Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo should return $5M profits from COVID book, critics say

Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo should cough up the more than $5 million he pocketed from his COVID-era memoir now that he’s seeking to become New York City mayor, one of his campaign opponents said Tuesday.

City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running in the Democratic mayoral primary, joined the chorus of critics accusing Cuomo of ghoulishly profiting off the deaths of coronavirus victims by signing the lucrative book deal during the 2020 pandemic.

“In the very week when the first deaths were occurring (Cuomo) thought ‘Oh let me go write a book and get a five million dollar bag for it,’” Lander charged at a campaign event outside publisher Random Penguin House’s Midtown offices.

“Andrew Cuomo has always and will always put his own power and glory over the needs of New Yorkers,” he seethed.

A state ethics panel already tried to force Cuomo to return the $5.1 million in book money in 2021, saying the three-term governor violated pledges not to use state resources or government staffers to prepare his personal memoir. 

It came after a state Assembly Judiciary Committee report found executive staff inappropriately helped research, draft, write and edit the book during taxpayer-funded office hours — something Cuomo has denied.

Cuomo tried to fight the ethics board’s order, having his attorneys claim the panel itself was unconstitutional. 

But a top judge ruled in February that the ethics panel was constitutional and the years-delayed investigation into Cuomo’s book proceeds could resume.

Standing in front of a campaign sign, Lander opined on Cuomo’s disastrous interview with The Post editorial board Monday. 

“Just yesterday, when pressed by the New York Post on whether he regrets the $5 million book deal… he even doubled down and continued to play the victim saying it was really offensive and ludicrous to claim that he made a profit off the backs of New Yorkers during COVID,” Lander said.

He called on Cuomo to fork over the cash to the state — and also to reveal what the money was spent on.

“He’s not in any legal obligation to do it, but he’s seeking votes to be the mayor of New York City, while he’s not only taking that money but hiding the ball on it,” Lander said.

If Cuomo doesn’t have the $5 million to give back “that’s not the problem of New York taxpayers,” he added.

“Andrew Cuomo has denied every possible opportunity to reflect, to learn from his mistakes,” Lander charged. “This is not a leader who has owned up to his mistakes. This is not someone who has learned anything over the past five years.”

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi accused Lander of “gaslighting” voters.

“We’ve always maintained that all staffers who worked on the book did so voluntarily on their own time,” Azzopardi told The Post, adding that Cuomo plans to ask the court to reconsider its decision on the ethics panel before the deadline next month.

“Lander can pander and gaslight all he wants, but New Yorkers are having difficulty making ends meet,” he said. “They don’t feel safe on the streets or on the subways, and they know Andrew Cuomo is the only candidate with the experience and record of results to take on these chronic problems and solve them.”

Azzopardi also took issue with Lander’s claim that Cuomo’s tome, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” wasn’t available in bookstores and that “You have to go to the library to check it out.”

“It was a New York Times bestseller. What’s he talking about?” Azzopardi said.

He accused Lander of wasting time with “unhinged publicity stunts.”

“If Brad wants to help working New Yorkers he would focus less on these unhinged publicity stunts and instead focus on his day job and reverse the dismal underperformance of the city workers pension fund on his watch,” Azzopardi said.