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ALBANY – Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office will comply with a subpoena asking for records about unpaid “volunteers” that her disgraced predecessor – ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo – used to help work on New York’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Joint Commission on Public Ethics sent a subpoena to the executive chamber on Feb. 7 requesting information about individuals who were employed by Cuomo during the coronavirus crisis – but exempt from ethics standards laid out in New York’s public officers’ law, thanks to now-defunct executive orders.
“We are reviewing the subpoena and fully intend to comply,” Hochul press secretary Hazel Crampton-Hays told The Post on Thursday.
The three-page document seeks:
- The total number of individual exempted from the provisions of the public officers law and the jurisdiction of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics during the period when the orders were in effect between March 18, 2020, and April 29, 2021
- Identify any particular volunteers about whom conflicts of interests or potential conflicts of interest were identified
- With respect to those individuals, any arrangements for recusal or other means to address the conflict or potential conflict
The governor has until Feb. 28 to turn over the records.
Last month, JCOPE greenlit the motion introduced by panel Commissioner Gary Lavine, a state Senate Republican appointee.
“It is important to obtain this information and evaluate it as a lesson learned process so that this isn’t repeated if there’s another emergency. Volunteers shouldn’t be exempted from scrutiny by the ethics commission,” Lavine said in a phone interview.
It appears to be aimed at Cuomo loyalists and others with business before the state, such as former MTA board member Larry Schwartz, who worked as the ex-governor’s coronavirus vaccine distribution czar.
The executive orders waived state requirements that these individuals file financial disclosure reports that could expose conflicts of interest.
But it’s unclear how many people qualified under the rule.
“This information has been kept top secret,” explained Lavine during the Jan. 25 meeting.
“We don’t know who the volunteers were,” he added. “We don’t know the number.”
Meanwhile, JCOPE is trying to claw back Cuomo’s $5.1 million profit from his pandemic-memoir “American Crisis.”
Cuomo’s personal attorney has threatened to sue the panel if they move forward with the order.
The body’s next public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 15.
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