She cast a notably watchful eye over the coverage of the attorney general campaign last year and continued to handle press during Andrew Cuomo's inauguration and first weeks in office.

Katz confirmed her departure when reached by cell phone just now. And in keeping with form, she had a prepared statement from her former boss:

"Wendy has been an outstanding member of my team, helping to carry us through to victory and a smooth transition. We will miss her leadership, counsel, and expertise as she takes on her next challenge."

-- Azi Paybarah

Cuomo's spokeswoman, Wendy Katz, said confirmed that Cuomo is planning to do something fairly dramatic about it by creating a position of deputy attorney general for Medicaid fraud. Although the attorney general's office already has a solicitor general Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to tackle that issue, she said, the new position will reflect "an increase in prominence."

She didn't say who might fill the position or when it might come into being.

Cuomo perviously addressed the issue when he penned an op-ed article explaining that New York is losing 20 percent of money it recovers from Medicaid fraud because it doesn't have its own False Claims Act to protect whistle blowers.

-- Azi Paybarah

Cuomo said he would seek to recover the money under the Tweed law or other statutory authority, but did not indicate what action would be taken against a lawmaker who doled out the misspent money.

Future member items, he said, will have to meet the following criteria:

Cuomo also said he'll elevate the status of the Public Integrity Unit to Special Deputy Attorney General level and expand the staff in that area.

All this is music to the ears of good government groups, and to people on Wall Street, as The Dealbook noted yesterday.

-- Azi Paybarah

UPDATE: Cuomo spokesperson Wendy Katz clarified to me that the review of member items will apply to those authorized this year, not in previous years.

Most of the member items authorized this year haven't actually been issued, she explained, so the items determined to have no legal basis simply won't be approved. If the member item was already dispersed and is later found to be unjustified, the attorney general's office will try to use the Tweed Law to recover the money.

Just to clear that up.

It seemed, at least, to show that the Cuomo people were taking Jeanine Pirro more seriously than the media was during the late stages of the campaign. It also seemed to be a big number to have outstanding, given the FCC requirement that candidates pay for their ads as they go in order to prevent media outlets from essentially making in-kind loans to campaigns.

I asked media consultant Joe Mercurio about it and he said it was "a lot of money for media reconciliation."

Cuomo spokeswoman Wendy Katz emailed this explanation: "There is always a process of an accounting reconciliation for millions of dollars of media time purchased in the final stage of the campaign. Those adjustments await the final disposition."

Not incidentally, the campaign has $963,477.60 left on hand -- more than enough to pay off all their bills, which total $291,811.75.

-- Azi Paybarah

And by great example, he means for other people.

"This doesn't apply to me. No, we'd have to change the law. None of this applies to legislators," Connor said.

"Realistically, this executive order doesn't even apply to the state comptroller or attorney general."

True.

When asked, incoming AG Andrew Cuomo's people sent the following statement:

To clarify, Cuomo's spokeswoman Wendy Katz said yes, Cuomo will adhere to Spitzer's campaign contribution limits.

A message left at comptroller Alan Hevesi's office was not immediately returned.

Connor, who was in a tight primary race this year, said he'd happy to have a $10,000 campaign contribution limit since, that would be a raise from what state Senators and Assembly members can currently accept.

-- Azi Paybarah

We still don't know.

Cuomo spokesperson Wendy Katz emailed to say, "It would be inappropriate for Andrew to comment on a pending investigation in the Attorney General's office before he assumes office."

I wonder what he's going to say on Day 1?

Update: Maybe there won't be a comment on Day 1. When asked, Katz emailed to say, "Andrew will not comment on a pending investigation."

-- Azi Paybarah

The balancing act is that much tougher, apparently, if you're running for a law enforcement position like -- let's just say -- attorney general.

I asked Andrew Cuomo, who hasn't officially endorsed Hevesi, who he intends to vote for on Tuesday.

Short answer: He won't say.

His spokeswoman, Wendy Katz said this via email:

Update: Eliot Spitzer, who made a show of withdrawing his endorsement of Hevesi, isn't saying if he'll vote for him. When asked, Spitzer called it a personal decision, according to his spokeswoman, Christine Anderson.

-- Azi Paybarah

Instead, she continues her seemless transformation from accused to accuser.

Nothing specific there, but enough to insinuate that Cuomo has something to hide about his involvement with a U.S. political jihad by the U.S. Attorney.

Cuomo, meanwhile, is still managing to stay out of the argument. Sort of.

The script is after the jump.

UPDATE: In response to the ad, Cuomo spokeswoman Wendy Katz said, "Mrs. Pirro claimed two weeks ago that the multiple criminal investigations of her were baseless and political and demanded the US Attorney to appoint a special prosecutor , the people of New York are still awaiting his definitive response--or does she believe he is part of the political conspiracy too."

-- Azi Paybarah

According to an informed Democratic source not working for either campaign, eight of the top ten Assembly districts Cuomo is focusing on -- in terms of get-out-the-vote manpower -- are in Manhattan, which has the second-highest concentration of Democratic primary voters in the state.

It might make sense to put resources in Manhattan, where Green has a smattering of institutional support among local clubs and state committee members and Cuomo has snagged endorsements from most of the elected officials.

But the Cuomo campaign's decision also seems to indicate that they're regarding victory in other parts of the city as an inevitability. As this source told me, Cuomo is "not trying to pull voters in the outer boroughs" and "who knows if they'll turn out."

I asked Cuomo spokesman Wendy Katz about it, and she gave me this:

"Our campaign is reaching out to voters in every corner of the state because we are not taking any votes for granted."

-- Azi Paybarah

It hit the doorsteps of New York Times subscribers yesterday and was the topic of conversation all day over here.

"Perhaps he's on a mission to Mars," Green said when told of Cuomo's remarks an hour and a half later at his press conference about - what else - that Times endorsement.

In it, the paper noted:

"I don't know what they were referring to. I can check and Wendy can get back to you," Cuomo told me, referring to his spokeswoman, Wendy Katz.

She emailed around 3 p.m. to say:

"The report documents the more than 100 programs at HUD and was funded from the official budget congress allocates to the federal agency for the purpose of publishing reports on the agency's programs."

When asked if he read the endorsement by then, Katz said he was campaigning in Brooklyn and wasn't with him.

-- Azi Paybarah