Assemblyman Chris Tague (R,C,I-Schoharie) is joining Assembly Minority in rallying behind a bill that would prohibit statewide elected officials from profiting on published works while serving in their position. This legislation was crafted following the revelation that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is poised to receive $5.1 million from the book he wrote during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, while over 15,000 seniors passed away in nursing homes during his administration’s mismanagement of the crisis.

“This isn’t the kind of business you get into to line your pockets and chase celebrity, especially not while thousands of people are dying under your watch,” said Tague. “Serving as an elected official is about serving the people, not oneself— plain and simple. To think that the governor would spend his and his staff’s time writing this self-aggrandizing book as people were losing their loved ones and being stonewalled for answers why is sickening, especially as he already receives the highest salary of any governor in the nation. Public service is about serving the public, and this legislation will help make sure future executives and legislators are unable to do what our governor has done by profiting off of his tasteless memoir.”