27 April 2023: Cuomo Sues Ethics Commission Reviewing Book Deal

Cuomo sues ethics commission reviewing book deal

The resigned-in-disgrace former governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo, emerged from his hibernation to engage in litigation against New York's new ethics commission. Here's an excerpt from this report:

As he faces still-ongoing ethics investigations into his $5 million book deal about his COVID-19 pandemic response, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is now suing New York’s newest ethics commission, arguing the body is too independent from the governor to be constitutional.

The Democrat’s lawsuit comes ahead of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Governments’ scheduled meeting on June 12, when it is expected to scrutinize the deal and allegations that the Democrat had staff members work on the book while on government time. Cuomo’s lawyers have maintained staff members worked on the book on their own time.

Because it's been several months, here's some background into the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Governments, which goes by the catchy acronym "COELIG":

COELIG was created last year to replace the much-maligned Joint Commission on Public Ethics, which was created in 2011 by then-Gov. Cuomo as an independent body to combat corruption. JCOPE originally approved the book deal in 2020, but it revoked its approval following Cuomo’s resignation, arguing Cuomo misled the ethics panel during its approval. Cuomo ultimately resigned in August 2021 following the release of a report by the state Attorney General’s office detailing multiple allegations of sexual harassment. Cuomo denies the allegations.

JCOPE repeatedly sought to force Cuomo to turn over the $5 million he received for the book deal, but a judge ultimately ruled last year Cuomo could keep the book advance. Now, the new ethics commission is picking up where JCOPE left off.

The lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court Tuesday in Albany argues the commission created last year violates the state’s Constitution, because it has, “sweeping executive law-enforcement powers, including the authority to impose penalties, and yet utterly insulates the agency from any oversight by or accountability to the executive branch.”

Cuomo's legal argument boils down to a claim that an amendment to New York's state constitution is needed for the commission to have the powers granted to it by the state legislature and signed by New York's replacement governor.

Note: This article was added to the timeline on 3 May 2023. We're playing catch-up after another action by Cuomo's legal team caught our attention....