New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is fighting for his political life as he battles three sexual harassment claims and public outcry over his administration’s misreporting of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes.
Cuomo, who this time last year was one of the most popular Democrats in the country, faces investigations into both scandals. New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday launched an investigation into the governor’s alleged harassment after Cuomo on Sunday said he was “truly sorry” for making female aides feel uncomfortable. That afternoon, Cuomo retained a high-profile defense attorney.
The sexual harassment claims, which have led to widespread calls for the governor to resign, have overshadowed Cuomo’s nursing home scandal. In that incident, the state directed nursing homes last March to admit patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus. The state misreported a rash of deaths that were a direct result of the policy, a fact which Cuomo’s administration only admitted after a report from James alleged intentional under-reporting.
A Cuomo aide later admitted that the state stopped counting nursing home deaths so that the federal government could not use the data “against us.”
FIVE GOVERNORS BESIDES CUOMO WHO SENT COVID-19-POSITIVE PATIENTS INTO NURSING HOMES
The governor last week acknowledged that the administration was cooperating with the state and federal government in an investigation into the nursing home scandal. Together, both scandals have the potential to sink Cuomo’s future political ambitions.
An increasing number of Democrats, both in New York and nationwide, have distanced themselves from the governor. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday said that the sexual harassment allegations should be “thoroughly investigated.” White House press secretary Jen Psaki called for an “independent review looking into these allegations.”
If either investigation turns up damning evidence against Cuomo, the potential legal consequences are unclear. James has not indicated how long the investigation will take. Her office did not return a request for comment.
Per New York law, the governor cannot be recalled by popular vote, and he has not indicated that he will consider stepping aside. There are growing calls for impeachment, but the state legislature has a sweeping Democratic majority, and that effort would have to be broadly bipartisan.
But Democratic state Assemblyman Ron Kim on Friday called for his party to begin impeachment proceedings. Calling the nursing home scandal an “entire 9/11 tragedy that we could have prevented,” Kim accused Cuomo of bullying the party into doing his bidding throughout the pandemic.
“We must put all options on the table, in order to get to the truth,” Kim wrote in Newsweek.
Kim, who represents part of Queens, began speaking out against Cuomo after recounting a phone call in which the governor allegedly threatened him.
When asked if other Democrats agreed with him on the need to impeach, Kim did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
After the sexual harassment claims piled up on top of each other, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that that too may be cause for impeachment.
“I don't think we rule anything out in either direction until we get the full facts of the situation,” Ocasio-Cortez told NBC when asked about impeachment.
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Only one governor in New York’s history has been impeached. That was William Sulzer, who in 1913 was successfully removed from office when the state legislature found him guilty of embezzling campaign funds. Sulzer had clashed with New York’s then-powerful Tammany Hall machine. Jack O'Donnell, a historian of Sulzer, told NY1 last year that his impeachment only occurred because of a broad consensus among his own party that he had to go.
“Impeachment, whether it’s William Sulzer or other impeachments we’ve seen since then, are political acts,” he said.
