Cocchiara to Skoufis: Join Me in Call for a Special Prosecutor to Investigate MorelandGate

COCCHIARA PRESS RELEASE

Responding to a blockbuster New York Times investigation and a Wall Street Journal report that said Governor Cuomo ‘obstructed’ an anti-corruption commission he created, NY Assembly Candidate Rich Cocchiara today called for a special prosecutor to finish the job the Moreland Commission was not allowed to do. Cocchiara challenged his opponent, Democrat Assemblyman James Skoufis to join him in demanding that a special prosecutor be appointed to complete the investigations initiated by the Moreland Commission.

“Governor Cuomo campaigned on bringing accountability and ethics back to Albany. Now we find that instead of cleaning up Albany, Governor Cuomo stymied the Moreland Commission’s efforts when it began to look into his friends and associates,” said Cocchiara. According to the New York Times, a top staffer of the Governor instructed the Commission to ‘pull back’ Moreland Commission subpoenas issued to the Governor’s media buying firm, the Democratic State Committee, and the Committee to Save New York, which spent $16 million in undisclosed donations on the Governor’s behalf. The Governor abruptly disbanded the Commission this year despite promising that it would be free to investigate Executive Chamber corruption.

“This is an abuse of the taxpayer’s money,” said Cocchiara. “Not only was money wasted on a Commission that was rendered a paper tiger by the Governor, the ‘corruption tax’ on all New Yorkers now continues unabated. All Commission records should be turned over to an authority with the power to subpoena and prosecute those who on taxpayer’s time thwarted the work of the Moreland Commission. We need real ethics reform in the New York State Legislature. And the people of the Hudson Valley deserve a voice in the Assembly who will join the fight to clean up Albany.”

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Rich Cocchiara (R,C,I Hamptonburgh) resides in the Washingtonville with his wife Judy and their three children. Prior to running for State Assembly, he worked for IBM for 31 years as a manager and engineer. He has been a Councilman for the Town of Hamptonburgh for 13 years and is active in the Boy Scouts of America, Knights of Columbus and Black Rock Fish & Game Club.