Ethics commission didn’t sign off on that book
Loudonville, N.Y.: The editorial pertaining to former Gov. Cuomo’s book (“Albany ethics watchdog needs teeth,” Jan. 7) is mistaken regarding the actions of the former Joint Commission on Public Ethics, also known as JCOPE. We were commissioners at JCOPE at the time the book received administrative approval.
JCOPE commissioners did not approve the former governor’s book deal. Absent any opportunity for us to act on the request received from the governor’s office, approval — with stated conditions — was granted only by JCOPE’s administrative staff. It was granted without examining the contract because the governor’s office flatly refused to provide it to JCOPE — not surprising, since certain JCOPE staff either formerly worked for the governor or were hired by JCOPE staff who had. Commissioners’ requests for the book contract and other information, before and after the rushed approval, were stonewalled or summarily disregarded. Only after public disclosures indicated clearly that conditions for approval of the book were violated, such as the use of state employees and resources, did the commissioners take the legal action permitted to rescind the approval without a hearing. It is important to note that the JCOPE statute was replete with due process, with which the commission complied in every respect. The commission also required the ill-gotten proceeds to be disgorged and returned to the publisher.
The absurd part of this saga is that while the statute gave the commission the ability to rescind the contract without a hearing after learning conditions for approval were clearly violated, the trial court decided the need for a hearing requiring the former governor to return the proceeds.
The Daily News’ original position on the book deal was correct, on both the facts and the law. Marvin E. Jacob, Gary J. Lavine, David J. McNamara and George H. Weissman
Don’t start it
Davis, Calif.: Gaza ceasefires have been falling apart for years due to recurring Hamas attacks on kibbutz villages, to which Israel must respond to protect her citizens. Are Gazans unable to grasp that their attacks on Israel lead to action by Israel to stop these attacks? Gazans do not express a desire to halt attacks on Israelis, but they do object to the inevitable efforts Israel makes to stop attacks from Gaza. On Oct. 6, 2023, a halt to fighting had been in place for some time, but Hamas broke that ceasefire with a bestial attack on people living in southern Israel. And Gazans want fighting to stop? If Palestinians actually want an end to fighting, they might consider carefully maintaining the new ceasefire instead of (inevitably) breaking it, as has been their history. Julia Lutch
Still a threat
Boynton Beach, Fla.: Re “The end of Hamas, the end of terror” (editorial, Jan. 16): Hamas has not given up! This ceasefire is not the end of Hamas, which launched the Oct. 7 invasion hoping it would lead to the destruction of Israel and the murder or enslavement of its 10 million citizens. Hamas is using the ceasefire to regroup and rearm. At the end of this agreement, the terrorists will still be holding scores of hostages. This just isn’t right! The United States must urgently increase the pressure on Hamas and its sponsors in Iran, Qatar and Turkey to release all of the hostages ASAP. Holly Rothkopf
Lives preserved
Purchase, N.Y.: Guest columnist Nicolaus Mills (“First-time voters & the new president,” Jan. 20) talks about how his Sarah Lawrence College students lamented that the country elected “a man who took pride in the role he played in the overturning of Roe v. Wade.” Because of the ending of federal protection of abortion rights in the U.S., tens or hundreds of thousands of babies who would have been poisoned or torn apart in the womb will now be born. One wonders what Mills’ students would say to these people. You shouldn’t be alive? You should have been killed in the womb? Marlene Danoff
Attacked at dawn
Massapequa Park, L.I.: Within hours of taking the oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, President Trump violated that oath with an executive order to rescind a section of the 14th Amendment that guarantees citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction. This birthright section was passed in the aftermath of the Civil War (1868). Trump’s attempt to eliminate it by a stroke of his poison pen is unconstitutional. It takes two-thirds of both houses of Congress plus three-quarters of the states to repeal or rescind an amendment to our almost 250-year-old Constitution, the oldest living constitution in the world. Jack Bilello
Target the problems
Valhalla, N.Y.: President Trump, we’re all for deporting or jailing the bad, illegal immigrants but not all immigrants. If there are those who are here and have been for periods of time and have been living good, lawful lives, they shouldn’t be mass-deported but made to apply for legal citizenship. The illegal criminals should be arrested and jailed, and after serving time for their crimes, they should be deported and never allowed to return! Clean up the gangs and give those cities their freedom again! Also, as far as changing the 14th Amendment allowing citizenship to anyone born here, forget that idea! The people of America won’t accept that! Remember, the country was built with and by immigrants! Land of opportunity! We’re all descendants of immigrants! Michael Grisanti
Felon in chief
Nyack, N.Y.: The Republicans like to tout themselves as the party of law and order, yet their lying leader pardons the Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted the Capitol Police and vandalized the Capitol Building. I guess that was to be expected coming from a fellow felon. Stanley Cracovia
Fuel for the fire
Rockaway, N.J.: Re “The Grim Speaker” front page on Jan. 21: Your newspaper is a disgrace, just like the lamestream media. You should report the news and let us decide. The price for this piece of junk is the worst $3 I’ve spent. I’ll burn it in the next bonfire. Did you have anything in the paper that Joe Biden pardoned his entire family? LOL — you can’t pardon someone who is not at fault. I am sure there is fault somewhere. Your paper is going down the tubes. Tricia Winstead
Rules-erased disorder
Walden, N.Y.: Let me get this straight: It’s not a crime to storm the Capitol, resulting in property damage, injuries and death? Not to mention seeking to hang the vice president? Wow, this country has become far too liberal. Jake Milite
Had he done right
Plainview, L.I.: Re “Our golden age has begun,’ Don sez” (Jan. 21): I “sez” that Trump’s speech would have been better if he (had) “sez” these words: “My fellow Americans, at last summer’s Republican Convention, I didn’t have the courage to repeat President Lyndon Johnson’s March 31, 1968 announcement that ‘I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president.’ But today, my guilty conscience over my sore-loser lies about my 2020 loss to Joe Biden requires me to not take this oath of office, but to instead say I’m sorry that I sought, and I will not accept, the American people’s popular and Electoral College votes for another term as your president.’ ” Richard Siegelman
Late-night smack
Brooklyn: Some of the biggest purveyors of Trump hatred are the late-night talk show hosts. They have been ridiculing and deriding him for years. Although their audiences are steadily declining, their gratuitous hatred still reaches and affects millions. This has to stop. Yes, they have free speech and the government can’t stop them. But the people can. People must post on social media and write to print media their disdain for late-night talk shows and urge people to boycott these hate-filled venues. These degenerate institutions, where ridicule passes for comedy, must be driven out of business — not because they disagree with our views but because they foment hostility and acrimony. Josh Greenberger
Necessary intervention
New Hyde Park, L.I.: Would someone be good enough to advise Rudy Giuliani that fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life? John C. Macklin