To show their dissatisfaction with the arrangement, Albany reporters from several outlets, including POLITICO, phoned in to the conference from outside Cuomo’s Capitol suite. | Jimmy Vielkind/POLITICO Cuomo takes questions by phone as staff tries to plant queries

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided to take questions from the Albany press corps by phone rather than in person on Thursday, even though he was in the capital city, and his aides contacted several reporters in hopes of planting questions with them.

It’s the second such conference call in three days for the Democratic governor, who is trying to rally opposition to the federal tax overhaul because it curtails the deductibility of state and local taxes.


While the issue has raised Cuomo's profile with the national media — he was interviewed on National Public Radio earlier this week — he has not spoken in person with reporters at the Capitol since June.

To show their dissatisfaction with the arrangement, Albany reporters from several outlets, including POLITICO, phoned in to the conference from outside Cuomo’s Capitol suite. Gubernatorial press aides then contacted several reporters, three of them said, hoping to have them ask if the governor was inclined to give state lawmakers a pay raise this year. They refused and were not called on during the conference call.

“We are a step away from Cuomo having his staff interview him on phone conferences,” Ken Lovett, the Daily News’ veteran Albany bureau chief, said on Twitter.

Spokesman Rich Azzopardi said Cuomo was at the Executive Mansion on Eagle Street for the call: "The governor was working on the state of the state at the house, was not in the office, and decided to conduct a press conference call to keep this critically important issue in the news and reach media outlets in these congressmember's districts."

Cuomo promised record transparency when he took office in 2011, but through a series of actions he has tightly centralized and restricted the release of information from state agencies, pushed for the automatic deletion of email records after 90 days and once sent aides to screen records that reporters requested from the State Archives.

During the call, Cuomo said he would not acquiesce to a legislative pay hike unless the state budget is adopted by its April 1 deadline — a popular indicator of government dysfunction.

“The cost of the raises is a fairly small amount in the state budget, but I have said that performance matters. Government should be held to performance — just like the private sector. You're a car salesman — you don’t sell any cars, you don’t get any commission,” Cuomo said on the 37-minute call. “I will not be supportive of any pay raise if the budget isn’t done on time. Period.”

The governor ended the call after four questions.

Also on Thursday, a trio of county executives held a press conference — during which they spoke to reporters in person — to announce a resolution adopted by the New York State Association of Counties in opposition to the federal tax plan.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, said the bill would hurt Long Island taxpayers, many of whom pay more than $10,000 in state and local taxes — the new threshold for deductibility. He and Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican, said the bill would “punish” New York taxpayers.

But Molinaro took issue with Cuomo’s lobbying effort against the tax bill, which has included harsh words for Republican members of Congress — five of the state’s nine GOP members — who voted for it. Cuomo said they should resign, and called them “Benedict Arnolds” because the bill would “rape and pillage” the state.

“It’s counterproductive and it’s inappropriate. It’s not becoming from a president or a governor,” said Molinaro, who is considering a challenge to Cuomo in next year’s election. “To say to people that your political position is akin to treason if, in fact, you hope to have those people work [doesn’t] provide real leadership to resolve a problem.”

During his conference call, Cuomo repeated his attacks, and said the whole state will suffer because high-income taxpayers — who provide 40 percent of state revenues — will be driven to lower-tax states like Florida.

“Why would a Republican congressman from a state that you are dismembering take part in it?” Cuomo asked.