Wendy Katz

Cuomo spokesperson Wendy Katz is leaving.

She cast a notably watchful eye over the coverage of the attorney general campaign last year and continued to handle press during Andrew Cuomo's inauguration and first weeks in office.

Katz confirmed her departure when reached by cell phone just now. And in keeping with form, she had a prepared statement from her former boss:

"Wendy has been an outstanding member of my team, helping to carry us through to victory and a smooth transition. We will miss her leadership, counsel, and expertise as she takes on her next challenge."

-- Azi Paybarah

One thing not mentioned at Andrew Cuomo's swearing-in ceremony yesterday was the issue of Medicaid fraud, which I seem to remember being a pretty big deal around the beginning of the attorney general race.

Cuomo's spokeswoman, Wendy Katz, said confirmed that Cuomo is planning to do something fairly dramatic about it by creating a position of deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud. Although the attorney general's office already has a solicitor general Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to tackle that issue, she said, the new position will reflect "an increase in prominence."

She didn't say who might fill the position or when it might come into being.

Cuomo perviously addressed the issue when he penned an op-ed article explaining that New York is losing 20 percent of money it recovers from Medicaid fraud because it doesn't have its own False Claims Act to protect whistle blowers.

-- Azi Paybarah

In a speech delivered just now, Andrew Cuomo said he's going to audit 6,000 member items doled out by state lawmakers and recover any "misspent funds."

Cuomo said he would seek to recover the money under the Tweed law or other statutory authority, but did not indicate what action would be taken against a lawmaker who doled out the misspent money.

Future member items, he said, will have to meet the following criteria:

1) a bona fide legal public purpose for the grant;

2) effective administration by a state agency pursuant to a contract with specific terms and conditions which can be measured and controlled;

3) compliance in actual grant implementation; and

4) full disclosure of all grants throughout the budget process.

Cuomo also said he'll elevate the status of the Public Integrity Unit to Special Deputy Attorney General level and expand the staff in that area.

All this is music to the ears of good government groups, and to people on Wall Street, as The Dealbook noted yesterday.

-- Azi Paybarah

UPDATE: Cuomo spokesperson Wendy Katz clarified to me that the review of member items will apply to those authorized this year, not in previous years.

Most of the member items authorized this year haven't actually been issued, she explained, so the items determined to have no legal basis simply won't be approved. If the member item was already dispersed and is later found to be unjustified, the attorney general's office will try to use the Tweed Law to recover the money.

Just to clear that up.

I was looking through Andrew Cuomo's final campaign finance statement from the attorney general race -- that's what politics nerds do in their spare time -- and one figure that jumped out at me was the $250,000 that Cuomo still owes for television ads.

It seemed, at least, to show that the Cuomo people were taking Jeanine Pirro more seriously than the media was during the late stages of the campaign. It also seemed to be a big number to have outstanding, given the FCC requirement that candidates pay for their ads as they go in order to prevent media outlets from essentially making in-kind loans to campaigns.

I asked media consultant Joe Mercurio about it and he said it was "a lot of money for media reconciliation."

Cuomo spokeswoman Wendy Katz emailed this explanation: "There is always a process of an accounting reconciliation for millions of dollars of media time purchased in the final stage of the campaign. Those adjustments await the final disposition."

Not incidentally, the campaign has $963,477.60 left on hand -- more than enough to pay off all their bills, which total $291,811.75.

-- Azi Paybarah

"He's setting a great example," said state Senator Martin Connor of Eliot Spitzer's self-imposed campaign contributions limits and attendance at fund-raisers.

And by great example, he means for other people.

"This doesn't apply to me. No, we'd have to change the law. None of this applies to legislators," Connor said.

"Realistically, this executive order doesn't even apply to the state comptroller or attorney general."

True.

When asked, incoming AG Andrew Cuomo's people sent the following statement:

"It is essential that we restore the public trust in our government with comprehensive campaign finance, ethics, redistricting, and legislative reform and I look forward to partnering with Governor-elect Spitzer and Lt. Gov.-Elect Paterson to get these and other aggressive reforms enacted into law so that all statewide candidates and office holders are held to account."

To clarify, Cuomo's spokeswoman Wendy Katz said yes, Cuomo will adhere to Spitzer's campaign contribution limits.

A message left at comptroller Alan Hevesi's office was not immediately returned.

Connor, who was in a tight primary race this year, said he'd happy to have a $10,000 campaign contribution limit since, that would be a raise from what state Senators and Assembly members can currently accept.

-- Azi Paybarah

How does Attorney General-elect Andrew Cuomo feel about Eliot Spitzer trying to push out Alan Hevesi?

We still don't know.

Cuomo spokesperson Wendy Katz emailed to say, "It would be inappropriate for Andrew to comment on a pending investigation in the Attorney General's office before he assumes office."

I wonder what he's going to say on Day 1?

Update: Maybe there won't be a comment on Day 1. When asked, Katz emailed to say, "Andrew will not comment on a pending investigation." -- Azi Paybarah

Democratic officials, not actually wanting to gift the comptroller's office to the Republicans, have gone through the comically awkward balancing act of indicating that they intend to vote for Hevesi without suggesting that they approve of him or his behavior.

The balancing act is that much tougher, apparently, if you're running for a law enforcement position like -- let's just say -- attorney general.

I asked Andrew Cuomo, who hasn't officially endorsed Hevesi, who he intends to vote for on Tuesday.

Short answer: He won't say.

His spokeswoman, Wendy Katz said this via email:

"Andrew has said many times that he believes Mr. Hevesi has gravely compromised his ability to do his job and that voters should have all the facts and be informed. He has also said that he will not politicize the ongoing investigation by expressing his political or personal position on Mr. Hevesi because he will not compromise his ability to render an impartial judgment as Attorney General since he may be handling the matter."

Update: Eliot Spitzer, who made a show of withdrawing his endorsement of Hevesi, isn't saying if he'll vote for him. When asked, Spitzer called it a personal decision, according to his spokeswoman, Christine Anderson. -- Azi Paybarah

Unlike Tom Reynolds new ad -- a minute-long mea culpa ending with the phrase "Looking back, more should have been done, and for that, I'm sorry" -- Pirro is not apologizing for her mess.

Instead, she continues her seemless transformation from accused to accuser.

"It's time for this investigation into my personal life to end, and for Andrew Cuomo to come out from hiding... Andrew must defend his inexperience and his call for amnesty for lawbreakers."

Nothing specific there, but enough to insinuate that Cuomo has something to hide about his involvement with a U.S. political jihad by the U.S. Attorney.

Cuomo, meanwhile, is still managing to stay out of the argument. Sort of.

The script is after the jump.  read more »

UPDATE: In response to the ad, Cuomo spokeswoman Wendy Katz said, "Mrs. Pirro claimed two weeks ago that the multiple criminal investigations of her were baseless and political and demanded the US Attorney to appoint a special prosecutor , the people of New York are still awaiting his definitive response--or does she believe he is part of the political conspiracy too." -- Azi Paybarah

It looks like Andrew Cuomo is hoping to do his victory dance on Mark Green's turf in Manhattan.

According to an informed Democratic source not working for either campaign, eight of the top ten Assembly districts Cuomo is focusing on -- in terms of get-out-the-vote manpower -- are in Manhattan, which has the second-highest concentration of Democratic primary voters in the state.

It might make sense to put resources in Manhattan, where Green has a smattering of institutional support among local clubs and state committee members and Cuomo has snagged endorsements from most of the elected officials.

But the Cuomo campaign's decision also seems to indicate that they're regarding victory in other parts of the city as an inevitability. As this source told me, Cuomo is "not trying to pull voters in the outer boroughs" and "who knows if they'll turn out."

I asked Cuomo spokesman Wendy Katz about it, and she gave me this:

"Our campaign is reaching out to voters in every corner of the state because we are not taking any votes for granted."

-- Azi Paybarah

This seems hard to believe, but here's Andrew Cuomo's response this afternoon to my question about the Times endorsement of Mark Green:

"I didn't read the editorial yet, so I'm at a loss."

It hit the doorsteps of New York Times subscribers yesterday and was the topic of conversation all day over here.

"Perhaps he's on a mission to Mars," Green said when told of Cuomo's remarks an hour and a half later at his press conference about - what else - that Times endorsement.

In it, the paper noted:

As he left HUD, Mr. Cuomo's operation produced a 150-page report of his accomplishments that included a CD and pictures of the secretary with celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker. It cost the taxpayers a whopping $688,000 to produce what amounted to future campaign fodder.

"I don't know what they were referring to. I can check and Wendy can get back to you," Cuomo told me, referring to his spokeswoman, Wendy Katz.

She emailed around 3 p.m. to say:

"The report documents the more than 100 programs at HUD and was funded from the official budget congress allocates to the federal agency for the purpose of publishing reports on the agency's programs."

When asked if he read the endorsement by then, Katz said he was campaigning in Brooklyn and wasn't with him.

-- Azi Paybarah

So up in Buffalo they are finishing up the nominating and seconding speeches for the Attorney General candidates. We called Wendy Katz, a Cuomo aide to check the campaign's confidence level. After ducking into a quiet corner of the convention hall, Katz at first struck a tone of cautious optimism. "Anything can happen on the convention floor, we're just hoping to get our 25 percent and anything else we can get will be extra."

She flatly denied the day's rumors that Cuomo operatives were trying to strike deals with the Mark Green and Denise O'Donnell camps to keep one of the two candidates, or both, below the 25 percent threshold. She said the Cuomo camp is focused on Cuomo getting the chance to speak.

"He is just going to talk about how he is going to use his record and his experience to stand up to the gun lobby and to medicaid fraud. He is just going to be talking about how he is going to keep fighting for people."

So much for cautious optimism.

—Jason Horowitz