STOP, THIEF!
Ethics panel says Cuomo must pay book $$ to NYS
New York’s top ethics panel on Tuesday ordered disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to pay the state $5.1 million in book profits he made on the backs of taxpayers amid the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The extraordinary resolution was approved by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics in a 12-1 vote — a month after the ethics agency voted to revoke its prior approval allowing Cuomo to earn outside income from the book “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” while he was still governor and New York was in the throes of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The lone dissenter was William Fisher, a Cuomo appointee.
JCOPE rescinded its approval after concluding that Cuomo violated pledges not to use state resources or government staffers to prepare the book. He must pay the money to the state by next month.
The resolution, drafted by Commissioner David McNamara, a Senate Republican appointee, said Cuomo now “lacked the legal authority to engage in outside activity and receive compensation in regard to the book” since JCOPE rescinded its approval.
“Gov. Cuomo is not legally entitled to retain compensation . . . for any form of outside activity related to the book,” McNamara said.
The panel said Cuomo’s book proceeds should be turned over to state Attorney General Letitia James, whose office’s investigative report forced the threeterm Democrat’s resignation after substantiating a slew of accusations of mistreatment and sexual harassment leveled against Cuomo by staffers.
“It is ordered that by no later than 30 days from the date of this resolution, Gov. Cuomo pay over to the attorney general of the state of New York an amount equal to the compensation paid to him for his outside activities related to the book,” the resolution says.
James would determine to whom the profits would be distributed.
Whether the state can claw back the profits from Cuomo’s self-congratulatory pandemic memoir remains to be seen, with some ethics experts questioning the legality, along with the ex-governor himself. James issued a statement saying, “We are currently reviewing JCOPE’s vote and determining how best to move forward.” Cuomo’s office said earlier that he netted about $1.5 million after taxes and expenses for the book last year, with one-third donated to the United Way of New York state and the rest plowed into an irrevocable trust for his three grown daughters. “JCOPE has exactly zero authority to issue an order such as this,” said David Grandeau, a former executive director of the ethics agency. “All it [the law] says is JCOPE has the right to issue opinions and opinions are like a--holes, and in JCOPE’s case, there’s 13 of them. There’s just no authority to issue it. “Fisher, the Cuomo appointee and dissenter, said during a brief debate at Tuesday’s meeting that JCOPE “lacked the authority” to order the former governor to yield the book proceeds and it had “no basis” to name the AG as the recipient and arbiter of the funds.
But other commissioners, including James Yates, an appointee of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx), said it would be counterintuitive and wrong for JCOPE to revoke its approval of the book deal only to let Cuomo off the hook by letting him pocket the profits.
The deal also is being investigated by James, the FBI and the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office. The state Assembly Judiciary Committee’s impeachment report found that Cuomo used staffers extensively to help prepare the book — although he insisted the work was done voluntarily and legally.
His team was also accused of lowballing coronavirus-related nursing-home deaths as he negotiated the deal, leading to claims he was trying to look better to make a quick buck off the tragedy.
Cuomo’s lawyer called JCOPE’s move illegal and vowed to challenge it in court.
“JCOPE’s actions today are unconstitutional, exceed its own authority and appear to be driven by political interests rather than the facts and the law,” said attorney Jim McGuire.
“Should they seek to enforce this action, we’ll see them in court.”