Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo deserves the right to mount a defense in the federal lawsuit filed earlier this year by an unnamed New York State Police officer who accuses Cuomo and others of violating her civil rights.

But he does not deserve to have New York taxpayers pay for it.

Cuomo filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Letitia James last week, claiming James’ denial of Cuomo’s public assistance for legal bills violates state law. He says the allegations stem from a time when he was acting within the scope of his state duties and, therefore, should be paid for with public money.

James’ 2021 investigation found reports of improper behavior by the former governor against early a dozen women and that Cuomo and aides worked to retaliate against one of his accusers. Those accusers included the trooper on his security detail, who said he allegedly subjected her to sexual remarks and on occasion ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and her back.

The last time we checked, there was nothing in the governor’s job description that includes such behavior. Under Cuomo’s logic, the state should be on the hook for a whole lot of legal bills — including those of Joe Percoco and Alain Kaloyeros, two Cuomo lackeys who were convicted of bid-rigging for Buffalo Billion projects, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was convicted of honest services fraud, extortion and money laundering in an influence peddling case that resulted in state grants run to a research center run by a doctor referred asbestos cancer patients to Silver’s law firm to it could seek huge settlements fro personal injury lawsuits. Should the state also pay for disgraced former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin’s legal team, who is accused of using his position as a state Senator to direct a state-funded grant to an organization controlled by a real estate developer in exchange for campaign contributions?

We think not. None of those actions were part of those officials’ job descriptions, just as sexual harassment isn’t part of the governor’s. Cuomo should pay his own legal bills.