Cuomo on Skelos: Fighting corruption is right, but you have to do it legally

In the wake of a federal appeals court’s decision to vacate the corruption convictions of former state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that fighting government corruption “is right,” “but you have to do it legally.”

The convictions were vacated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision handed down last year that narrowed the definition of what an “official act” is in a quid pro quo arrangement. Though the Skeloses were found guilty in December 2015, the appellate court nevertheless found that jury instructions at trial were improper based on the 2016 SCOTUS ruling.

Here’s what Cuomo had to say in full at an unrelated press conference when asked whether prosecutorial attempts to clean up state government were ever necessary and whether the case is prosecutorial overreach:

Fighting government corruption is right, I did it as attorney general. I think it is an ongoing process. There’s no doubt that we could do more in Albany. There’s no doubt that we could do more in New York City. There’s no doubt that we could do more federally. But you have to do it legally.

What this says is the case was not legal. It was overturned because it was not legal. So, if you’re using the legal system to quote-unquote reform government, you have to do it legally.

But there’s no question that the effort to reform government and clean up Albany and change the rules, that’s exactly right.