Cuomo Wins Big Press Coverage but His Gifts Need Closer Scrutiny

So we'll put money in the economy by taking money out of the economy then putting it back in the economy and taxing it as it passes through.

James Glynn (l) and Andrew Cuomo... Glynn gets Yuletide gift. .

Maybe the headline should read “Beware of the Governor Bearing Gifts” because not everything in Andrew Cuomo’s basket of treats for Western New is as juicy as it may seem after you get by the wave of favorable press that comes with it.

The popular governor made two trips to Western New York in December, playing Santa Claus in a way to a region that definitely needs a Santa Claus given the gaming war between the state and the Seneca Nation that has cost Niagara Falls $60 million in slot revenue so far, and the struggling City of Buffalo where the jobless rate has climbed 3.7 points in the last five years.

And then of course there was the plight of poor Jimmy Glynn and his Maid of the Mist franchise that was in trouble after losing its sweetheart contract to run tours on the Canadian side to a much higher bidder, thereby threatening his ability to stay afloat on the U. S. side because he had no place to store his boats.

Also on the governor’s gift list: the poor Buffalo Bills ($892 million) who needed a new stadium lease to give worried fans comfort, at least in the short term, that despite a 94-year-old owner who has stated his heirs will sell the team after his passing they will be around for a little while longer no matter what happens down the road with new ownership.

The good news, and the governor won mostly praise for his gifts, is that Cuomo took care of Glynn, Buffalo’s job needs, supposedly, and the Buffalo Bills.

But look beyond the hype and there are questions surrounding his generosity and whether or not taxpayers are getting what they think from the governor.

Let’s start with the Maid of the Mist gift, perhaps the biggest of all. This newspaper has written numerous stories about the sweetheart deal Glynn has enjoyed with New York State and with Canada but eventually the Ontario Parks Commission, after months of investigative reporting about the Glynn contract, opened the boat tours up for bid and awarded a 30-year, $500 million contract to Hornblower Cruises out of California to run the tours beginning in 2014.

As Mike Hudson wrote in our Dec. 11 edition, Hornblower will be paying more annual rent to the Canadians than the entire Niagara Falls State Park received from all its combined sources of income this year—parking, boats, souvenirs and concessions.

But alas, not to worry that New York might reap a windfall like the Ontario Parks Commission did because Gov. Cuomo “saved the Maid of the Mist,” as was reported, and gave Glynn a new deal on the U. S. side that will cost Glynn a little more but will not provide the windfall to the state that could have been reaped if Cuomo had allowed the world popular boat tour to go out to bid.

Hard to figure, you say? That’s correct. How come New York is settling for $105 million over 30 years from the current operator instead of going for the far greater return that the Canadians will enjoy? Special circumstances, said Cuomo, in brushing aside questions about why he didn’t open the franchise up to bid. I guess he must know something the rest of us don’t, and maybe never will because this administration is not known for running a transparent government.

It is near impossible to get anyone from Cuomo’s press office to return calls to answer questions about what the governor is doing.

But wait, there’s more. The governor also got huge press coverage of his $50 million down payment on his Buffalo Billion commitment when he announced that an Albany biomedical research company will come in as a tenant on the growing Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and help create 250 new jobs and leverage another $200 million in investment.

Wonderful, you say. Of course, who could argue with creating 250 skilled jobs on the much-heralded Medical Campus. But wait, it may not be quite what it seems, at least according to Investigative Post and reporter Jim Heaney who wrote that Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI), the new tenant, will account for only a fraction of the new jobs Cuomo promised at its new research facility in Buffalo.

I guess we’re just going to have to rely on good faith about those jobs. Here is part of what Louis Garguilo, vice president for business development at (AMRI), wrote to me in an email in response to my questions:

“AMRI is honored to be an anchor tenant in the hub (cq), will serve as a driver for economic development and, in partnership with BNMC and CNSE (College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering) will be a catalyst for assisting in the creation of at least 250 high tech jobs within five years while attracting $250 million in private investment. The hiring over the 5 years will include approximately 75 AMRI employees, a core group of new technical BNMC and CNSE technical staff to manage and oversee the facility and laboratory infrastructure. This will be added to by the high tech jobs from AMRI’s partners in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry who will co-locate to Buffalo because of AMRI’s role of providing the critical research, development, and prototyping capabilities they require.”

The Cuomo down payment of $50 million includes $35 million for new equipment for the campus and $15 million towards rehabbing existing lab space.

Garguilo also attempted to downplay concerns about AMRI’s falling stock prices which according to Investigative Post have tumbled to the point where some analysts are advising not to buy it.

Garguilo emailed that while the company rarely comments on its own stock, “as noted by the known analyst Jim Cramer recently “...AMRI has been upgraded by The Street Ratings from sell to hold. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures…”

We were unable to reach any of the governor’s press people about the AMRI deal, and I guess it’s pretty much like the secretly-negotiated Maid of the Mist agreement. Take it or leave it, no questions, please, just take our word for it that we know what we’re doing for the taxpayers and with their money.

As for the Buffalo Bills, the governor at least got the issue off his political back for now (see separate story) and appears to have the team locked up for at least the next seven years, and that’s beyond his potential White House bid in 2016. But the lease comes at hefty public price ($226 million) and offers no guarantees beyond the first seven years when the Bills or a new owner would have the option to buy out of the stadium agreement for a mere $28 million compared to a $400 million buyout clause earlier in the lease.

Neither the Bills nor Cuomo want to talk about an ownership change that is sure to come given the very advanced age of the current owner. That’s the big question still on the table but for now Cuomo is safe from any political backlash that would certainly come if there was no lease in place, even if it is only a short- term deal that offers no long term comfort.

So how did Santa Claus Cuomo do? Well, he gave away the store to Glynn, made a down payment on his billion dollar economic commitment to Buffalo although the job creation is still a leap of faith, and he generated enough public dollars to keep the awful Buffalo Bills happy for now and keep fans from storming his office for losing the team on his watch.

The one area where Cuomo did score big was in his press coverage. We’ll see going forward how it all plays out, starting with the still unsettled gaming war that has pushed Niagara Falls to the brink of bankruptcy. Cuomo is known to keep a tight lid on things, and nothing he has done lately has damaged that image.

With Cuomo, you either take it or leave it. Not too many questions, please.

(Gov. Cuomo’s office declined requests for comment.)