Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is behaving like a candidate for office despite his reluctance to commit to a bid, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
Cuomo’s conduct “fits the definition of candidate set forth in Election Law,” Michael Johnson, chief enforcement counsel for the election board, ruled in response to a Sept. 9, 2021, complaint from government reform group Common Cause/NY suggesting the former governor misappropriated campaign funds after he left office.
“Although former Governor Cuomo has not announced any explicit plan to run for a specific office, his conduct fits the definition of candidate set forth in Election Law … New York Election Law does not prohibit a former office holder, or anyone else from using campaign funds to test the waters for a future political candidacy,” Johnson wrote Monday, adding the matter was “now closed.”
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Rich Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, celebrated the finding.
“Once again Albany insiders made allegations that laws were broken in an attempt to create headlines and advance their political agenda only to have those actually in charge of enforcing the law determine that no violation took place,” he wrote in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
Common Cause/NY said it was “outraged” but “not surprised” by Johnson’s decision.
“Common Cause/NY is outraged, but not surprised, that the BOE Enforcement Counsel has failed to [rein] in Cuomo’s egregious misuse of campaign funds for personal use,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY. “New York’s campaign finance laws are already porous, but the lack of enforcement renders them all but meaningless … Lawmakers must explore real solutions to hold Cuomo accountable immediately.”
A candidate is defined as someone who has “received contributions or made expenditures, given his consent for any other person to receive contributions or make expenditures, with a view to bring about his nomination for election, or election, to any office or position at any time whether in the year in which such contributions or expenditures are made or at any other time.”
Common Cause/NY alleged in last September’s filing that Cuomo “left office with a campaign war chest of over $18 million” and “almost immediately” hired a spokesman, “apparently paying for those services from his campaign funds.”
“This raises questions about the appropriate use of his campaign funds. News articles point out that the former governor has no current plans to run for office and it is indisputable that he does not currently hold office,” the filing with the Board of Elections said. “Therefore, under the express provisions of [New York election laws], former Governor Cuomo cannot legally pay the salary of a spokesman out of his campaign funds.”
Despite leaving office on Aug. 24, 2021, amid sexual harassment allegations, there has been chatter about Cuomo, who has denied all claims of inappropriate touching, returning to public office.
“I’ve learned a powerful lesson and paid a very high price for learning that lesson,” Cuomo teased on Sunday in his first public remarks since departing office. “God isn’t finished with me yet.”
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The former governor further stoked the fire with a recent ad blitz blasting prosecutors — particularly Attorney General Letitia James, whose bombshell Aug. 3, 2021, report precipitated Cuomo’s ouster — for costing the state “a proven leader.”
Because he was never impeached, Cuomo is eligible to pursue the governorship again. But incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, who served as his lieutenant governor, has consolidated support around her bid for a full term, earning the backing of the New York Democratic Party’s state convention on Feb. 17. Still, evidence suggests Cuomo would present a formidable challenge to his onetime running mate, with a recent poll indicating the two are in a statistical dead heat.
