Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been ordered to pay back the $5.1 million he received for a book he wrote while in office last year.
The Times Union reports the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) voted 12-1 Tuesday on a resolution requiring the former governor to repay, within 30 days, all the money he received from sales of his 2020 book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic.” The book detailed his early response to the Covid-19 pandemic and landed on the New York Times’ best-seller list, reportedly selling more than 45,000 copies.
Cuomo’s book deal was previously approved by the ethics panel with a requirement that he write it “entirely on his own time, without the use of state resources or personnel.” However, it later emerged that he used his own staff to help edit and produce the book; Cuomo’s spokesman claimed staffers worked on the project voluntarily, which several state employees disputed.
The JCOPE revoked its approval last month.
“Gov. Cuomo is not legally entitled to retain compensation... for any form of outside activity related to the book,” said a resolution drafted by commissioner David McNamara, a Senate Republican appointee.
According to The New York Post, the panel determined Cuomo’s profits should be turned over to New York State Attorney General Letitia James to determine how the money will be distributed —to the state, book publisher Crown New York, or others.
The Crown Publishing Group stopped promoting Cuomo’s book in March as he faced a wave of scandals, including undercounting the number of Covid deaths in nursing homes. Cuomo resigned as governor in August after an investigation overseen by AG James concluded he sexually harassed 11 women in the workplace.
Cuomo’s lawyer, Jim McGuire, said in a statement Tuesday vowed to challenge the JCOPE’s demand he repay the book profits.
“JCOPE’s actions today are unconstitutional, exceed its own authority and appear to be driven by political interests rather than the facts and the law,” McGuire said. “Should they seek to enforce this action, we’ll see them in court.”
According to the Times Union, former Onondaga County deputy executive Bill Fisher was the lone vote against the motion, agreeing with McGuire that the JCOPE lacked the legal authority to issue the order. Fisher was appointed by Cuomo to the JCOPE, which regulates lobbying in New York and investigates ethics complaints against public officials, in 2019 after he stepped down as deputy to County Executive Joanie Mahoney.
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