Ethics board tells Cuomo to return book proceeds
ALBANY, N.Y. » Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo was ordered by New York’s ethics commission Tuesday to give up millions of dollars a publisher paid him to write a book about his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
An attorney for Cuomo immediately called the action unconstitutional and promised a fight.
Cuomo was directed to turn over proceeds earned from “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” within 30 days under a resolution approved 12-1 by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
The order came a month after the commission voted to rescind the ethics approval it had given Cuomo as he entered into the $5.1 million book deal.
“American Crisis” was published in October 2020, months before Cuomo resigned amid allegations he sexually harassed at least 11 women. It was published by Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.
The staff of the commission granted approval of the deal in July 2020, when his counsel told the commission Cuomo agreed to not use any state personnel or resources to produce his book and that he would write it “entirely on his own time.” But complaints later surfaced that state property, resources and personnel were used to prepare, write, edit and publish the book.
Cuomo has acknowledged that state employees helped with tasks including editing the manuscript. But he’s claimed that those employees were volunteering their private time.
Cuomo’s camp promptly challenged the commission’s authority, setting up what could be a lengthy legal battle.