Contributor James Soviero

Newly released emails obtained by The New York Times expose the close ties between New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) administration officials and a former aide-turned-lobbyist who later pleaded guilty to eight felonies.

The emails show that Todd Howe, a key witness in federal corruption cases that brought down two former top Cuomo aides in February, was weighing in on matters pertaining to Cuomo in the lead-up to the 2016 investigation, according to the Times.

The governor’s lawyers have been fighting to keep the Times from obtaining them via FOIA.

It isn’t the first time Andrew ‘America was never great’ Cuomo has been tied to corruption. He shut down the Moreland Commission several years ago as they appeared to close in on him. It looked very suspicious.

HIS OPPONENT’S AD PROMPTS A ‘CEASE AND DESIST’ LETTER

The Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro took advantage of the thug governor’s ties to corrupt officials with a hard-hitting TV ad.

Cynthia Nixon, the Democrat Party’s Communist opponent, has been hitting him too, but Cuomo decided to blast Molinaro. He sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter to TV stations showing the ad.

The ad is 30-seconds long and is titled, ‘Guilty’. It focuses on the recent convictions on federal corruption charges of former Cuomo top aide and confidant Joseph Percoco and Alain Kaloyeros, who oversaw the governor’s signature upstate economic development plan, and the guilty plea of former Cuomo associate Todd Howe.

“Andrew Cuomo’s top advisers are going to jail for stealing your tax dollars,” the ad says.

“And now he’s under investigation again for another pay-to-play scam,” the ad says while showing a report into an ongoing investigation into Crystal Run, a Hudson Valley healthcare group that received $25 million in state grants while giving Cuomo more than $400,000 in campaign contributions.

“It’s time for a change,” the ad says. “Marc Molinaro has a real plan to fix New York and end Cuomo’s corruption for good.”

“It is false, cheap and nasty,” said Cuomo campaign spokeswoman Abbey Collins. “It is exactly what you would expect from Trump mini-me Marc Molinaro.”

It’s really not false although we aren’t certain anyone would dare investigate Cuomo. He’s powerful.

THIS IS THE AD HE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE

Molinaro is also fundraising with these new hats that say ‘AMERICAN WAS NEVER THAT GREAT, CUOMO 2020’

In case you missed Cuomo’s America sucks speech, here it is: