The career of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo should soon end. But even if it doesn’t, his power as a politician is gone.
Though the disgraced Democrat says he won’t resign even now — with a woman’s sex-assault allegation added to five highly-credible harassment accusations — state legislators have opened an impeachment inquiry.
Cuomo also lied about China Virus-related fatalities in nursing homes that were the result of his imprudent if not incompetent decisions during the initial months of the outbreak. That lie is another reason, legislators have said, he cannot remain in office.
That aside, if Cuomo won’t quit, the state legislature appears ready to force him out.
Democrat Pow Wow
The latest blow for Cuomo came yesterday after Democrat assembly members met for three hours to discuss his fate, the New York Times reported.
Afterward, the assembly “announced that it would give its judiciary committee broad jurisdiction to investigate allegations of misconduct against Mr. Cuomo, including the sexual harassment claims and his administration’s handling of virus-related deaths of nursing home patients.”
Democrat Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said “the reports of accusations concerning the governor are serious,” the Times reported.
Party chieftains decided to meet after Albany’s Times Union reported on Wednesday that Cuomo’s sixth accuser, an employee at his executive mansion, told a supervisor that the governor had reached up her blouse and grabbed her breast. At the first, the newspaper reported that Cuomo touched the woman inappropriately.
Cuomo, again, faces credible accusations from five other women, and he and his aides are also accused of leaking details from the personnel file of his first accuser, Lindsey Boylan, in the hope of wrecking her credibility. Boylan accused Cuomo on Twitter in December, then posted details about her time working for Cuomo at Medium.com in late February.
As for the nursing-home death scandal, Cuomo and his aides altered an official report about virus-related deaths as he prepared to write a book of China Virus “leadership lessons.” Though more than 9,000 people died, the report, published in July, offered a figure of just more than 6,000. Now, more than 15,000 nursing-home residents are dead.
Despite all the revelations, which have inspired 65 state Democrats to call for his resignation, Cuomo is intransigent. He has tenaciously refused to quit.
Thus, the impeachment inquiry.
“I do not believe this governor will resign unless impeachment is on the table,” said Democrat Assemblyman Phillip G. Steck.
Three days ago, Steck offered this assessment:
Falsifying data, political interference with professionals in the health department, threats to legislators, EPA administrator, and reporters, and abusive behavior. None of these things go away no matter the outcome of the sexual harassment investigation of Cuomo.
Assemblyman Ron Kim, whom Cuomo bullied in a now-famous phone call, is ready to get rid of the disgraced governor.
“I do not expect Andrew Cuomo to have the self dignity to resign,” he tweeted. “Impeach.”
On Monday, Republicans in the assembly introduced an impeachment resolution against Cuomo.
Cops Involved
Perhaps the most serious problem for Cuomo now isn’t the impeachment, but instead the possibility of facing a sex-assault charge.
Police have contacted the victim through her attorney, as The New American reported yesterday, citing the Times. That does not mean police have opened a formal probe into the matter.
The woman, a member of the mansion staff, told a supervisor that Cuomo “reached under her blouse and began to fondle her,” a source told the Times Union.
On March 3, the woman and other mansion staffers watched a televised news conference at which Cuomo claimed he never touched anyone “inappropriately.” That, apparently, sent her over the edge and she “became emotional,” the newspaper reported:
At least one female supervisor came to her assistance and asked why she was upset. The female aide subsequently told the supervisor about what she said had been inappropriate encounters with Cuomo.
If Cuomo is forced out of office, he will be the state’s second governor forced from office over a sex scandal.
Thirteen years ago today, Elliot Spitzer resigned the office after the Times reported that he patronized high-priced call girls.
