#‘J-Joke’ is on Andrew Cuomo: Goodwin

Count this as another one of those shifting social norms that Andrew Cuomo didn’t know about until yesterday. A decade after everyone else in Albany, he is finally slamming the Joint Commission on Public Ethics as “J-Joke.” 

Only this time, the joke is on him.

Cuomo is outraged that the commission he designed to be his lapdog dares to revisit its quiet approval of his $5.1 million book deal on COVID leadership. Through his mouthpiece, he assails the “hypocrisy” and spies proof that the panel’s members are “carrying water” for Gov. Kathy Hochul and the other pols who appointed them. 

In a florid flourish, the disgraced former governor labels the vote against him “Albany political corruption at its worst.”

Now, now, that’s going too far. After all, Cuomo’s lethal nursing home policy and his cover-up of thousands of deaths make him the undisputed champion of “Albany political corruption at its worst.” 

Still, one can almost sympathize with Cuomo’s infuriating predicament. His world has been turned upside down and won’t stop spinning. First he learns that groping the help is no longer acceptable, and now his lapdog bites him. 

What the hell is going on? Don’t those people know who he is? 

Earth to Cuomo: They know who you are, which is why they don’t trust you. Most important, they’re no longer afraid of you because you have no power.

It’s telling that Cuomo is constantly whining that “politics” is behind his downfall. The consummate political animal, he probably can’t fathom that there is any other way to look at the world. 

Indeed, his frequent diatribes and post-resignation conduct illustrate why he had to go. In his third term, power had corrupted him to the core. 

With it, he could get away with being weird, nasty and paranoid. Without it, he’s just a neutered mass of conspiracy theories and grievances.

You can hear much more interesting tales of woe in any saloon in America.

JCOPE is the perfect example of Cuomo’s tenure. It was born in a dirty deal a decade ago when he, Democratic leader Shelly Silver and GOP leader Dean Skelos were the three amigos — Cuomo’s name for them. They were proud to be the modern Tammany Hall, and wanted everyone to know they met in a backroom to carve up everything that moved and most of what didn’t. 

It was a great life, until Silver and Skelos ended up in federal prison and Cuomo had a narrow escape. 

Meanwhile, JCOPE survived because it was designed to be a farce and succeeded wildly. Ostensibly charged with policing Albany and state government, it was really a protection racket for the three amigos. 

On paper, it replaced Cuomo’s Moreland Commission, a true investigative tool that he disbanded when its probers got too close to him. In response, the commission membership was structured in such a way that each legislative chamber could effectively veto investigations of its own members, and so could Cuomo.

Over the years, reports surfaced that he was tipped off to how all the members would vote on sensitive issues, and it was the consummate insider move that the staff approved his book deal without public knowledge. 

Even that didn’t cause a storm until he was out of office, and could no longer use the panel to keep his enemies in line.

The issue now is that the book approval required that he not use government staff or resources. The investigation into sexual harassment revealed that he clearly did use those resources. His argument is that some of those uses were incidental and that the help he got from his aides was volunteered on their own time. 

More likely, there was pressure to be a team player, with the book just part of the cult of Cuomo overseen by top aide Melissa DeRosa. That he got the $5.1 million and the others got bupkis — hey, that’s capitalism. Or, in this case, politics.

Unless the commission discovers some larger, more substantive violations, it doesn’t seem likely it would try to claw back any of Cuomo’s money. But his over-the-top reaction shows how seriously he takes each and every sign of his diminished stature. 

No doubt many people who cowered in fear of him are trying to reclaim some of their own self-respect, though it’s notable it comes when he can longer send them to Siberia.

To that end, I suspect Cuomo was behind the rumor that he might run for attorney general. The possibility that he could soon have another stinger might scare off some of those who suddenly found the courage to take him on. 

I don’t doubt Cuomo would like to get back in the game — it’s his life and his armor, after all — but running in the June primary doesn’t seem practical. He’s still facing a criminal probe over the most serious groping allegation, and the Assembly is about to unload its own investigations into sexual harassment, the book deal and the nursing home death scandal. 

He could also face civil lawsuits from the some of the women who say he harassed them. 

Then, too, Cuomo hasn’t exactly displayed the kind of remorse normally required to make a comeback from the gutter. The vast majority of New Yorkers wanted him gone from office and his constant snarling from the sidelines gives them no reason to change their minds.

Fail to the chief 

My comparison of Joe Biden to Herbert Hoover didn’t sit well with some readers, including Jeff Bolger. He writes: “While Hoover was a man of considerable intelligence and was recognized as a great humanitarian for his European relief efforts, Biden is nothing more than a grifter and a babbling fool.”

Michael Cavino has another comparison in mind, writing: “Biden is quickly securing himself a spot behind James Buchanan, who failed to respond to the Southern states seceding, as one of our worst Presidents ever!”

And Doug Rubin hopes Biden will turn out to be more like Gerald Ford, writing: “After a divisive time, he was an insider, a good guy, a fumbler, a doofus.”

Remember “Whip Inflation Now”?

Detroit despair

In the years since Detroit fell into ruin and lost most of its population, periodic efforts were made to spin the story of a Motor City rebirth. Now comes a report that spells out the depth of the problem. 

The Detroit Free Press says 57 percent of “public school students are considered chronically absent this school year,” meaning they’ve missed at least 10 percent of school days already. 

As the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan said in a different context, “The future is spoken for.”

Right turn on ‘green’

Headline: Deadline Passes, but Climate Plan Remains Elusive. See, there is good news.