A New York state judge on Friday questioned a key component of the law creating the state’s new ethics board, which former Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to dismantle as part of his effort to hang on to the $5.1 million he reaped from his 2020 book on the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Albany County Court, state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Marcelle heard two hours of arguments about Cuomo’s lawsuit, which seeks to quash the newly minted Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government’s ability to investigate alleged misdeeds — such as Cuomo’s book, the subject of an upcoming hearing — and impose any penalties.
Cuomo’s attorneys argued the new ethics commission, which is known as COELIG and was created last year by Gov. Kathy Hochul and lawmakers, violates the constitutional separation of powers, in large part by giving final approval of its members to a group of deans from New York’s 15 law schools and preventing the governor from removing any of them.
“It’s a quintessential example of who is watching the watchers,” said Gregory Dubinsky, one of Cuomo’s lawyers. “Only themselves, apparently.”
On that point, Marcelle appeared sympathetic — though he cautioned it may not be indicative of how he may ultimately rule.
The judge took issue with language in the law allowing the deans to accept or reject a nominee based on their “lived experience,” which he said was a subjective criteria. Marcelle said he’s “a little concerned” the law doesn’t hold the deans, whom he called the “1% of the 1% of the 1%,” accountable to the public.
“As you can tell, I’m not a big fan of that, the Cornell Law School dean notwithstanding,” said Marcelle, a Cornell alum.
Cuomo filed the suit against COELIG earlier this year after the board notified him it had scheduled an ethics hearing on his book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Cuomo, who was still in office at the time and enjoying a boost in fame thanks to his daily…
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