State Assembly Speaker for New York, Carl Heastie, announced last night that an impeachment investigation would be initiated against sitting Governor Andrew Cuomo. Assemblyman Charles Levine and the Assembly Judiciary Commission will be authorized to subpoena documents, examine evidence and interview witnesses but will be tasked with investigating in a way which does not impede a potential criminal investigation already in process by the State Attorney General’s Office.
This follows multiple accusations of sexual misconduct on the part of the Governor, as well as revelations about intentional falsifications of records associated with COVID-19 and deaths in nursing homes following the Governor’s decision to house ill patients in nursing homes as a way to deal with hospital overflow.
Cuomo had garnered high praise for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis, with many contrasting his daily efforts to keep people informed and his aggressive moves to close the border against the lackadaisical approach of President Trump. A rare but striking failure was the decision to relocate the sick to nursing homes, but his defenders pointed out that there had been recommendations to consider that option from federal officials. That said, the fact that other Governors had faced similar options and rejected the possibility due to uncertainty over transmission methods spoke poorly of Cuomo’s decision-making, even as his organizational skills were highlighted.
Those poor decisions continue to be on display from the allegations and revelations against him, and threaten to sink his political future a mere year after he was being heralded as a frontrunner for Presidential races.
His refusal to accept culpability and effort to ignore reality mirrors that of his former rival and prominent booster, Donald Trump. (Trump had previously donated $64,000 to Cuomo campaigns and was a firm advocate for Cuomo until he decided to make a run for the Presidency as a Republican.)
Trump, facing blowback from a string of failures and exposure of criminal behavior throughout his Presidency, consistently responded by denying the failures and redirecting fault. He continues to do so, and by appealing to the twin desires of people to blame others for their shortcomings and to never admit mistakes, he has cemented a core group of followers and is successfully fighting back against efforts to dislodge him from the leadership of the Republican party.
In large part because Trump’s microphone has been cut off by social media and traditional media alike, the Republican party thus finds itself adrift and rudderless, focusing on minor outrages of the day rather than allowing anyone to take the spotlight reserved for Trump.
New York responded to Trump by pushing him out of the state and initiating investigations that hold the promise of charges with significant penalties ranging from asset seizures to prison time. Cuomo, despite the lesser degree of his offenses and the political favor received by Democrats in the Democratic state, is likely to have a similarly unpleasant experience if the allegations against him bear out.
