Sentences with phrase «upstate economic program»

Not exact matches

In 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed him to conduct an investigation into his own upstate economic development program, after news broke that then - U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office was investigating the program.

After that, not a lot happened policy-wise for weeks as attention turned not to post-budget issues, but to the growing corruption scandal surrounding the governor's key upstate economic development program, the Buffalo Billion, which has focused on lobbyist Todd Howe and former Cuomo aide and confidant Joe Percoco.

Cuomo, too, gets another ally in the upstate business community, which the governor has courted through tax policies and economic - development programs.

Ken Girardin: «START - UP NY lost almost as many new job commitments as it added during 2016, signaling the end may be near for the economic development program that Governor Andrew Cuomo once touted as «the greatest economic savior» for upstate New York.»

The governor said he's met with federal prosecutors since former top aide Joe Percoco, a former lobbyist who was a close Cuomo associate, the head of SUNY Polytechnic and six others were charged with bribery, bid - rigging and other corruption charges in connection with the governor's upstate economic development programs.

Many of those illegal acts, the complaint alleges, involve the governor's much - touted upstate economic development programs, including the Buffalo Billion.

Lawyers representing six of the defendants have spent the past several weeks in a new letter - writing campaign to a federal judge seeking dismissal of the bid - rigging corruption charges leveled against individuals involved in several major upstate economic development programs, including the mega-construction project at Tesla's Riverbend site in South Buffalo.

In 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed him to conduct an investigation into his own upstate economic development program, after news broke that then - U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office was investigating the program.

It has been the focus of several major corruption scandals, including two that led to jail time for both former legislative leaders, and nine Cuomo associates, including a former top aide and the former architect of his upstate economic development programs, are facing multiple charges, including bribery and bid - rigging.

The windfall was carved up in a variety of directions, including a $ 1.5 billion upstate economic development program as well as funding for the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project.

Cuomo similarly empowered Alain Kaloyeros, the former head of the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, to run his signature economic development programs upstate.

Federal corruption charges were announced on Thursday against two former close aides to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a senior state official and six other people, in a blow to the governor's innermost circle and a repudiation of the way his prized upstate economic development programs were managed.

Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul joins us for the first part of the program to talk upstate economic development, sexual assault legislation and a few other topics.

Cuomo announced Friday that his administration retained a former criminal prosecutor to review his upstate economic development initiatives after learning federal investigators are examining potential conflicts of interest and improper bidding related to the programs.

The program is a competition for $ 1.5 billion in economic aid that will be distributed to three out of seven regions in upstate New York.

And with the recent arrests of 10 Cuomo associates linked to various upstate economic development programs, Flanagan warned he expects lawmakers from both houses will grill the governor's commissioners during next year's budget hearings.

And nine Cuomo associates, including a former top aide and the former architect of his upstate economic development programs, are facing multiple charges, including bribery and bid - rigging.

Cox said Bharara's probe into Cuomo's signature «Buffalo Billion» upstate economic development project is proof the Republicans were right in criticizing the program as political.

While Cuomo is not accused of wrongdoing and isn't expected to testify, the charges against Percoco have damaged both his image as a reformer and one of his signature policy initiatives, the investment of billions of dollars in public money in to upstate economic development programs.

Calls for ethics legislation — varying measures have been approved virtually every year Cuomo has been governor — come as still more investigations are underway into the state's economic development programs in upstate New York and Mayor Bill de Blasio's political activities in New York City.

The cases involve accusations of bid - rigging involving upstate economic development programs — including the ballyhooed Buffalo Billion — and related dealings involving ex-Cuomo aide Joe Percoco and lobbyist Todd Howe, who previously worked for Cuomo when he was federal housing secretary.

At the same time, Cuomo said he had not been interviewed by law enforcement authorities, who moved last week to charge his former top aide Joe Percoco, SUNY Polytechnic chief Alain Kaloyeros and prominent upstate developers who have received state business for economic development programs.

Ciminelli is among the upstate developers who has been charged in the federal case, whose company has played a prominent role in the Buffalo Billion economic development program.

De Blasio is under investigation for a variety of political fundraising efforts (the Cuomo administration, too, faces an investigation over economic development programs upstate).

At the same time, economic development programs upstate have fallen under the scrutiny of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office, who is investigating a former top aide to the governor, Joe Percoco and lobbyist Todd Howe.

Only one company in the Capital Region enrolled in Cuomo's highly publicized upstate economic revitalization program created double - digit jobs in 2015, while the other eight created five jobs or fewer, according to newly released state data.

What will happen to the complicated cases Bharara has built — especially against the eight men facing charges of bid rigging, bribery and extortion in connection with the governor's signature upstate economic development program, the Buffalo Billion?

Kaloyeros is embroiled in bid - rigging and bribery scandals tied to Governor Andrew Cuomo's upstate economic development programs.

The program has been a key element of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's economic development strategy for upstate New York, but has drawn mixed reviews.

The governor's upstate economic development programs have been tainted.

Cuomo spent a week in January rolling out his ambitious budget agenda, which contained plans for a new criminal justice system for teens who commit serious crimes, and a major upstate economic development program.

«Population decline (upstate), economic stagnancy, failed jobs programs, highest tax burden in the nation, broken transit system, emboldened culture of corruption, secret government & your closest aide convicted for selling the office all challenge this self aggrandizement,» he wrote.

In the Manhattan federal corruption case, Howe has admitted to pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars from developers and from rigged bids on state contracts linked to the upstate Buffalo Billion economic - revitalization plan — at the same time he was working as a consultant to the taxpayer - funded program.

«These economic development programs in upstate New York are vitally important and have worked extraordinarily well,» Cuomo said.

Pataki considered casino gaming an economic development program for upstate New York, and he sponsored the creation of an Indian casino in Niagara Falls and in Buffalo to spur economic development.

Bob McCarthy notes that the Buffalo Billion was not only Cuomo's signature upstate economic development program, but also a potential vehicle for him to ride to higher office, arguing that he is capable of restoring struggling Rust Belt cities to their former glory.

«(N) early eight years after (Hillary) Clinton's Senate exit, there is little evidence that her economic development programs had a substantial impact on upstate employment.

I propose a record $ 20 billion economic development program to grow the momentum in upstate New York.

The investigation found the state's substantial investment in the upstate economy has not yet generated many jobs and that economic development programs suffer from a lack of transparency and objective analysis to determine their effectiveness.

And while Gov. Andrew Cuomo has focused on investing upstate, DiNapoli has been critical of some of the governor's economic development programs issuing audits on some of them.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's probe involves the Buffalo Billion project and other upstate economic development programs.

The failure of several of Cuomo's major economic development programs helps explain upstate's poor performance.

Changes that lawmakers want to economic development programs were made ripe following allegations by federal prosecutors that the Buffalo Billion and a couple of other big upstate initiatives were part of a massive, alleged pay - to - play, bid - rigging scandal.

Cuomo has called the tax free zone plan the «boldest economic development program for upstate New York ever.»

«a repudiation of the way [Gov. Cuomo's] prized upstate economic development programs were managed» — have sparked calls not just to scrap the dubious practice at the heart of the scandal (channeling hundreds of millions of public dollars through «private,» state - created nonprofits) but also to rein in or rethink New York's aggressive business subsidization practices.

Bharara, meanwhile, has a number of ongoing investigations, including into Gov. Cuomo's handling and abrupt shutdown of the Moreland anti-corruption commission, as well the governor's signature Buffalo Billions upstate economic development program to see if there was potential bid rigging.

But DeFrancisco said «new facts arise» — and he has been particularly critical of Cuomo's scandal - scarred upstate economic development programs, including projects in Syracuse.

«We have real needs for economic development in upstate New York, as everybody who lives here certainly knows first hand and as the data shows, and unfortunately the programs that have been paid for with our tax dollars are not showing any appreciable economic development for upstate,» Miner said.

And he hit Cuomo for ongoing federal investigations into the governor's signature upstate economic development programs.

And there are the 2018 trials: the corruption re-trials of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos; the pay - to - play trial in June involving Buffalo Billion and other Cuomo administration economic development programs in upstate, and the recently concluded trial in which Joseph Percoco, a longtime confidante of Cuomo, was found guilty in a scheme of trading bribes for state action for those business executives giving him money.