24 March 2022: Hochul Seeks to Pay Legal Fees for Ex-Cuomo Staffers

Hochul seeks to pay $5 million in legal fees for ex-Cuomo staffers

This report describes replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul's efforts to pay the legal bills of Andrew M. Cuomo's staffers, in what looks like her putting the financial interests of Democratic party insiders/Cuomo staffers ahead of New York taxpayers. The following excerpt shows how bad legal advice from one of Cuomo's attorneys, who also happened to be on the state government payroll, led a number of staffers to hire private attorneys to defend their tangental roles in Andrew M. Cuomo's multiple scandals.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is seeking to spend up to $5 million in taxpayer money to pay the legal bills of dozens of current and former state employees who got caught up in the sexual harassment scandal that forced ex-Gov Andrew Cuomo from office, The Post has learned....

The state workers hired private lawyers on the advice of Cuomo’s former special counsel and senior adviser Beth Garvey after James launched a probe that led to a blockbuster report in which she accused the thrice-elected governor of sexually harassing 11 current or former state employees, the source said.

Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing but admitted in his resignation speech, “There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate.”

None of the legal retainer agreements signed by the workers were pre-approved by the Comptroller’s Office and several of them have been unable to obtain reimbursement for their bills, the source said.

Had the staffers received better legal advice, directing them to obtain approval from the Comptroller's office before hiring their own private attorneys, this situation could have been avoided. And because they followed the advice they were given, they were screwed....

“Upon taking office, we conducted a thorough and extensive legal review and determined there was no legal basis to authorize these contracts and make these payments,” spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said.

But not, if they set aside funds to pay for any of these staffers' private lawyers, the state might be put on the hook for the actions of the staffers who are intricately involved in Andrew M. Cuomo's scandals, such as former Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa:

It’s unclear if Hochul will try to prevent DeRosa or others accused by James of taking “retaliatory” actions against Cuomo’s accusers from getting their bills paid, with the source saying “it’s premature” but adding that Hochul was reviewing all “legal options.”

We think Hochul isn't going to be capable of separating the unfortunate from the corrupt in determining which lawyers will be paid among all of Andrew M. Cuomo's staffers.

Additional Sources

The Wall Street Journal has deeper coverage of the story.