16 November 2021: JCOPE Rejects Cuomo's Book Deal on Third Attempt

Cuomo's book approval rescinded by ethics panel, jeopardizing millions

The commissioners of New York's Joint Committee on Public Ethics (JCOPE) have finally succeed in revoking the approval its lower level staff members granted to Andrew M. Cuomo for his $5.12 million pandemic "leadership" book deal. Here's an excerpt of the leading news coverage:

New York’s ethics commission voted to rescind approval of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s book deal, paving the way for commissioners to potentially claw back millions in proceeds paid to the ex-governor.

By a vote of 12-1, commissioners of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted to rescind the approval granted by JCOPE staff last year for Cuomo to write “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The motion to rescind was put forward by Commissioner David McNamara, a Senate Republican appointee to the panel.

In July 2020, JCOPE deputy counsel Martin Levine approved Cuomo’s request to write the book about his early handling of the pandemic, a project that ended up netting Cuomo a $5.1 million publishing deal. But it's since emerged that Cuomo used government staff to help edit and produce the book, something that his government attorney at the time, Judith Mogul, had explicitly stated would not occur as she sought the staff’s approval that summer....

With approval of JCOPE’s permission to write the book now rescinded, Cuomo will have the opportunity to apply for a new approval. If that request is not sought, or if a new approval is not granted, commissioners could then begin the process of seeking to force Cuomo to repay millions in profits to his book publisher, Crown New York.

If this story is any indication, this may soon shape up to be a very bad week for Andrew M. Cuomo.