Gov. Andrew Cuomo”™s alleged interference in a government corruption commission he formed became fodder for comedian Jon Stewart on Thursday”™s episode of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central.
Cuomo, a Democrat running for re-election against Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, formed the Moreland Commission in 2013, pledging that its members would be independent and have legal authority to investigate the state Legislature, comptroller, attorney general and even the governor himself. But a New York Times article printed Wednesday said the governor and a top aide had directly hindered the investigations of the commission, even telling the group to pull back subpoenas for a company that was a Cuomo ally.
Stewart, in a segment called “CSI: Cuomo Scandal Investigation,” mocked the governor after showing clips of Cuomo pledging to clean up Albany. “Basically, Cuomo formed a commission promising ”˜you can even look at me,”™” Stewart said, “and when they looked at him, he said, ”˜You lookin”™ at me?”™”
The punch line came with an on-screen image of Cuomo on Robert De Niro”™s body, pointing a gun in a mirror ”“ in a callback to the famous “you talkin”™ to me?” scene from the movie “Taxi Driver.”
The Moreland Commission was dissolved by Cuomo after only nine months as part of a budget negotiation deal that included the Legislature agreeing to pass several minor ethics reform bills.
Stewart called the administration”™s stance that an executive-based commission couldn”™t investigate the executive was “(expletive) ridiculous.”
“You know the ”˜I made it, I can do what I want with it”™ excuse only works for George Lucas,” he said, in reference to Lucas”™ widely-panned creative decisions in latter “Star Wars” films.
