14 June 2022: Ethics Commissioner Accuses Cuomo's Attorney of Defamation

Ethics commissioner accuses Cuomo's attorney of defamation

Andrew M. Cuomo's legal problems have kicked up a notch. This report describes a new legal complaint filed by JCOPE commissioner Gary Lavine. The following excerpt gives the basic details:

A commissioner for the state's embattled ethics panel, which is scheduled to be shut down and replaced in a few weeks, is suing former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's attorney, accusing her of defamation for publicly alleging he leaked confidential information to the press.

The complaint was filed recently in state Supreme Court in Onondaga County by Gary J. Lavine, a commissioner with the Joint Commission on Public Ethics. He alleges Rita M. Glavin, Cuomo's attorney, defamed him in an April 1 letter she sent to the state inspector general's office accusing him of leaking confidential information about Cuomo's dealings with the ethics panel.

"I want my name cleared," Lavine said Tuesday when contacted about his lawsuit. The petition claims Glavin publicly filed the leak accusation to gain an "improper advantage" in Cuomo's litigation against the ethics commission as well as to intimidate Lavine from performing his duties as a member of the panel.

The next excerpt gives more background into the specifics of the actions taken by Cuomo's legal defense team that prompted Lavine's legal response:

In the six-page complaint that Glavin filed with the inspector general's office in April, she asserted that "confidentiality breaches have prejudiced Gov. Cuomo’s privacy rights and compromised the independence of the JCOPE commissioners and staff by exerting public pressure on them." She added that on "numerous occasions" between August and March, news outlets published stories about the commission's "plans, decisions, thought processes, and information" relating to its deliberations and resolutions calling for Cuomo to return his book proceeds.

Cuomo disputes he misused government resources to produce the book.

In comments two months ago, Lavine denied disclosing confidential information from the ethics panel's deliberations or investigations.

"Cuomo acknowledged publicly that his staff had worked on writing, editing and advancing the publication of the book. There was nothing confidential about it at all," Lavine said. "The original opinion that he got from (a commission staff member) would have been confidential but he divulged it publicly. Once it's in the public domain it's not confidential anymore."

The legal strategy adopted by Andrew M. Cuomo's attorneys appears to rely on claiming Cuomo is the victim of a widespread and bipartisan political conspiracy.