Unmasking Cuomo

Two recent news reports about New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo are worth noting, especially in light of his easy trot to re-election on Nov. 6. A detailed account in The New York Times that should be of special interest to those angered by the ongoing electric pole debacle in East Hampton explained how Mr. Cuomo manipulated a report from a commission looking at utility performance during and after Hurricane Sandy.

The commission’s main recommendation, that the Long Island Power Authority be sold to a private company, was altered at the governor’s behest to appear unanimous, when, in fact, there had been dissent among its members. Not only did Mr. Cuomo wring a predetermined outcome to his own liking from the commission’s report, but his administration was responsible for many of LIPA’s failures in the first place.

According to a Times review of hundreds of documents, the governor’s office failed to respond to repeated requests from LIPA to fill 10 percent of its key management positions, personnel who would have helped respond to Sandy and provide an edgy public with needed information. Now, as Long Islanders get to know PSEG, which took over operations of the widely hated LIPA this year with a 10-year contract, it appears to be far worse.

This week, Fredric U. Dicker reported in the New York Post about an alleged secret pact between Mr. Cuomo and the state’s top Republican, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, to assure the governor’s re-election in exchange for his promise not to aid Democratic candidates on Long Island. Another Republican, Nassau Executive Ed Mangano, is implicated as well, having bucked his own party to endorse Mr. Cuomo in order to protect G.O.P. senators.

Albany is about as bad a state capital as you can find. The electorate knows this. Yet these accounts, taken with what has already been reported regarding Mr. Cuomo’s having disbanded a corruption probe when it drew too near his associates, paints a truly unsavory picture.