In Last Act as Governor, Andrew Cuomo Appears to Abandon Dog at Albany Mansion

Soon after Andrew Cuomo announced that he would be resigning as governor of New York—a move that will become official at midnight tonight—a number of people expressed concern that he might stage a comeback by running, and winning, a fourth term. On Monday, though, any hopes of a second act appeared to be dashed when it emerged that Cuomo had committed an act so sick and disturbing that he will likely never recover.

Yes, we are referring to the news that the 56th governor of New York, Mario and Matilda’s son, abandoned his dog at the governor’s mansion when he moved out, like it was an old Crock-Pot or a shower curtain he hoped to pawn off on the next owner. Per the Albany Times Union:

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has been staying with one of his sisters in Westchester County in the final days of his third term, recently has asked staff members at the Executive Mansion if anyone would like to keep his dog, Captain, who has remained at the state-owned residence after the governor moved out last week.

Two State Police sources told the Times Union on Saturday that the governor had recently asked mansion staff members if anyone would be interested in caring for the dog. Captain—a high-strung mix of shepherd, Siberian and malamute—has nipped a few people since Cuomo adopted him in 2018, the sources said, and a mansion staffer recently took the dog home for a few days but decided he was too much.

As New York magazine notes, prior to unceremoniously dumping him, “Cuomo had seemed to relish Captain’s presence in his life,” mentioning him frequently during coronavirus briefings and including his photo in his Instagram cover. But now, apparently, Cuomo has no use for the pooch.

In a huffy—almost too huffy—statement, Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser and spokesman for the governor, lashed out at the Times Union, claiming that Cuomo is only temporarily looking for someone to take care of Captain while he’s on vacation (though that doesn’t explain why he didn’t bring Captain along for the stay at his sister’s.) “Captain is part of the governor’s family and for your nameless ill-informed source to imply they’ve been trying to give him away is untrue,” Azzopardi said Saturday. “Someone offered to watch him for a few days while the transition was ongoing, but for that to be weaponized and morph from a game of telephone into the pages of your paper is absurd—now excuse us, we’re preparing for a major storm.”

Although, as The New York Times’s Shane Goldmacher points out:

Watch this space for important updates.

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