From NY Post: Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed the state legislature for chasing businesses out of New York and giving the state a bad reputation for business — after pointing out that state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli once sat as a member of that legislature.
The criticisms, which called on lawmakers to take a good look at themselves in the mirror, came days after DiNapoli criticized Cuomo’s economic development plans in an audit claiming that unqualified businesses drew tax breaks.
Gov. Know-it-all Cuomo
“He’s dead wrong and he should educate himself,” Cuomo told reporters asking about the findings during a press conference announcing Geico would add 600 jobs in Buffalo. He then went on to criticize hometown lawmakers.
“The comptroller was in the legislature and sat in that Assembly, as did members of the Western New York delegation, where New York and Upstate and Buffalo hemorrhaged jobs, hemorrhaged jobs. We had people leaving Buffalo on a daily basis and all they did was make it worse by raising taxes and they stifled businesses and stifled New Yorkers. We’ve reversed that. Now we have to incentivize and compete with other states to get those jobs back. Frankly, the New York State Legislature should look long and hard in the mirror about what they did to Upstate New York.”
While Cuomo and his economic czar Howard Zemsky have rebutted DiNapoli’s findings, the comptroller has remained steadfast about his claims that tax breaks were given to businesses that didn’t deserve them.
DiNapoli’s audit of Start-Up New York is one of many criticisms publicizing flaws in the state’s economic development programs, including the Buffalo Billion, which is under federal investigation thanks to US Attorney Preet Bharara.
DCG
