Andrew Cuomo’s over-the-top response to Fredric U. Dicker’s column must have struck a nerve.
“Garbage,” he called the column — and The Post — in an obvious case of blaming the messenger.
On Monday, The Post’s veteran Albany columnist reported that Cuomo’s aide Lawrence Schwartz is still on the state payroll, pulling down $181,560 a year with a never-before-seen title, 40 days after his resignation was announced.
Schwartz may be having trouble finding a job because he’s neck-deep in US Attorney Preet Bharara’s Moreland Commission probe. People see Schwartz as “radioactive,” a source said.
The column threw the governor in a tizzy.
“The entire story was really garbage, you know, and I know garbage because I read that paper,” Cuomo said. His spokesman called Dicker worse than a “damn liar.”
Now, we understand Cuomo is on edge. He, too, has Bharara breathing down his neck over Moreland.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is reviewing his casino plans. A new Siena College poll said 92 percent of voters see corruption as a serious problem here. The upstate economy is anemic. Schools churn out uneducated kids. . .
Cuomo says Schwartz is using up vacation time and already has three “fantastic” job offers. But this is from a guy who gave three different excuses for shutting Moreland.
Who pretended to be “studying” the health effects of fracking (until after the election). Who claimed no knowledge of huge Port Authority toll hikes.
No, there’s only one thing to conclude from Cuomo’s heated outburst over Dicker’s column: It couldn’t have been more spot on.