ALBANY, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — As he stares down a potential impeachment, Gov. Andrew Cuomo now stands to lose access to the millions of dollars in his campaign account under a new bill in Albany.
Cuomo's campaign war chest currently sits at about $18 million, with nearly free reign to spend that money as he pleases.
"There are very limited restrictions on what a politician can do with their campaign accounts in New York," said State Sen. Elijah Reichlin-Melnick. "Giving somebody who is actively being impeached and perhaps on their way to conviction the ability to using their campaign funds to influence public policy, to potentially try to influence some of the jurors in an impeachment trial which would take place in the Senate is deeply problematic."
Reichlin-Melnick is filing a bill that would freeze the campaign account of any impeached official, who would then lose access to that funding permanently if convicted.
Reichlin-Melnick said he is looking to avoid a situation where someone who is impeached mounts a public relations offensive.
"There's all kinds of things you can do to influence the public or influence the members of Senate and the Court of Appeals who would be hearing that case," Reichlin-Melnick said.
He also fears a scenario in which an impeached official uses the money "to either reward or punish people that were involved in the process."
The bill doesn't specifically mention Cuomo and it would live on well past his time in office.
"This would be, if enacted, a law which will last well beyond the term of the current governor," Reichlin-Melnick said. "It speaks to the same thing I think a lot of us would have liked to see something like this when the former president was impeached."
The senator believes Cuomo may want to consider this as he weighs whether to resign or stick around as impeachment proceedings are carried out in the state Assembly.
"The fact that we're at this point I think really speaks to just how despicable the behavior is and the fact that it's time for him to go," Reichlin-Melnick said.
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