18 December 2021: Editorial - Clawing Back Cuomo's Book Deal Millions Is the Right Thing to Do

In Our Opinion: JCOPE made right call on Cuomo deal

The editors of the Daily Star in Oneonta, New York argue JCOPE's effort to claw back the millions Andrew M. Cuomo personally gained from his pandemic "leadership" book produced largely by state government employees is the right thing to do.

A separate state Assembly investigation released last month found evidence that Cuomo, who resigned in August amid sexual harassment allegations, had his staff spend plenty of time on the project.

Staff members told investigators they were asked to perform book tasks during their work day, including transcribing dictations, printing and delivering documents, and attending meetings with agents and publishers. One senior state official sent and received 1,000 emails about the book, the legislative report said.

Cuomo spokesperson Richard Azzopardi said those allegations are false: "This is political hypocrisy and duplicity at its worst. Governor Cuomo received a JCOPE opinion and advice of counsel stating that government resources could not be used — and they weren't — and any staffer who assisted in this project did so on their own time, which was reflected on their timesheets."

To us, it doesn't really matter. If he said he wasn't going to use state personnel, no state personnel should have had a hand in the project. It is almost impossible to determine if staffers are doing book work on work time or on volunteer time, especially if they are salaried. It also can't be determined if staffers may have been pressured into "volunteering" in the effort.

If Cuomo really wanted to keep it above board, no state resources should have been used.

There are so many other things wrong with the deal, mostly that much of it was based on false pretenses. The nursing home number debacle alone shows that his "leadership" left a lot to be desired....

Efforts to claw back the money could be complicated, because Cuomo already disbursed $1.5 million to a charity and a trust for his three daughters.

We hope the JCOPE's determination stands, and the deeply flawed governor will not be able to profit from his deeply flawed book.

Andrew M. Cuomo could have made different choices. He chose what for him was the very easy path of corruption.