There’s one phrase Gov. Cuomo never hears: “You’ve got mail!”
Cuomo refuses to communicate with his staff by email, sources close to the governor revealed to the Daily News. If aides can’t talk in person or by phone, they are told to use the BlackBerry PIN-to-PIN messaging system — a function that leaves no lasting trail because it bypasses data-saving email servers. It allows users to connect directly through their devices using Personal Identification Numbers.
Only members of Cuomo’s inner circle are told his PIN, sources say.
“He told me directly to use the PIN and that was the way to do it,” said one former administration official.
“It doesn’t have a paper trail,” the official said. “If he gets a new phone, he gets a new PIN, even if he has the same phone number. Every phone has a specific PIN.”
Cuomo spokesman, Josh Vlasto explained it’s no secret Cuomo doesn’t like email.
A source with direct knowledge of the PIN strategy noted that Cuomo “was attorney general and he saw what happens when emails you think were gone suddenly are recovered during investigations — not to suggest anything is going on or anyone has done anything wrong.”
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