Tuesday,
February 18, 2025
Year : 2, Issue: 25
New York’s top court on Tuesday affirmed the constitutionality of an ethics watchdog created three years ago to stem public corruption, rejecting arguments from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government had been fighting for its survival after Cuomo’s lawyers persuaded lower courts that the panel was given unconstitutional enforcement powers. Cuomo contended that the law creating the agency violated the separation of powers mandated under the state constitution, since enforcing ethics laws is a power that belongs to the executive branch.
A divided Court of Appeals sided with the commission, reversing lower court rulings.
Judge Jenny Rivera wrote in a majority opinion that the law creating the commission gives it narrow powers to avoid having top state officials regulating their own ethics.
“Given the danger of self-regulation, the Legislature and the Governor have determined that there is an urgent need for the robust, impartial enforcement of the State’s ethics and lobbying laws,” Rivera wrote.
The commission was formed by the Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul as a more independent alternative to a previous ethics panel widely criticized for being overly beholden to top government officials. It debuted in the wake of Cuomo’s 2021 resignation in a sexual harassment scandal.
Cuomo was fighting an attempt by the commission that could force him to forfeit $5 million he got for writing a book about his administration’s efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. State officials claim Cuomo hadn’t kept a promise not to use any state resources on the book. Cuomo denies those allegations.
