Dogged by Leading Role in Mortgage Meltdown, Andrew Cuomo Personifies Democrats’ Reversal of Fortune
With despair gripping New York Democrats over ethical scandals claiming Governor David Patterson, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), and Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY), New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo cuts a heroic figure as the presumptive heir to the governorship.
But catching up with Cuomo is his relationship with the mortgage meltdown that nearly destroyed the American economy. Appointed by Bill Clinton as secretary of the U.S. Department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Andrew Cuomo has been called “the father of the subprime crisis” for the policies he orchestrated.
It was Cuomo’s directives that mandated HUD to vastly increase the amount of risky home loans bought by quasi-governmental housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now, Cuomo may be haunted by his tenure as HUD secretary, where he planted the seeds for the nation’s housing collapse.
Though America’s financial fortunes suffered after Cuomo’s time at HUD, his own personal fortune soared. The bulk of this financial “windfall” came courtesy of Andrew Farkas, the billionaire real estate developer who helped Cuomo amass his wealth as a business partner and campaign fundraiser. Farkas — now Cuomo’s financial chairman as he circles the governorship — has personally given Cuomo at least $1.8 million in cash.
As New Yorkers are beginning to discover, Andrew Cuomo personifies the long reach of many at the top of the Democratic Party who built their fortunes on the mortgage bubble and the sub-prime collapse, but have yet to be tarred and feathered as architects of the nation’s worst housing crisis.
Cuomo’s heavy reliance on funds raised from big players in New York real estate, analyzed in detail by the New York Times this January, “hasn’t drawn much scrutiny yet, but it will,” said Blair Horner, legislative director at NYPIRG, the New York Public Interest Research Group, in an interview with Pajamas Media. “If and when he announces as a candidate for governor, because it’s obviously an issue that the public deserves to have explored.”
Notably, another recipient of largess while Cuomo was HUD secretary is current White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Clinton appointed Emanuel to the board of Freddie Mac while Cuomo headed HUD. Both Cuomo and Emanuel turned their privileged positions atop the nation’s mortgage finance system into opportunities for quickly amassing personal wealth, which they then leveraged into greater political power.
Thanks to Farkas, Cuomo’s current campaign war chest for governor is $18 million – big enough to eliminate primary competition before it starts. With a past already raising uncomfortable questions for Cuomo, Farkas is deeply embedded in controversial Middle East financial dealings, having created a “Fannie and Freddie for Dubai” in the United Arab Emirates. A quick wheeler-dealer, Farkas bailed out before the Emirate’s colossal credit crisis, and made a string of similarly well-timed deals with Dubai World in 2009, with whom he flipped marquee Manhattan properties. Just last week, Farkas raised eyebrows with his acquisition of Centerline Holding Company, which services over $110 billion in commercial mortgages.
“All of this stuff is fair game, so certainly Farkas’ relationship is going to be an issue,” Horner said. “If Cuomo runs for governor, I assume his relationship with Farkas is one of the obvious things that Lazio or whoever the Republican candidate is would bring up.” Horner pointed out that the issue is likely to arise “even if Cuomo has a Democratic primary.” “The public should hear what his response is,” he said.
In 2007, Horner was handpicked by Cuomo to create Project Daylight, Cuomo’s centerpiece online transparency initiative. Horner returned to NYPIRG as legislative director in 2008. Like “any other interest,” he said, real estate interests “give money under the theory that they get something in return. Whether or not they do, of course, is really the question. But they believe that it gets them at least access, and the question is, do they get that or even more? It’s a legitimate question, and it’s a legitimate question that all candidates have to face when you get big bucks from powerful interest groups.”
I’d enjoy seeing Andrew Cuomo’s culpability in our housing mortgage problems hung like an anchor around his neck. We don’t need another LIBERAL governor.
NYState and California and other states have been destroyed economically by liberal politicians. It’s time to stop the corrupt “gravy train” for unions and friends of politicians.
Toss him into a room full of appraisers and lock the door.
C’mon !
It’s time for the democrats to decide ! Do they want to be Capone or do they want to be Lenin ?
LEone ? CAPenin ?
If you want an earful, talk to Rudy Giuliani about Andrew Cuomo (what a shame we won’t be able to see them square off in the governor’s race). Seems everyone is paying a high price because presidential candidate Clinton needed Andy’s daddy in his corner.
Great reporting, but it is so stomach churning that it was hard to digest. It appears that Cuomo was able to enrich himself to a fare thee well while supping at the public trough. I hope voters will be disgusted by the swine and his compatriots who have made vast sums of wealth because of their public service.
Don’t forget Barney Frank (D-MA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) who pushed those changes through the House and Senate, respectively. All three of these men deserve a large measure of the blame for the hole that we are in.
Huh? A Democrat embroiled in a scandal? Looks like we’ll NEVER see this story in the MSM.
Andrew Cuomo most assuredly lies to himself. The odds are minimal that he ever explicitly plotted to scam the general public. He merely fell into the corruption a little bit at a time. Cuomo perceives his overall behavior as someone sacrificing on behalf of the victims of a cold and heartless society. He is their secular savior. Cuomo is therefore entitled to a few creature comforts and financial opportunities. After all, he is not a disgusting capitalist, but a champion of the common folk. The laws were designed for the former individuals, and not those possessing a genuine love of humanity.
Sorry to see Cuomo mixed up with Farkas and the slime of becoming the handmaiden to that bunch. Cuomo was a disaster to the American citizens as the Clinton appointed chairman of HUD, and I would expect the same would happen if he became the governor of New York. As a self-proclaimed champion of the “common man” citizens of the state, and quite frankly approved in that role by the liberal media, it will be hard to challenge $18 million Farkas raised slush/campaign funds and monopartisan media sanctification of Andrew Cuomo. Unless of course the average New York State citizen voter examines his record and becomes fed up with all the corruption and politician mendacity.
Cuomo`s track record should surely be publicized.Unfortunately the Republican Party in New York state is in complete disarray.Rick Lazio is not exactly an inspiring candidate.Rudy could probably beat Cuomo but he is a flawed human being.He was a great mayor of NYC but seems to have become very indecisive.
jgreen @ #1: Elections have consequences; unfortunately some voters hear the siren song of government largess and fall for it. Othe voters have enough and vote with their feet, but then forget to vote with their heads.
There is also the ‘missing money’ that Cuomo ‘lost’ during his tenure at HUD. The first year was 16 billion, then next year was 45 billion, then they stopped reporting the losses and chalked it up to a program error. But this is what we could expect from ‘the pharmicist’ as he was known in college.
The irony is that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would likely throw the book at the perceived scumbag capitalist who behaved like he does. We also notice similar behavior regarding a high number of Obama political appointees. Their tax problems are legendary. Laws are to be obeyed only if you are not deemed a member of the enlightened and benevolent elites. Allegedly kind-hearted people are to be given every benefit of the doubt. God help us if Cuomo and his ilk acquire more power.
Oh Come On! How is it possible not to love Andrew Cuomo? He’s so handsome with a great head of hair and the demeanor of a lad who “is to the manor born.” So what if he made a couple of kopeks as a result of his HUD tenure and he associates with various slimeballs? This is Andy Freakin Cuomo we’re talking about here. He’s been the Chosen One in New York politics since he was six. His father’s family had sixty-five people all cheerfully living in a tumble-down four room house (or tenement – I’m not sure anymore.) Dad could have played professional baseball but went to law school instead. (See Cuomo Sr.’s heartwarming and avuncular anecdote in Ken Burns “Baseball.”) Andy should be governor – Hell he should be President, in order that this family that “loves the common man” can do more for us and to us and do it more often.
Political inbreeding just continues. Incest is cleaner than politicians. How many Kennedys do we need to put up with. Cuomos also how many is enough? I guess some voters don’t care of are just staying bought with give away programs. Please do not equate Medicare with Medicaid or Social Security with SSI or its equivalent. Remember Social Security and Medicaid have been forced people to pay and participate. I just can’t wait for the third generation of Bushs the second generation of Clintons. Than God Barney Frank is unlikely to breed.
Ah yes, His Imperial Prickness, Andy Jr. I remember havinng to work overtime on a poorly-planned project for HUD when I was with a media company, and it was all Cuomo’s fault. What an insufferable asshat.
I also did a stint at Fannie Mae just after Bush won in 2000. We were gathered into a large room where one of Fannie Mae’s higherups announced defiantly to all gathered that they didn’t care that Bush and Republicans were ‘in charge,’ and that they intended to do as they damned pleased as far as lending policies. They meant it, and did, and we see the end result of what these insolent bastards have done.
They may as well hold the coronation today. Liberal New Yorkers do not care how criminal their politicians are, just so long as they are socialist enough. Spitzer, Patterson, Rangel and Massa were not thrown out by NY voters, they were forced out by the media and national outrage. NY voters would have happily let them continue to hold office.
Well…Ladies and gentleman,what are we going to do now???…I quess that means that Cuomo will be our next governor…”Meet the new boss,Same as the old boss…”…We the People are absolutely powerless….It is money, not the people who determines who gets to be in charged…We deserve the kind of leaders we have now…We have rulers not leaders…The American Experiment is FINISHED….
I feel that the so-called “law of the land” no longer has any power over those who are elected and hired to be good stewards of that law. As it stands, bureaucrats and elected officials have got the law of the land jacked around to where I can’t even bake a pie and sell it without I first hire a lawyer to help me comply with the pie-baking “regulations.” Things are truly FUBAR when the first employee anybody has to hire is a lawyer. My blood is beginning to boil because of corrupt greedy politicians. Enough is enough.
Just look at the Youtube clip of Cuomo’s 1998 interview where he BOASTS that he, as head of HUD, just finagled an $8M fine from some Texas banks because they failed to lend to the poor and underprivileged. Then, he states that he knows that there will be many foreclosures in the future, but the Federal government is more concerned w/ leveling the playing field for the poor, and that’s the risk they are willing to take. (I’m not making this up.) Meaning we, the American taxpayer, will eventually hold the bag for those who cannot afford a mortgage, but our government forced banks to lend anyway.
And thank the Lord for that! Watching this fraud morphing into the ethical hero of the day is galling in the extreme. Many of us remember hints of his shady dealings and questions about what he did to help facilitate the housing mess and his pawprints were all over HUD. Suddenly he becomes AG and viola! he’s a virgin! He (like his father) is besotted with himself, and is maneuvering himself to parachute into the governor’s mansion. Many of us are watching his machinations and are horrified to think he just might get away with it. New Yorkers don’t need another phony dirty pol who transforms himself into another “man of the people” drenched in faux virture to fool the masses and seize power. That is standard operating procedure in NY and that is why we are roiling in the mess of their making. I hope this bum is unmasked for the bum he is.
The apple didn’t fall far from the tree:like father,like scum!