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Embattled State Ethics Commission JCOPE Authorizes Outside Probe Of Itself Around Cuomo's Book Deal
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Oct 5, 2021
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JCOPE
By
Gwynne Hogan
Published Oct 5, 2021
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New York State’s embattled ethics commission is slated hire an outside law firm to investigate how it handled former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s request for permission to write his pandemic-era memoir American Crisis.
The approval of an attorney from the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics the summer of 2020 allowed Cuomo to secure a $5.1 million contract with Crown Publishing Group, on top of his tax-payer funded salary of more than $200,000.
But that approval process was shrouded in secrecy for months, as was the book deal itself. Good government groups raised red flags about it, and those concerns intensified after various reports revealed state resources were used during the drafting and editing process.
Cuomo’s book deal is also the subject of an ongoing criminal probe from State Attorney General Letitia James’s office as well as an inquiry from the State Assembly.
During a more than two-hour long executive session Tuesday afternoon, JCOPE commissioners voted to hire outside counsel to investigate the matter, after which the newly-appointed JCOPE Chair Jose Nieves described the agreement in vague terms.
“The commission has voted to approve the retention of independent counsel to conduct an inquiry into the legal and procedural operations of the commission,” Nieves said, declining to specify what the inquiry was about or if the findings would be released publicly. Nieves was tapped by Governor Kathy Hochul on Monday to take over from a Cuomo appointee who was filling in on an interim basis.
Leading up to the marathon closed-door session, Republican appointee to the commission David McNamara tried to get the matter defined in the public record, requesting a statement from the commission’s leadership about the consideration of a probe that would look how it allowed Cuomo to “engage in the outside activity of....publishing for personal profit the book American Crisis.”
Before he was finished, McNamara was cut off by Nieves and the commission promptly moved into a closed-door session without any further public comment in a matter of less than five minutes. A spokesperson for JCOPE declined to comment further beyond what Nieves had said in the public session.
“If JCOPE wants to investigate JCOPE, have at it," said Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo's campaign when asked about JCOPE's vote Tuesday.
The JCOPE vote could indicate an attempt by the commission to regain some of its autonomy and credibility after allegations that Cuomo exerted too much influence over it. The panel’s fate is unclear, and Hochul has indicated she wants to push for more broader ethics reform.
This is also the second time in recent months that the commission has requested for a probe of its own actions. In an August vote, JCOPE requested Attorney General James’ office to investigate a potential leak of confidential information to Cuomo regarding his top aide and close friend Joe Percocco, who is now serving time in federal prison for corruption charges.
“Progress is being made,” said Gary Lavine, a Republican appointee to the JCOPE Commission and longtime critic of Cuomo’s book approval process, though his optimism was measured. “The question is, ‘Is the progress so slow that it’s going to evolve into a taffy pull in which it’s all just stretched out?’”
As favor began to turn against Cuomo last spring in the wake of a string of allegations of bullying and sexual harassment, his lucrative book deal, secured at the height of his pandemic popularity, came under increasing scrutiny.
In order for Cuomo to write his pandemic memoir last summer, he first needed a sign-off from JCOPE, the would-be arbitrator of state ethics laws. But the full commission never voted on the request.
In correspondence released through Freedom of Information requests months later, Executive Chamber attorney Judith Mogul asked for clearance in July of 2020, making no mention of how much the governor stood to gain but promising no state resources would be used. The request was approved a week later by JCOPE’s deputy general counsel Martin Levine, in between meetings of the full commission and without a commissioner’s vote on the subject, something Republican members of the commission have railed against for months. JCOPE staffers have maintained, through a spokesperson, that they regularly review and approve requests for outside income without the vote of the full commission.
“We had a sitting governor make a request of an outside activity that would result in a very significant payment to him to report on issues that arose in the course of his functions as governor,” said McNamara, in an interview with WNYC/Gothamist after the vote. “It’s a matter that should have come before the full commission.”
The former governor refused to reveal his $5.1 million payout until he finally released his tax returns in May, seven months after the memoir was published. As Cuomo’s political career imploded earlier this year sales of his book plummeted; fewer than 50,000 copies were ever sold, according to the New York Times.
Around the same time Cuomo secured the book deal last summer, his administration was actively delaying the release of information around COVID-19 deaths of nursing home residents, including changing a health department report to decrease the death count.
Tagged
Albany
andrew cuomo
attorney general
JCOPE
ethics commission
new york
Gwynne Hogan
Gwynne Hogan is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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