Who’s Winning in Howe v. Percoco? Not Cuomo

Sitting on the witness stand Feb. 13 wearing an ensem­ble befitting a high-powered lobbyist rather than the prison garb he'd grown accustomed to the previous weekend, it was tempting to think that Todd Howe looked almost respect­able.

But looks, like Mr. Howe, can be deceiving. He tried to be on his best behavior in front of the jury and U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni for his return to the cross-examina­tion that had been cut short five days earlier after he admit­ted to trying to weasel his way out of a $600 room charge at the Waldorf-Astoria. He couldn't help, however, proving that after the Judge granted Federal prosecutors' request that he be allowed to testify wearing an expensive-looking outfit that didn't resemble a jump-suit, he hadn't turned in his repertoire of evasions and euphemisms.