NY Post editorial board claims Cuomo's book deal is 'sufficient reason' for impeachment

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The New York Post editorial board slammed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., on Sunday, saying he committed a crime while writing his book "American Crisis" and called for an investigation into the matter.

The editorial board wrote the scandal-ridden governor received help from top aides along with other staff when writing drafts of his book about handling the coronavirus pandemic and did so knowing it violated an ethics ruling.

"It’s now clear that top aides Melissa DeRosa and Stephanie Benton plus other staff assisted Cuomo with drafts of 'American Crisis' despite an ethics ruling that cleared the deal only if he didn’t use state resources to write it. That makes it a plain violation of state law," the editorial board said. 

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Senior Advisor to the Governor Rich Azzopardi claimed the staffers who helped Cuomo did so voluntarily, but the Post editorial board believed the power the governor holds may have affected that decision.

"Cuomo flak catcher Rich Azzopardi claims that staffers acted voluntarily in helping the gov. Yet no one thinks that anyone in Cuomo World dares to tell the boss 'no'," the editorial board said. 

The board claimed DeRosa was working on the book and attending meetings with the governor and publishers while she and other top aides were trying to derail a Health Department report about coronavirus nursing home deaths. They said this action did not only protect the governor's reputation, but also "his $4 million payment for a project they were intimately involved in."

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Left-leaning government-ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint to the New York State Board of Elections alleging some of the governor's campaign funds went to the book's promotion which, as the editorial board pointed out, could put the governor in further legal trouble. 

The editorial board said the New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee has many noteworthy impeachment allegations to look into, but "shouldn’t need to investigate all of them before it reports on any of them." They concluded by urging the committee to act quickly before the governor hurt his constituents any further.

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"Clear proof of a single crime should be enough to move rapidly to get Cuomo out of office, before he can again betray the people of New York for his own selfish ends," the editorial board said.

Cuomo has refused to step down in the face of bipartisan calls for his resignation, including New York Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer.