Andrew’s Book Scandal Grows

Gov. Cuomo’s book deal now looks like sufficient reason to impeach him, all by itself. It’s now clear that top aides Melissa DeRosa and Stephanie Benton plus other staff assisted Cuomo with drafts of “American Crisis,” despite an ethics ruling that cleared the deal only if he didn’t use state resources to write it. That’s a plain violation of state law.

The book deal reportedly netted the gov a cool $4 million, though his 2014 memoir sold fewer than 4,000 hardcover copies.

Cuomo flak catcher Rich Azzopardi claims that staffers acted voluntarily. But no one in Cuomo World dares tell the boss “no.”

Plus, DeRosa was helping to edit drafts and attending video meetings with publishers even as she and other top aides were working to censor the then-pending Health Department report on the virus’s toll on nursing homes by deleting the full death toll. In other words, they were using their official power to protect not just the gov’s image, but his $4 million payment for a project they were intimately involved in.

The nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility in Washington, a government-ethics watchdog group, has also complained to the state Board of Elections that campaign funds went to promote the book that brought Cuomo significant personal income, another legal no-no.

A full investigation is clearly in order, though the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee already has multiple impeachment-worthy Cuomo activities on its plate. It shouldn’t need to investigate all of them before it reports on any of them.

Clear proof of a single crime should be enough to move rapidly to get Cuomo out of office, before he can again betray the people of New York for his own selfish ends.