Questions for Gov. Cuomo even more important to New Yorkers than those for Rep. Weiner?

June 8, 2011 — The “Weiner scandal” is the subject of more than 6,000 articles to be found on Google News, including page 1 coverage in the The Washington Post and The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal has both national news section coverage and page 1 coverage in its metro section.

What about something of a little more substance for those who, like the Times and the Journal, are based in New York? 

Like the fact that the rent regulations that protect more than a million New York families are scheduled to expire a week from today?

Zippo from the news leaders.

Now Governor Cuomo, who is currently riding a wave of media adulation praising his power, savvy, and popularity, is formally committed to extending rent regulation, but:

• how high a priority has the issue been for him?
   
• how much political capital is he spending?
   
• how much, if at all, does he actually want the system strengthened? (Cuomo’s predecessor, George Pataki, managed to set the system on auto-destruct, so that an extension of the status quo means that fewer and fewer tenants are protected over time.)
   
• what would the consequences be if rent regulation ended or was simply extended in its current loophole-ridden form?
   
• how, if at all, do his close relationships with developers influence how hard he is willing to push to maintain security of tenure for the maximum number of New Yorkers?
   
• is he ultimately seeking to brand himself as a “centrist” on this issue, as he has so far tried to do on other issues?

Not the stuff of salacious Tweets, but kind-of important reporting to do, no?