UES State Senator Krueger Calls For Cuomo To Return Campaign Cash

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — New York State Senator Liz Krueger, whose district includes the Upper East Side, is urging residents who made campaign contributions to disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo to request a refund and suggested that Cuomo return all contributions voluntarily.

Cuomo, who resigned last week amid an ongoing controversy surrounding claims of sexual harassment has raised more than $17 million in campaign contributions since the start of his third term in office, in 2019 Krueger said in a news release Friday. The Associated Press reported earlier this month that Cuomo had raised more than $18 million but that just more than $4 million of that had come in over the second half of 2020 amid sexual harassment allegations involving the former governor as well as his handling of COVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes.

In a statement Friday, the Democrat who represents the 28th District said that major donors to Cuomo’s campaign can now be part of the process of helping New York “close this painful chapter in our history” by taking action against what Krueger called the “ongoing influence” of Cuomo on the state’s political landscape.

Kreuger urged Cuomo to close his campaign contribution account but said in the statement that she does not expect the former governor to do so.

“Should he refuse to do this, it is important for those who have supported the former governor in the past to understand that their money will now be used to lie about and attack his perceived enemies,” Krueger said in the statement issued by her office. “ By rescinding their support, these donors can stand with the victims of the former Governor's harassment and with the family members of those who died of COVID in nursing homes but had to wait months to learn the truth.”

Krueger cited former Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa, who she said claimed that Cuomo has no plans to seek public office in the future. However, Krueger maintains that Cuomo continues to use campaign contributions to employ people who were implicated in the attorney general’s report on allegations of sexual harassment by the New York’s former chief executive.

In a recent interview with New York magazine, Cuomo said he was unsure of what he would do in the future and said in the interview that he thought he did the right thing by resigning rather than dragging the state through the mud and through a lengthy impeachment process. He also said that he did know where he would take up residence, but said wherever he landed, he planned to maintain a public voice.

“I’m not disappearing. I have a voice, I have a perspective and that’s not gonna change,” Cuomo said in the interview. “And the details aren’t really that important to me to tell you the truth.”

Krueger said using contributions in this way violates the personal use provisions of New York State campaign finance law. These provisions prohibit “salary payments or other compensation provided to any person for services where such services are not solely for campaign purposes or provided in connection with the execution of the duties of public office or party position,” according to a news release.

“To be clear: satisfying the former Governor’s desire for revenge is not a permitted campaign expenditure,” Krueger said.