Next Hudson River Span will be named "The Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge"

A former New York State employee has confirmed that the new $4 Billion Hudson River Crossing will be named The Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge.  Rumors of the name to honor former-Governor Mario Cuomo have swirled for three years, according to the source, saying, “It’s a done deal.” 

The inside debate has included the question of the use of former Governor Mario Cuomo’s middle initial, “M” (Matthew), and there was a "painful search.... and lively debate..."  for a “classier” word to replace the bland tag “bridge.”

The Tarrytown-to-Nyack Tappan Zee Bridge opened in December of 1955.  Sloppy  attempts to ameliorate the ever-growing congestion over the Hudson River have tortured motorists- and taxpayers- for over 20 years.  Construction on the new span began in 2013, and the first phase of the futuristic bridge is expected to open in 2016.  The Tappan Zee project experienced delays from steel shortages during the Korean War.  The bridge’s long-overdue replacement has been stalled, at a waste of $90 million, by New York’s leaders’ infamous dysfunction.

The confirmation of The Governor Mario Cuomo Bridge came at a special time, in April.  “It’s Corruption Month in N.Y.,” accordingly to Phil Reisman, who urged everyone to “Kiss a Crooked Politician.”  

Governor Mario Cuomo has been widely regarded as the only New York Governor in the last 100 years to take substantive action to address the core problem of corruption in New York State: the corruption of ethics oversight. 

Governor Mario Cuomo and "The Murphy Report”

Despite political pressure in 1990, then-Governor Mario Cuomo stood firm in backing a top judge who had gone public in his stand to restore the public’s trust in legal ethics oversight. 

Previously, in January of 1989, the 1st Department issued The Murphy Report, a public explanation of action taken by the Presiding Judge to address corrupt practices, including altered statistics, surrounding the attorney “ethics” committee under the court’s charge. Yes, the "ethics" committee had itself been acting unethically.

Presiding Judge Murphy was so moved by revelations concerning his attorney “ethics” committee, called the Departmental Disciplinary Committee (or the “DDC”) that attention to the widespread dysfunction led to the “ethics” offices being cleared and the locks changed- all under the watch of armed officers.

It was revealed in The Murphy Report that PJ Murphy had requested the resignations of the “ethics” DDC then-Chief Counsel, Michael Gentile, and the then-Deputy Chief Counsel, Sarah McShea. 

“Ethics” Chief Counsel Gentile had been found to have filed false work sheets for six (6) years- sometimes failing to show up for work one or two days a week. Those false filings also put the Chief Court Clerk at risk for signing off on false attendance records.

Judge Murphy then voiced a thought that is just as profound if spoken today, “I doubt that there is any member of the public who believes that the State should pay, upon false work sheets, an annual salary of $80,000 for work of about12 hours weekly...”

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MURPHY REPORT