AG Andrew Cuomo told me last night that there is “plenty of blame to go around” for the current mess in Albany, and then rattled off a list of the usual suspects: Lobbyists, special interests, legislative leaders and governors.

Governors?

But wait, wasn’t Cuomo’s father, Mario, a governor? Yes. He served three terms after being elected in 1982 and was denied a fourth by a then little-known Republican state senator named George Pataki.

According to Andrew Cuomo, the trouble with Albany started after his father left office “a long, long time ago.”

“Mario Cuomo was a governor when government was a different institution, Liz,” the AG said. “The people who were in government with Mario Cuomo wouldn’t recognize what is happening in Albany now. This is different thing. I don’t recognize it The lack of integrity. The corruption.”

Incidentally, Cuomo declined to answer my question about whether he would seek to take out Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver if and when he’s elected governor, at first quipping: “By take him out do you mean for lunch or coffee, is that what you’re referring to?”

He then insisted he can work with Silver – with anyone, really, even reporters – but never got around to saying whether or not he would try to oust Silver, who is the longest-serving legislative leader at the Capitol right now.

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