Monday, November 23, 2009

Cuomo took campaign cash from lawyers with matters before him

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s campaign fund took tens of thousands of dollars from law firms representing clients his office investigated or accused of wrongdoing, state records show.

If Cuomo were to reject lawyer donations to avoid any appearance of conflict, he could still raise enough for “a credible campaign,” said Ronald Michaelson, a former national chairman of the Council of Governmental Ethics Laws who teaches at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

“Even if he’s going to use the money in a gubernatorial race, he would still be the attorney general,” he said in an e- mail. “The perception of impropriety is obviously clear, and that’s reason enough to refuse the money.”

Michaelson's comments were featured in an November 23, 2009 Bloomberg.com article.

Download a PDF of the article:
20091123-Bloomberg-Cuomo.pdf