Five women have now come forward and accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct. Four of them used to work with him closely, which makes their accounts all the more credible. But the governor refuses to resign because he knows no one will make him.
“That’s democracy. There’s no way I resign,” Cuomo said on Sunday. “People are free to make allegations, but then you also have a process — due process — where people get the facts, and they make a determination. I was the attorney general of New York for four years. I got all sorts of allegations against politicians.”
Cuomo is right about one thing: He does deserve due process. There is an investigation ongoing, and the results of that investigation should determine whether or not he stays on as the state’s governor. But that’s a standard Democrats are only willing to apply when it’s one of their own on the chopping block.
Remember the prominent Democrats who demanded that the Senate spike Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination because of the accusations made against him? Those uncorroborated accusations lacked substantive evidence. These accusations are much better corroborated — in one case, there is a photograph. Yet, it seems at least some of the same Democrats want to give Cuomo the benefit of the doubt and to force his accusers to provide explicit proof to back their claims.
Most notably, Vice President Kamala Harris, one of the loudest voices against Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings, has not said a word about the allegations against Cuomo. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at least said the allegations are “serious and credible” but did not say whether she would support efforts to force Cuomo out of office. Neither has President Biden. (To their credit, New York’s leading state-level Democrats have demanded that Cuomo resign. But they’re on their own).
If this were a Republican governor, every single Democrat from Biden on down would be demanding not just a thorough independent investigation but an immediate resignation or impeachment effort. They would be treating him exactly like they treated Kavanaugh: with contempt and with no respect for due process or the evenhandedness the situation demands.
Because Cuomo is a Democrat, he gets to play by different rules. He can demand the fair treatment that his party and the media withhold from anyone with an “R” next to his or her name, and the most his fellow Democrats will do at the national level is shake their heads in disapproval while they urge the public to wait patiently for the internal investigation to conclude. It doesn’t matter how many more women come forward. The Democratic Party will not denounce one of their own unless it is forced to because the standard has never been “believe all women.” It is, “Believe all women, unless they come for one of us.”
