Newly inaugurated New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s official government web page linked to a parody Twitter account Sunday morning, confusing New Yorkers and likely embarrassing his staff.
Cuomo’s website mistakenly linked to the Twitter account @NYGovernor, not his real account, @NYGovCuomo. The people behind @NYGovernor had a field day with the incorrect link, glibly answering constituents’ questions and playing games with reporters.
When questioned about its eyebrow-raising Twitter bio, the fake Cuomo account simply responded that it was the only Twitter account linked to by the governor’s office. A person asking about Cuomo’s stand against the Indian Point power plant was told that the new governor only opposes the project because his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, opposed it during his tenure in the 1980s and early 1990s. The fake account also noted that any references to the “Luv Gov”, a tabloid nickname for disgraced former governor and current CNN host Eliot Spitzer, had been deleted from its Twitter page.
The Cuomo campaign’s Twitter account had recently been suspended or deleted, prompting the new governor’s staff to tell New York news website NYC The Blog that Cuomo did not have time to “twitter on his own” and that the “best web and social media people around” were now in charge of his personal account.
NYC The Blog is reporting that, after several confused replies from Cuomo’s staff, the “tremendous oversight” has now been fixed. The New York governor’s official webpage now links to the correct Twitter account.
Cuomo was sworn in as New York’s 56th Governor just before midnight on December 31st.