Democrats will suffer widespread electoral losses in November due to their “egregious” disdain for laws, as embodied by the scandals, gerrymandering, and high crime rates that have rocked New York in recent months, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
Cuomo, whose resignation from the governorship last August paved the way for the elevation of Gov. Kathy Hochul, argued his successor’s administration failed in approving former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin’s selection for the No. 2 job given the scandals that led to his arrest and resignation last week.
“The lieutenant governor’s indictment raises troubling questions. After many scandals, we had reformed the insidious pork-barrel member-item process … In the Brian Benjamin case, the entire system failed,” Cuomo wrote in an op-ed published Monday morning in the New York Daily News. “How could this happen? The public deserves answers now.”
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Benjamin stepped down on Tuesday, just hours after he was arrested on charges of federal bribery conspiracy related to his unsuccessful city comptroller campaign. His selection for lieutenant governor despite his alleged financial infractions marked a failure of the “comprehensive vetting process” required by the attorney general’s office, Cuomo maintained.
Albany leaders are further working to protect themselves by endorsing a set of congressional maps that is “a clear violation of constitutional language prohibiting partisan redistricting,” the former governor argued.
“Of course, Democrats, myself included, have a partisan interest in seeing districts favor Democrats. I also fully understand the instinct to ‘get even’ for the Republicans’ past partisan redistricting in this state and in many others,” he wrote. “But two wrongs still don’t make a right, and the principle of fair elections and voting rights cannot be applied selectively … The way things played out in New York is an egregious statement of disdain for the rule of law.”
Last month, a New York judge tossed three maps signed into law by Hochul that would have “virtually guarantee[d] Democrats winning 22” of New York’s 26 House seats, acting Chief Justice Patrick McAllister wrote in the ruling.
The instinct to maintain “the political advantage of their gerrymandered lines” may be rooted in Democrats’ policy failures as the dominant party in New York, Cuomo said. The New York Democrat called for “dramatic action” to stop the “New York City crime spree,” including increasing the presence of law enforcement.
“The subway system is the circulatory system for our downstate economy and we must increase police presence and police action,” he wrote. “A police officer on every train worked before and will work again. But police must actively patrol, and that means district attorneys must prosecute crimes.”
“If the Democrats do not make a dramatic difference quickly, I fear the people will make that difference by defeating Democrats in November,” he added.
New York City has seen a precipitous rise in crime, with 31,966 criminal complaints year-to-date as compared with 22,158 reported during the same time interval in 2021, according to the New York Police Department.
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Cuomo resigned weeks after the New York attorney general released an Aug. 3, 2021, report accusing Cuomo of sexually harassing at least 11 women. Maintaining he never engaged in inappropriate touching, he railed against the political circumstances that led to his ouster and vowed a return to the public eye.
While Cuomo has teased a political comeback amid rebounding poll numbers, the window has closed for him to run as a Democrat, meaning he would need to face off against Hochul in a general election if he wanted to reclaim the Executive Mansion.
