuomo would be in the Executive's chair. The last time we had a kick-ass, take-no-names Attorney General become governor....well, we all know how Paterson got this gig anyhow. I'm not saying that Cuomo will be like Paterson's predecessor, but the trappings of each office are remarkably different. It almost seems that it's better to be the A.G. than the Gov.
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