1 October 2021: NY's Impotent Ethics Commission May Probe Itself Over Cuomo Book Deal

JCOPE mulls internal Cuomo book inquiry

How messed up is the Joint Committee on Public Ethics? This report indicates the body may soon investigate its own staff for their role in greenlighting Andrew M. Cuomo's pandemic "leadership" book deal. That would be the same book that leaks from the upcoming NY Assembly's impeachment probe report indicates will show Cuomo personally profited from unlawfully diverting state resources to produce it.

New York's ethics commission will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, and according to a person with knowledge of the matter, is set to discuss whether to launch an internal inquiry into last year's approval of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's $5.1 million book deal.

While a meeting notice issued on Friday did not list the meeting's topic, a source said that a motion is likely to be put forward by David McNamara, a Senate Republican appointee on the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, seeking the internal inquiry.

During a conference call on Thursday with JCOPE commissioners, the body's executive director, Sanford Berland, was said to have resisted launching the inquiry looking at the actions of their staff, as well as those of certain former commissioners, since it could hurt morale.

At the JCOPE meeting scheduled for Tuesday, if the motion receives eight commissioner votes in favor and moves ahead, the review would likely focus on how JCOPE's deputy general counsel, Martin Levine, came to approve Cuomo's book deal on July, 17, 2020. The book, "American Crisis," focused on Cuomo's early response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The move comes shortly after a leak indicating the NY Assembly's impeachment probe will confirm Andrew M. Cuomo unlawfully diverted state resources to produce the book from which he personally profited to the tune of $5.12 million.

As for why we described JCOPE as impotent in the headline for this entry, that's because of Sanford Berland's odd choice to put the "morale" of the commission's staff ahead of the public's interest. That's the kind of signal that gives aid and comfort to those who aspire to get all they can get from looking the other way at ethical misconduct.