Cuomo, top aides worked on COVID book alongside publisher's reps at Executive Mansion

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/New York, said the fact that the work occurred on a weekend lent credence to the idea that the senior staff was working voluntarily. "This is obviously outside of the work week and that is what we would want to see, that this sort of assistance would take place outside of the work week," she said. "That certainly strengthens the argument that it is a voluntary activity."