In a nod to his father, Andrew Cuomo resurrects A.J. Parkinson, a fictitious philosopher, in his daily briefings

ALBANY — “Don’t pass the buck without passing the bucks.”

“Life is better than death, even when it’s not your own.”

No, not Benjamin Franklin. Not Winston Churchill either. The above aphorisms can only be attributed to the imaginary A.J. Parkinson, a mysterious quipster created by the late governor Mario Cuomo and recently resurrected by his son.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a nod to his pops, has been slipping quotes from his father’s favorite fictitious wordsmith into his daily coronavirus briefings in recent weeks, mostly delivering the on-the-nose one-liners with a straight face.

A week ago, Cuomo massaged a Parkinson quote into his monologue as he complimented Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for standing up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on the issue of federal funding for states.

“Last point, A.J. Parkinson, great quote, ‘I respect elected officials who aren’t typical politicians,’ ” Cuomo said as he continued to make his point. “Elected official does not have to be a politician. ‘Politician’ has bad connotations to politicians. The word politician. You can be an elected official who is not a typical politician.”

The inside joke is in line with the governor’s habit of regularly including his family in his coronavirus updates. Cuomo’s daughters have appeared on camera in recent weeks as he offers fatherly tales about meeting their boyfriends.

His brother Chris was beamed into a briefing as he battled the virus. And the governor often talks about his concerns for his 88-year-old mother Matilda, relating his concern to anyone with an elderly relative.

For those unfamiliar with Parkinson, the senior Cuomo was known to cite the spectral savant regularly when he occupied the Executive mansion. He often attributed sayings to him, even allowing aides to quote the fake philosopher when taking a shot at rival elected officials.

In response to an accusation in one of the late mayor Ed Koch’s many autobiographies alleging the elder Cuomo was behind homophobic campaign signs, an unnamed spokeswoman turned to Parkinson.

“One should never write a book if one has lost an election,” the spokeswoman quoted the made-up man of letters.

Two years ago, Andrew Cuomo quietly tipped his hat to his dad, ascribing the motto “you are what you build” to an ‘A.J. Parkinson II’ during a PowerPoint presentation at JFK Airport.

“Great quote,” he said at the time.

Going a step further, the governor feigned astonishment two weeks ago when no one called him out for his obscure reference.

“Well, I’ll tell you what’s funny,” the governor told WAMC’s Alan Chartock, who decades ago hosted a weekly radio show with Cuomo’s father. “I quoted A.J. Parkinson last time week, on the screen. Nobody said a word. Nobody.

“Nobody said a word, which means they are not students of A.J. Parkinson,” he added.

An A.J. Parkinson Twitter account appeared last month as the governor added more of the quips into his press briefings.

Perhaps the real Parkinson is behind the social media profile as the governor publicly challenged critics to prove that the elusive, yet the ever-quotable man in question never existed.

“Prove there is no A.J. Parkinson,” he demanded during his conversation with Chartock. “First of all that there are A.J. Parkinsons. There are numerous A.J. Parkinsons. It could be Andrew John Parkinson, it could be Aaron Judah Parkinson. I mean there are A.J. Parkinsons, so go prove that no A.J. Parkinson said that.

"I dare you,” he added.