Paul J. Fishman
+1 212.836.8152 Direct Paul.Fishman@arnoldporter.com
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
250 West 55th Street
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New York, NY 10019-9710
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www.arnoldporter.com
July 22, 2021
VIA E-MAIL
Hon. Charles D. Lavine Chair, Judiciary Committee New York State Assembly Albany, NY 12248 Re: Your July 21 Letter Dear Assemblyman Lavine: We represent the Executive Chamber of the State of New York (“the Chamber”) in the Attorney General’s investigation of sexual harassment allegations against Governor Cuomo. I write in response to your July 21 letter to the Governor, in which you threaten the Governor with “severe repercussions” for a July 11 tweet from Rich Azzopardi, the Governor’s Communications Director. The Chamber has serious concerns about your characterization of Mr. Azzopardi’s statement, your allegation that this tweet amounted to “retaliation” or “intimidation” against witnesses in this investigation, and your suggestion that it warrants punishment. As you know, the tweet that you characterize as retaliatory was about neither the Attorney General nor her ongoing investigation. Mr. Azzopardi clearly was responding to a news report that TWU President John Samuelsen is no longer supporting the Governor: “Samuelsen is an extortionist who is trying to undo pension reform. We also understand he is a political supporter of Tish James and she says she may run against the governor, and he wants more benefits in his contract. Everyone gets that.” There is no basis for your statement that potential witnesses in the sexual-harassment investigation would glean
anything
from this unrelated tweet, let alone view it as “an attempt to suppress” their testimony. Indeed, it does not even allude to the Attorney General’s investigation, much less mention it. Rather, as is clear from the portions of the tweet that your letter omits, Mr. Azzopardi referred to the Attorney General’s gubernatorial aspirations as an explanation for
Samuelsen’s
statements. Your interpretation — that Mr. Azzopardi sought not just to “demean the Attorney General,” but to intimidate witnesses in her investigation — is both implausible and unreasonable. In fact, your letter — with its threat of sanctions against the Governor — is the only link between Mr. Azzopardi’s tweet and the sexual harassment investigation.
July 22, 2021 Page 2 Finally, your attempt to silence criticism of the investigation, and particularly your call for “severe repercussions” for those who do not heed that warning, raises profound constitutional problems. Speech by public officials about important public affairs — including government investigations or state politics more generally — lies at the heart of the First Amendment and of the New York Constitution, which protects speech even more broadly than its federal counterpart. Punishing executive officials for speaking about important issues of public policy is not merely inappropriate, but is fundamentally inconsistent with the core values of our nation’s founders. That would be true even had Mr. Azzopardi been criticizing the Attorney General’s investigation. Your threat to quash speech about an entirely different political matter makes these constitutional concerns all the more acute. Sincerely, Paul J. Fishman cc: Beth Garvey, Acting Counsel to the Governor Mitra Hormozi, Walden Macht & Haran LLP