19 April 2021: DiNapoli Refers Cuomo Pandemic Book Scandal Case to State AG

Cuomo May Be Investigated Over Possibly Misusing State Resources on Book

This report indicates New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is willing to provide a referral to New York Attorney General Letitia James to open a criminal investigation over the misuse of state resources to produce Governor Cuomo's pandemic "leadership" book:

The New York State comptroller has issued a referral authorizing the state attorney general to begin a possible criminal investigation into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s use of state resources in relation to his most recent book.

The potential investigation follows a March 31 report in The New York Times and subsequent reporting in other publications that detailed how junior staff members and senior aides worked on “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” the governor’s dramatic retelling of the battle against the virus.

The office of the state attorney general, Letitia James, did not have any immediate comment on the comptroller’s letter, though in most cases, such a referral would trigger an investigation.

So why would DiNapoli pass the buck on making a similar referral for James to conduct a criminal investigation of the outcome of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive? The best answer we've seen to date is that other, bigger scandal would expose too many officials in New York's state government to criminal liability.

By contrast, Governor Cuomo's book deal scandal involves implicating far fewer officials, which may explain why a political party loyalist like DiNapoli chose to make a referral in this instance, but not in the other.