The New York Post  reports this morning that last fall America Rising PAC filed a records request under state law seeking communications and meeting records between the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, a committee the Governor claimed would be independently investigating corruption in state government.

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On the Statue of Liberty, New York’s historic gateway to America, a plaque reads “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…just don’t give me your conservatives.” Or at least that’s what it would say if New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) had written it given his recent remarks that conservatives are not welcome in New York.

In a recent radio appearance Gov. Cuomo discussed the divisions within the Republican Party and asked:

“Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are, and if they are the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are.”

The Clintons are continuing the intra-party 2016 skirmish , this time through proxy in the race for Nassau County Executive. Newsdayreports that former President Bill Clinton will headline a fundraiser next week for Democratic candidate Tom Suozzi:

Former President Bill Clinton will headline a fundraiser next week in Great Neck for Democratic Nassau County executive candidate Thomas Suozzi, who is challenging Republican County Executive Edward Mangano in November.

Nassau Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said Clinton will endorse Suozzi at an Oct. 23 fundraiser at Leonard’s of Great Neck.

Earlier, The New York Post reported that potential Hillary Clinton 2016 rival Gov. Andrew Cuomo “secretly” plotted with Republicans to stop Suozzi:

Gov. Cuomo has secretly joined with former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato and other top Republicans to stop Democrat Tom Suozzi from recapturing his old job as Nassau County executive, key Nassau Democrats angrily charge.

Cuomo, who has yet to endorse Suozzi two weeks after Suozzi’s victory in the Democratic primary, has taken several important steps to strengthen Republican incumbent Edward Mangano, including firing his leading critic, the Democrats say

The Daily News reports that after a so-called independent commission he set up began investigating contributions to developers that benefited from a tax break he signed into law, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has now “moved to grab greater control” of the commission and vetoed a subpoena seeking information from the Como-friendly real estate board:

Gov. Cuomo has moved to grab greater control of the anti-corruption commission he vowed would be independent, the Daily News has learned.

Multiple sources complain that Cuomo and his top aides, unhappy with the panel’s direction, have interfered in recent weeks, even at times overruling the co-chairmen.

The changes began after the commission subpoenaed five developers who received lucrative tax breaks in a housing bill, the sources said. The News reported that two of the developers had donated heavily to Cuomo.

Since then, Team Cuomo is said to have had final say over some subpoenas and other actions by the panel.

One subpoena seeking lobbying and campaign donation information from the Cuomo-friendly Real Estate Board of New York had been drafted by the commission and approved by its three co-chairmen. But at the insistence of Cuomo aides, it was never sent, several sources said.

Weeks after we learned that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission subpoenaed several Cuomo donors and the Commission’s Executive Director was sued 17 times for elections violations, The Daily News reports that the law firm hired by the New York State Assembly to deal with Andrew Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission, is a major Cuomo donor:

A law firm hired by the New York state Assembly to deal with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission is a major donor to the governor and to commission co-chairwoman Kathleen Rice, the Daily News has learned.

The News reported Monday that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver hired Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP to represent the chamber during the commission’s public corruption probe.

Kazowitz and its top partner have donated $275,000 to Cuomo since 2010 - including $200,000 since 2011 that amounts to the second-largest donation Cuomo has taken since becoming governor.

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The Albany Times Union reports that Extell Development, a company whose affiliates donated $100,000 to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) campaign days before he signed a bill that included favorable tax breaks for one of its developments, is now been subpoenaed by the Moreland Commission, set up by Cuomo to combat corruption:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he has no problem with an anti-corruption Moreland Commission he convened sending subpoenas to real estate firms that have stoked his and other lawmakers’ campaign coffers.

Manhattan-based Extell Development was one of five firms subpoenaed by the commission last week, a spokesman confirmed. Its affiliates donated $100,000 to Cuomo’s campaign days before he signed a bill earlier this year that included tax breaks for one of its marquee projects.

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As the New York Daily News first reported last week, state records show checks from two entities affiliated with Extell sent checks to Cuomo on Jan. 28. Extell and its president, Gary Barnett, have been regular contributors to other major political players in the state. Barnett also sent a $100,000 check to the Democratic State Committee’s soft money account in April, sent $25,000 to the Senate Republican Campaign Committee last September and $15,000 to the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee in March and April.

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“If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck — then it is probably a duck,” Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., D-Bronx, wrote in a semiregular newsletter. “Let’s see how bold and fearless the Moreland Act Commission is when it pursues compliance with the subpoenas it served on the One57 building management. Let’s see how the governor’s commission investigates what appears to be corrupt and improper influence by luxury developers.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that Congress has begun an investigation into whether Cuomo’s office watered down the findings of an audit which showed that a non-profit whose CEO was a prominent Cuomo advisor and ally – and enjoyed a seven-figure salary – was overbilling the state to the tune of over $150 million:

The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating why a final report on the audit—begun in 2008—hasn’t been released and why its findings appeared to have been scaled down, the committee’s chairman, Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), said through a spokeswoman. Mr. Cuomo is a Democrat.

In an Aug. 4 letter to Visiting Nurse Service, Mr. Issa said the Cuomo administration initially found in February 2011 that the nonprofit company had overbilled the state by $153 million. Committee investigators have obtained information indicating that the report’s release was delayed at the request of Mr. Cuomo’s office, Mr. Issa said, and its findings were revised downward to $68 million in May.

At the same time in 2011, Visiting Nurse Service’s $1 million-a-year chief executive, Carol Raphael, was a member of a special policy team appointed by Mr. Cuomo to redesign Medicaid. Ms. Raphael has since left the nonprofit and now works as a policy adviser for a division of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, a law firm that lobbies in Albany. She didn’t respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The Daily News reports that the new head of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D-NY) anti-corruption commission has been the subject of 17 lawsuits from the state Board of Elections, an agency she’s now charged with investigating

The executive director of Gov. Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission was sued 17 times by the state Board of Elections — an agency her panel is now charged with investigating.

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From 2001 to 2009, commission executive director Regina Calcaterra was treasurer of Women PAC, which gave money to city candidates who supported women’s issues.

In 2002, Calcaterra was sued — twice — in her role as the political action committee’s treasurer by the Board of Elections for failing to file two required financial disclosures. In that suit, the first against her, she received a $144 fine that she paid.

She subsequently was sued another 15 times for missing additional filing deadlines, with a judge backing the state at least nine times.