By Kenneth Tiven
Andrew Cuomo has resigned as governor of New York in a behavioral scandal putting the end to a dynastic political family involved in running New York State for most of the past 50 years.
This is an amazing fall from his status in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic from giving daily news briefings that enraptured a nation in contrast to the stumbling efforts of then President Donald Trump.
The three term governor was under intense pressure with the promise of an impeachment over allegations of sexually harassing nearly a dozen women.
A week ago the state’s Attorney General Tish James released a bombshell report that gave credence to the allegations. Cuomo said, “Given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let the government get back to government.” Cuomo’s statement lasted about 21 minutes. “Therefore that’s what I’ll do, because I work for you, and doing the right thing, is doing the right thing for you. Because, as we say, ‘it’s not about me, it’s about we.’”
Father-son political leadership is familiar to India, after all sons and even daughters often go into the family business. Andrew Cuomo’s father Mario, a Democrat, was a three term governor, respected as the high-minded priest of public morality and liberal political beliefs. Andrew was competitive with his dad and different. Matt Bai, a political journalist who has known both said, “the interplay with his late and legendary father, Mario, has always been front and center, inseparable from the drive and the recklessness. It is the defining
relationship of his life.”
Baid wrote he asked Mario abut his son who was then in his first term as governor and more centrist than his dad. “Mario refused to say he was proud of his son. He felt lucky, he said — not proud. For his part, Andrew declined to talk to me at all about his father’s life and career.”
Cuomo’s downfall from scandal took place over the course of several months. It began with a separate attorney general’s report released in January that his administration undercounted the number of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes.
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This finding dented his national recognition as a leader during the pandemic. By itself this wasn’t perceived as a mortal wound to Cuomo’s fourth-term prospects. However when several women came forward accusing the governor of sexual harassment and inappropriate workplace behavior the mood changed. Lindsey Boylan, who formerly worked for Cuomo and the state’s economic development agency, wrote a February on-line post that the governor kissed her without her consent and asked her to play strip poker.
This allegation opened other claims of misconduct. Days later, the governor faced new accusations from three women who went public and others followed. The accusations were about unwarranted touching and remarks, demeaning behavior no longer tolerated in many American workplaces.
Legislative leaders, in turn, announced that the. State Assembly would investigate the claims as part of a wide-ranging impeachment probe. For two weeks Cuomo insisted he would not resign. And then he did. Cuomo’s resignation effective in two weeks means Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will become the first woman to assume New York’s top political office