NY’s top court rejects Andrew Cuomo’s push to blow up state ethics board

New York’s highest court rejected former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s attempt to strip the state ethics board of its enforcement power Tuesday, ensuring the panel can continue investigating his controversial $5.1 million COVID-era book deal.

In a 4-3 decision, the Court of Appeals ruled the structure of the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government, or COELIG, does not violate the separation of powers laid out in the state constitution.

The former governor — who is now weighing a run for New York City mayor — filed suit against the commission two years ago as it considered whether to claw back the proceeds from his 2020 pandemic memoir, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic." He argued COELIG’s structure unconstitutionally stripped the state executive branch of its power to investigate and enforce ethics laws, since the board’s members are confirmed by a panel of law school deans and not the governor.

But a majority of the Court of Appeals disagreed Tuesday, reversing a lower court’s decision and allowing the ethics board to continue its work.

Government “cannot function if the public perceives that those entrusted with public power are unaccountable when they misuse their authority for private gain,” Judge Jenny Rivera, who was appointed by Cuomo in 2013, wrote in the majority opinion.

In a statement, Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said the former governor intends to file a motion asking the court to reconsider, noting the lower courts had ruled unanimously in Cuomo’s favor.

“[It] is disturbing that any judge of New York’s highest court would countenance flagrant violations of the constitution when it conflicts with what is most convenient to the political class,” Azzopardi said.

The decision marks the latest in what has been a four-year quest by state ethics enforcers to potentially take back Cuomo’s book proceeds. But the implications are far broader.

Had Cuomo been successful, COELIG — which Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers created in 2022 — would have lost its ability to enforce the state’s lobbying and public officers laws, effectively rendering it powerless.

State Attorney General Letitia James cheered the ruling, saying it would ensure the state has a “strong, independent ethics watchdog.”

Cuomo, a Democrat, struck his lucrative book deal with Crown Publishing Group during the worst days of the pandemic in 2020, when he was delivering daily gubernatorial briefings that drew a national audience.

A prior iteration of the state ethics board gave Cuomo approval to write the book, but that was conditioned on him not using state resources to complete the project. After a rash of news stories detailing extensive work on the book by some of Cuomo’s top aides — which his administration said was on a volunteer basis — the prior board launched an investigation.

COELIG picked up the investigation after its creation, prompting Cuomo’s lawsuit. His attorneys argued the law creating the commission was unconstitutional because the governor doesn’t have the ability to remove the panel’s members, who instead can be removed by a vote of the board's other members. The attorneys argued the law violated the governor’s authority to enforce state ethics law in the executive branch.

In their majority opinion, the appeals court judges said the law “extends very close to the boundary of permissible legislation.” But the judges found it didn’t cross the line.

“The [law] does not displace the executive branch to accomplish that goal; instead, it confers upon an independent agency power to enforce a narrow set of laws,” Rivera wrote.

Chief Judge Rowan Wilson and Judges Shirley Troutman and Caitlin Halligan concurred with Rivera. Wilson was originally appointed by Cuomo to the court, while Hochul elevated him to chief judge. Troutman and Halligan were appointed by Hochul.

The three judges who dissented Tuesday were Michael Garcia, Madeline Singas and Saliann Scarpulla.

Garcia and Singas were both appointed to the court by Cuomo, while Scarpulla is a lower-court judge who was elevated to hear the case after Judge Anthony Cannataro recused himself.