The New York Times reported yesterday on the released submissions to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s online chats where Mr. Cuomo answered only 16 questions out of hundreds, possibly avoiding some of the more sensitive topics from the list. Asked about the story on Fred Dicker’s radio show today, however, Mr. Cuomo didn’t exactly agree with that assessment.
“I think it’s a silly point,” he said bluntly.
In particular, Mr. Cuomo mocked the idea that he was avoiding questions over hydrofracking.
“Of course not, of course not!” he exclaimed of answering all of the questions on the subject. “When you do any situation like this, whether it’s a call-in radio or whatever it is, you get organized efforts that will ask the same question a hundred times a hundred different ways. Hydrofracking opponents are very well organized.”
“I answered the hydrofracking question the same way I’ve answered it a hundred times before: We’re in the middle of a process, there’s nothing new,” he added.
Mr. Dicker also expressed skepticism over the way the story was reported. “Some of the reporters suspended what would normally be a kind of a characteristic skepticism. So they’re reporting that, for instance, ‘Bill from Utica said such and such.’ How do they know there really is a ‘Bill from Utica?’ It could be ‘Sam from Hawaii,” he said. “There’s no certification that you are who you claim to be.”
“Of course,” Mr. Cuomo agreed. “Since they’re anonymous, they’re screened.”
The full list of questions Mr. Cuomo did and did not answer can be found here. He avoided hard hitting inquiries like “How much are these corporate scum paying you to support fracking?” and “No question.”
