22 November 2021: NY Assembly Report - Cuomo Personally Profited from State Government Employees Work on Pandemic "Leadership" Book

State workers' help with Cuomo's book not always 'voluntary'

Andrew M. Cuomo stands to pocket $5.12 million from his pandemic "leadership" book deal, for a book with significant portions that were produced by state government employees during regular working hours according to the NY Assembly's impeachment probe report.

As they extensively helped former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo produce a book netting him $5.1 million, some government staff did not feel the assistance was voluntary, according to an investigative report by the state Assembly.

The report rebuts Cuomo's contention that their work was voluntary and not done on government time. While the Assembly is no longer seeking to impeach Cuomo following his resignation in August, the evidence could be crucial in the pending criminal investigation by Attorney General Letitia James' office, which is examining potential misuse of government resources in the production of Cuomo's book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."

The report said staff assisted with the governor's making of the book "as part of the regular course of work in the Executive Chamber, including during normal work hours."

The investigation, conducted by a private law firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell, said an unnamed "senior state official explained that book-related assignments were given by superiors and expected to be completed, and the work was not voluntary."

Cuomo failed to cooperate in “any meaningful way” with the Assembly's investigation, and key senior officials also declined to cooperate, the report states....

According to the report, certain senior Executive Chamber officials and Cuomo-appointed COVD-19 Task Force members also spent significant time working on “American Crisis.”

“One task force member explained that book-related assignments were given in the same manner as other, state-related COVID work assignments,” the report states. “That task force member performed substantial work on the book and did not recall ever volunteering to do so.”

The report also provides the following information about Andrew M. Cuomo's book deal negotiations:

The report also revealed that a Penguin representative stated that there was a “strict deadline” to publish before the 2020 presidential election, and Cuomo assured that target would be met. On July 8, 2020, according to the report, an auction process began and involved three publishers. The bidding started at $750,000 but escalated into the $5 million range, with Penguin prevailing two days later.

That is the same day that Cuomo first sought approval from the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics to write the book, although by that time, it was already substantially completed. Also on July 10, Cuomo made a misleading public statement in a radio interview about the progress, stating, "I am now thinking about writing a book."

When Cuomo sought approval from the ethics commission, special counsel Judith Mogul explicitly promised that government personnel would not be used. And in approving the book project on July 17 last year, a staff member for the commission wrote that state personnel could not be utilized as a condition of the approval.

According to the Assembly report, the book contract was negotiated over the next week, guaranteeing compensation of more than $5 million in royalty advances. The package also provided for additional “refresher bonuses” of around $1.25 million if certain earnings targets were reached. Yet in an August 2020 radio appearance, Cuomo stated that he would make a substantial amount of money, “only if [I] sell a lot of copies."

In other words, Cuomo publicly lied about the money he would make from the book deal.