Ethics commission revokes decision to allow Andrew Cuomo's book deal: report

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) has revoked it's previous approval of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's memoir, POLITICO reports.

Now, Cuomo will have to reapply in order to get approval, if he gets it at all. If he's denied, Cuomo may have to fork over the $5.1 million advance he was paid for his book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic."

"These JCOPE members are acting outside the scope of their authority and are carrying the water of the politicians who appointed them," Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement. "It is the height of hypocrisy for [Gov. Kathy] Hochul and the legislature's appointees to take this position, given that these elected officials routinely use their own staff for political and personal assistance on their own time."

JCOPE says the revocation was partly because authorization was granted by JCOPE staff and not the full commission. They also said Cuomo misrepresented how the book was going to be written and "did not clearly state that state employees were going to volunteer."

Read more at POLITICO.