Cuomo, in Writing, Reinterprets Fund-Raising Ban on Appointees

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/nyregion/cuomo-appointee-donations-campaign-finance.html

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After seven years as governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo has rewritten the disclaimer language on his campaign website that describes which of his appointees are banned from donating to his campaign, potentially opening the door for more appointees to contribute.

The new language follows a report by The New York Times last month that showed Mr. Cuomo had raised about $890,000 from his appointees to more than a dozen state boards and commissions. These contributions came despite an executive order Mr. Cuomo signed on his first day in office that was designed to block donations by most appointees.

In response to the story, Mr. Cuomo’s office offered two interpretations of the directive that significantly narrowed the number of appointees who would be barred from donating. The governor’s office first said that it applied only to board members who could be fired by the governor. The administration later added that, in order to come under the ban, individuals also had to hold positions that required them to file financial disclosure reports.

Neither of those caveats appeared on Mr. Cuomo’s own website — until recently.

“The campaign clarified the language on its contribution page to avoid any confusion,” said Gita Tiku, Mr. Cuomo’s campaign finance director.

But government watchdogs said putting the new language on the website was even worse than the reinterpretation itself, because it may make some appointees more likely to donate.

“Within the context of all the corruption trials, which show the way in which money yields power in Albany, expanding the number of people who can contribute to the governor’s campaign funds is not the reform that’s needed,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, an advocacy group. “It’s going in the wrong direction.”

The new disclaimer language leaves out appointees to public authorities, which represent some of the most influential bodies in state government, including the New York Thruway Authority, the New York Power Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway, bus and commuter rail system in and around New York City.

The old disclaimer read: “No State agency officer or employee who serves at the pleasure of the governor or their appointing authority or members of state public authority or other boards appointed by the governor may contribute to and/or fund-raise for Andrew Cuomo 2018.”

The new disclaimer is far more specific: “Under Executive Order 7, (1) New York State at-will employees, and (2) board or commission members appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the governor on a policymaking board or commission (i.e. members must file financial disclosure statements), may not contribute to and/or fund-raise for Andrew Cuomo 2018.”

So far, the Cuomo administration has identified only three relatively minor boards that meet that criteria: the Albany Convention Center Authority; the Capital Program Review Board at the M.T.A.; and the Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Abatement Board.

The new interpretation of the executive order by Mr. Cuomo is at odds with the ethics handbooks of some state boards, which prohibit appointed board members from donating.

“No board member, pursuant to executive order, may make or offer to make any monetary contribution to the campaign of the governor,” according to the ethics code for M.T.A. board members, for instance.

The executive order was first signed by Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer and then rewritten slightly by Gov. David A. Paterson when he took office. Mr. Cuomo renewed Mr. Paterson’s version of the order.

The Cuomo administration has complained that the order is “extremely vague,” but the governor has the power to update it with a stroke of his pen. He has chosen not to, instead only updating the disclaimer on his website.

The governor’s office declined to comment, and referred all questions about the changed wording to the Cuomo campaign.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, is facing a primary challenge from the actress Cynthia Nixon, who has criticized the governor’s fund-raising practices.

Since the initial story in The Times, Mr. Cuomo’s campaign has kept almost all the roughly $890,000 it raised from appointees. It returned a $2,500 donation from one appointee, which it said violated its revised interpretation of the fund-raising ban.