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New York|Court Rules Against Cuomo’s Attempt to Dismantle State Ethics Panel
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/nyregion/cuomo-book-deal-ny-court-ruling.html
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New York’s highest court rejected the former governor’s push to undermine an ethics commission that had been investigating a $5.1 million book deal he received for a memoir.
Feb. 18, 2025, 3:56 p.m. ET
New York’s highest court on Tuesday rejected efforts by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to dismantle a state ethics commission that had been investigating a $5.1 million book deal he had received, ruling that the body’s creation was constitutional.
The 4-3 decision was a blow to Mr. Cuomo, who had sued the commission, known as the State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, and who appears to be gearing up for a run for New York City mayor. Mr. Cuomo resigned as governor in 2021 amid scandals related to his oversight of the state during the coronavirus pandemic and accusations of sexual misconduct, charges he denies.
Mr. Cuomo had argued that the 11-member commission removed enforcement powers from the governor, making its creation unconstitutional. Lawyers for the state defended the commission, saying that the notion of separation of powers was flexible enough to permit overlap between the branches of government.
Writing for the majority, Jenny Rivera, an associate judge with the State Court of Appeals, concluded that the creation of the body had come “very close to the boundary of permissible legislation” but that Mr. Cuomo’s “contention that the commission is controlled by ‘legislative agents’ is without merit.”
“The state has a paramount interest in promoting public trust in government by ensuring impartial enforcement of the ethics and lobbying laws and the act furthers that goal,” Judge Rivera wrote, referring to the 2022 law that created the commission.
In 2020, Mr. Cuomo sought and received approval from a precursor to the commission, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, to write a memoir titled “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the Covid-19 Pandemic.” Amid the scandals that led to Mr. Cuomo’s resignation, the commission reversed its approval in 2021 and ordered him to turn over the $5.1 million advance he had received for the book. It had determined that Mr. Cuomo had broken his promise not to use state resources to finish the memoir.
