Ethics Watchdog CREW Files Complaint Against Cuomo for ‘Using His Campaign’ to Sell Books

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

A left-leaning watchdog group filed a complaint against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Thursday, alleging that he improperly used his campaign to sell copies of his book about leadership.

Cuomo “appears to have broken the law by using his campaign to help sell his book,” the group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, charged in a press release accompanying its complaint. “Election law expressly prohibits the use of campaign funds for personal use.”

The book, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, was released in October, and centered on Cuomo’s experience governing during the coronavirus pandemic. CREW accused Cuomo of “repeatedly” promoting his book with emails to supporters and on his official social media accounts. The group said the communications constituted expenditures made “exclusively” for Cuomo’s benefit.

The complaint, which was filed with the New York State Board of Elections, also displayed photographs of some of the offending messages, including an Oct. 11, 2020 message allegedly written by Cuomo’s daughters and shared on Facebook and by email. “Dad’s new book … will be published this week,” the post said. “The book tells the story of how his team and all New Yorkers met the moment when the pandemic hit our state.”

Campaign finance rules related to candidates promoting their own merchandise vary by state. The Federal Election Commission, which holds authority over congressional campaigns, has also faced questions about books authored by candidates in the past. That commission has been relatively generous to candidates on the issue, even ruling that a campaign could purchase a candidate’s books if it intended to give them to supporters.

However, CREW also questioned whether Cuomo ordered employees to work on the communications. “The time of a campaign worker or consultant has value,” the group wrote. “The email ostensibly from Cuomo’s daughters likely was drafted and/or edited by an employee or consultant of Cuomo for New York. Campaign employees or consultants also likely spent time drafting, editing, and posting the social media posts promoting sales of the book, and arranging for the email to be sent. By using the time of campaign employees and/or consultants to promote the book, Cuomo for New York used campaign funds for Governor Cuomo’s personal benefit.”

The complaint could add to Cuomo’s woes. The FBI is presently investigating whether his administration reported false information about nursing home deaths during the pandemic, while former federal prosecutor Joon Kim is leading a probe into allegations of sexual harassment levied against Cuomo by a number of his former staffers.

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