Cuomo
NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will reportedly make the long-awaited announcement that he is running for governor in May.
Cuomo will make his intentions official before the state Democratic Party has its nominating convention that begins May 25, sources have told NY1. Polls show Cuomo as a popular political figure in the state and likely to be victorious in a run for governor.
Current Gov. David Paterson, a fellow Democrat, has said he will not seek election. He was appointed to the post after Eliot Spitzer, also the state's former attorney general, resigned amid a prostitution scandal.
A poll conducted by Siena College earlier this year showed Cuomo with a 64 percent-22 percent lead over Paterson in a primary election, and a 63-26 lead over Republican Rick Lazio in a general election.
Sources also told NY1 that Cuomo was going to announce his candidacy this week but postponed doing so because of the attention his lawsuit against state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, Jr.
Cuomo alleges in a lawsuit filed last week that Espada has siphoned more than $14 million from Soundview, a not-for-profit health care provider, in the past five years, including an unconditionally guaranteed severance package worth an estimated $9 million that was put into a contract signed in 2005.
The transactions were approved by the Soundview Board, which is packed with family, friends and Senate employees of Espada, and the not-for-profit's chief financial officer, Cuomo claims.
In return, Espada, a Democrat, called Cuomo "the prince of darkness."
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at jobrienwv@gmail.com.