Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has achieved a legal victory in his fight against the state’s new ethics panel, COELIG, which was created to take the place of the criticized Joint Commission on Public Ethics. The panel had ordered Cuomo to hand over proceeds from his pandemic-era book deal, but a mid-level appellate court upheld a lower court judge’s decision to dismantle the commission. The court ruled that the Legislature violated separation of powers principles, allowing Cuomo to retain the $5 million in profits from his book deal. This decision is likely to mark the end of the short-lived ethics panel, as the state will have to seek permission from the same panel to appeal to the state’s highest court.
Cuomo had filed a lawsuit last year to fight COELIG’s efforts to have him give up his book deal profits from the memoir “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The court supported Cuomo’s argument that the appointment process for COELIG members lacked checks and balances and improperly limited the Governor’s role in ensuring ethical compliance. Despite the criticism from good government groups, the court’s decision to dismantle COELIG stands. The attorney general’s office is reviewing the ruling, which may mark the end of the commission that aimed to bring more independence to ethics oversight.
The decision to scrap COELIG has been celebrated by Cuomo, who resigned as Governor in 2021 amidst sexual harassment and ethics complaints that he denies. A spokesperson for Cuomo praised the court’s ruling as putting an end to a “partisan and baseless prosecution.” Cuomo has maintained that no one is above the law or the constitution and hopes that the legal battle against the ethics panel will finally come to an end with this ruling. The future of ethics oversight in New York remains uncertain, with good government groups calling for greater independence in the process.
The court’s unanimous decision emphasizes the need for a more independent ethics oversight system in New York, highlighting concerns about the lack of checks and balances in the appointment process for COELIG. The judges argue that the current system undermines the Governor’s ability to ensure ethical compliance, making it important to review and potentially revise the process for appointing members to ethics commissions. Good government groups have voiced their support for greater independence in ethics oversight and are urging the state’s highest court to overturn the decision to dismantle COELIG.
Despite the court’s ruling in favor of Cuomo and the dismantling of COELIG, the broader issue of ethics oversight in New York remains unresolved. The decision to scrap the commission may pave the way for further legal battles and calls for reform in the appointment process for members of ethics panels. Cuomo’s legal victory demonstrates the complexities of balancing ethics compliance with separation of powers principles in government. The attorney general’s office’s review of the decision will shed light on the next steps in the ongoing efforts to establish effective and independent ethics oversight in the state. As the legal battle continues, stakeholders will need to work together to address the challenges and ensure accountability and transparency in government operations.
