Should Andrew Cuomo Run For Office Again? [POLL]

NEW YORK — What does a governor do after he resigns because of a scandal and still has a large campaign war chest? How about running a 30-second ad in an effort to exonerate himself?

On Monday, the ad — see it here — began airing on cable and broadcast stations and used news clips that said the case against the former governor "appears to be crumbling," the filings were "potentially defective" and the process was politicized.

At the end of the advertisement, the viewer hears the sound of a gavel and the voice of Albany City Judge Holly Trexler, who dismissed a criminal complaint against the former governor brought by the Albany County sheriff. On screen are the words: "Political attacks won. And New Yorkers lost a proven leader."

The ad, which was paid for by his campaign committee now named Friends of Andrew Cuomo, cost $369,000.

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And there's more where that came from. In January, state Board of Elections financial disclosures showed Cuomo still has $16 million in his war chest, the New York Daily News reported.

The New York Times called it "spending his way out of the political wilderness" and that Cuomo seems to be claiming exoneration because there have been no criminal charges, while ignoring many in the Democratic Party and a majority of New Yorkers who believed the accusations to be true.

In early February, Cuomo told Bloomberg News that if he could do it all over again he wouldn't resign.

He told Bloomberg he didn't resign because he said he did something wrong; he resigned because he didn't want to be a distraction.

However, Cuomo is not completely out of the woods yet. A New York state trooper in February filed a civil suit against the former governor over the alleged misconduct, NBC News reported.

The lawsuit seeks damages for mental anguish and emotional distress and a judgment that Cuomo, former aide Melissa DeRosa and state police violated laws barring harassment.

CLARIFICATION: This article was updated from its original version to include attribution to a voiceover on the video advertisement to Albany City Judge Holly Trexler.

So now it's your turn to weigh in on the issue. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.