Former Cuomo aide under investigation for shady lobbying practices, conflicts of interest

[jmyrlefuller]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cuomo-aides-probed-shady-lobbying-conflicts-interest-article-1.2619360?cid=bitly

BY Kenneth Lovett
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF
Friday, April 29, 2016, 4:59 PM

A former top aide and several others close to Gov. Cuomo are being probed for potential improper lobbying and "undisclosed" conflicts of interest having to do with the governor's signature "Buffalo Billion" economic development program, the Daily News has learned.

A focus of the ongoing federal probe now appears to be former longtime Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco, Alain Kaloyeros, the politically connected head of a State University high-tech research center, lobbyist Todd Howe, who goes way back with Cuomo, Buffalo developer Louis Ciminelli, and an energy company called Competitive Power Ventures, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the News.

Percoco served as the governor's $169,000-a-year executive deputy secretary and had long been his political enforcer until leaving for a job at Madison Square Garden earlier this year. He once worked for Cuomo's father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo.

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