Governor Cuomo’s chief of staff was one of the first witnesses to testify at the corruption trial of Governor Cuomo’s former top aide, Joe Percoco. Linda Lacewell described Percoco as a trusted loyal and very senior aide to the governor.
Lacewell says Percoco, who is charged, along with three others in engineering two bribery schemes, was one of Cuomo’s four most senior aides and that the two were very close.
She said Percoco was usually wherever the governor was, and even helped handle Cuomo’s personal affairs, like the estate of his late father Mario Cuomo and the governor’s tax filing.
Cuomo is not charged with any crimes. But Alex Camarda, with Reinvent Albany, a government reform group, says the trial shows the governor in a bad light.
“I think it does reflect badly on him because he’s known as a hands-on manager, this occurred under his watch,” Camarda said. “Therefore he’s ultimately responsible. The buck stops with the governor.”
Lacewell also testified that the governor was very surprised when he learned about the situation that led to an FBI raid of Percoco’s house in April of 2016, which eventually led to the charges that Percoco is now facing in court.
