More allegations
Senior adviser rejects any link between the outside project, report
As Gov. Cuomo sought book deal, aides allegedly hid death toll.
As the coronavirus subsided in New York last year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had begun pitching a book proposal that would center on his image as a hero of the pandemic. But by early last summer, both his book and image had hit a critical juncture.
Cuomo leaned on his top aide, Melissa Derosa, for assistance. She attended video meetings with publishers, and helped him edit early drafts of the book. But there was also another, more pressing edit underway at the same time.
An impending Health Department report threatened to disclose a far higher number of nursing home deaths related to the coronavirus than the Cuomo administration had previously made public. Derosa and other top aides expressed concern about the higher death toll and, after their intervention, the number — which had appeared in the second sentence of the report — was removed from the final version.
At stake was not just the governor’s reputation, but also, potentially, a huge payoff: a book deal that ended with a high offer of more than $4 million, according to people with knowledge of the book’s bidding process.
A New York Times examination of the development of Cuomo’s lucrative book deal revealed how it overlapped with the move by his most senior aides to reshape a report about nursing home deaths in a way that insulated the governor from criticism and burnished his image.
Cuomo also utilized the resources of his office — from his inner circle to more junior personnel — to help with the manuscript. In late June and early July, for example, a top aide to the governor, Stephanie Benton, twice asked assistants to print portions of the draft of the book, and deliver them to Cuomo at the Executive Mansion.
One of Benton’s directives came June 27, the same day that Derosa convened an impromptu teleconference with several other top advisers to discuss the Health Department draft report.
On Wednesday, Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, rejected any link between Cuomo’s book and the Health Department report.
“There is no connection between the report and this outside project, period,” Azzopardi said. “And any suggestion otherwise is just wrong.”
The book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID -19 Pandemic,” was a dramatic retelling of the battle against the virus in a state where nearly 50,000 people have died. It would garner Cuomo a fleeting spot on the bestseller list.
Emails and an early draft of Cuomo’s book obtained by The New York Times indicate that the governor was writing it as early as mid-june, relying on a cadre of trusted aides and junior staffers for everything from full-scale edits to minor clerical work, potentially running afoul of state laws.
One aide to the governor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said she and others were also asked to assist in typing or transferring notes for Cuomo’s book, which he composed in part by dictating into a cellphone.
Derosa, the highest nonelected official in Cuomo’s office, was particularly involved with the development of the book, and was present during some online pitch meetings with Cuomo.
Azzopardi said Derosa and Benton had “volunteered on this project.”