Hawley Joins Assembly Minority in Calling for Ban on Book Income for Lawmakers Following Cuomo’s $5.1 Million Book Deal

​Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is joining his colleagues in the Assembly Minority calling for the passage of a bill (A.7107) that would prohibit statewide elected officials from profiting on published works while serving in their position. This legislative push follows news that Gov. Cuomo will be earning over $5 million on a book deal for a memoir he wrote during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when over 15,000 seniors passed away in nursing homes under his administration’s watch.

​“To think that the governor and his staff would be concerned with writing a self-promotional memoir while working at the same time to hide information about the tragedy happening in our nursing homes is incredibly disconcerting,” said Hawley. “It’s also an example of why we need laws like this to ensure our public officials are putting their service to the public before their own personal gain.”