Andrew Cuomo resigns, effective in 14 days
The question, of course, is why now? I have little doubt that Cuomo’s touchy-feely tendencies have been known for ages, and the problems with his COVID policies for nursing homes have also been known for well over a year.
Someone or more likely some group of people decided that Cuomo was no longer worth protecting, because if they had wanted to protect him they would have continued to do so.
I’ve never crossed the line with anyone. But, I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate.
I hate to give Cuomo any credit at all. But since I’m of a generation which knows about that shift, I know that such creepy behavior (which is what it was) used to be winked at, and if it wasn’t exactly standard it wasn’t all that unusual in politics and even in business. But a lot has indeed “shifted” since then, and these allegations are not from forty years ago. Cuomo either is incredibly clueless or thought he could continue on his merry way with no consequences because he was so powerful, or both.
Cuomo also said:
This situation and moment is not about the facts. It’s not about the truth. it’s not about thoughtful analysis. It’s not about how do we make the system better. This is about politics.
And I agree. It is about politics – as I discussed at the very beginning of this post. Cuomo was raised in a political family and was always aware of the political world and how it operates, so he knows whereof he speaks. He also knows the Democratic Party, and he knows they protect those who are useful to it and throws away those who have lost their usefulness.
Andrew Cuomo lost his usefulness somewhere along the way.
And so they were probably going to impeach him:
“The governor has clearly lost the confidence of the majority members,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said Monday, reiterating what he said last week in the wake of the state attorney general’s report being released.
“Our goal is to bring the matter to a close with all haste,” Heastie added.
It would have been nasty, messy, and probably counterproductive for the party. And Andrew Cuomo was correct when he said:
This situation, by its current trajectory, will generate months of political and legal controversy. That is what is going to happen. That is how the political wind is blowing. It will consume government. it will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. It will brutalize people…
…[T]he best way I can help now is if I step aside…
One of those people “brutalized” would have been Andrew Cuomo. And he knew the outcome would be bad for him – he would be removed.
I think that the sexual allegations were allowed to be aired because the nursing home allegations were actually getting too hot to handle, and if Cuomo was removed because of the former then the latter could be swept under the rug more successfully. Here’s one quote that might bear on that:
“Just on the nursing home question alone there are a half million pages of documentation,” Lavine said in noting the volume of evidence.
The Lieutenant Governor of New York is Kathy Hochul, who will take office. A Democrat, obviously, and a woman so she will be New York’s first female governor. How apropos. She will be filling out the remainder of his term, which was set to expire in 2022.
And now thousands of elder deaths will be swept under the rug.
It is indeed almost certain that the creepy Cuomo was allowed to fall on his sword as a distraction from the far greater scandal of his culpability in thousands of deaths which might possibility have been prevented. It is not that his unseemly and completely inappropriate behavior towards women in less powerful positions should be condoned, but rather that his mismanagement of New York constitutes far more egregious misconduct. It is also noteworthy that his replacement is likely to be no improvement whatsoever and that NY’s dreadful AG has been, unfortunately, much empowered.
I think the 14 days is a stall, that he’s hoping the publicity will die down and he can snake his way back into the good graces of media and NY politicians. If I were in the NY legislature, I’d keep pushing impeachment proceedings until he permanently vacates office.
Will he pardon himself from potential NY criminal charges in the harassment cases?
This could be a strong indication that it is clearly Obama, Jarrett and Rice’s party. NY AG Letitia James is the public face of this move and a clear front runner for Cuomo’s inevitable replacement. If you listen to her announcement of the investigation results it seems clearly word-smith’ed to set up this maneuver.
Cuomo represents the old Democrat machine. James the new.
He may have spoken a few truths here, either intentionally or inadvertently, but his whole speech was pretty absurd. I suspect he knew pretty well that what he was doing wasn’t defensible. I seem to recall him tweeting out “Believe all women”, so this notion that he was unaware of “lines” being “redrawn” rings more than a bit hollow.
My understanding is that his behavior was one of those infamous “everybody knew” open secrets within the upper echelons of the New York political machine. He behaved badly for decades, unchecked and even enabled. And of course that behavior wasn’t even the worst of his sins, not even close.
But we all know that Cuomo is just the engorged boil that signifies a deeper sickness. Even if you lance the boil the underlying infection remains. Sadly he’ll likely be replaced with someone who is more circumspect in their corruption. I’m pretty skeptical of things improving much in my state with his outsting.
I am of an age where in the 1950’s and early 60’s we referred to fellow workers, men and women, mostly men in the work place as Mr. and Mrs. then in the later 60’s and 1970’s as the sexual revolution came about things got rather raw and sometimes raunchy in the workplace, lots of sexual banter between males and females and a certain amount of grab ass. There were guidelines like ‘you don’t lay what you pay’ or ‘don’t dip your nib in the company inkwell’ and at the same time young ladies often liked to hang out for drinks with older married men on expense accounts. To my knowledge that stuff went through a major change, sexual harassment being the key phrase, going into the 1990’s and by 2000, over 20 years ago any man with half a brain knew there were consequences for playing patty cake with a female employee, think Bill Clinton.
Cuomo and his lame assed excuses don’t make a bit of sense but, then again, his behavior does not make sense either. Having said that Letitia James will probably be much worse if she manages to weasel into the governors office. Yuck all the way around.
Hard to know if his father would have been ashamed or not….
Dems apples dont fall to far from the tree they ripen in…
Rufus T. Firefly:
I believe you are most likely correct.
And then there was Tara, who refuses to give up.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/tara-reade-cuomo-resignation-biden
Well, good for her! Go Tara, GO!
(Neither Letitia James nor Kamala Harris could be reached for comment…nor will they EVER be reached for comment….)
I’ve never crossed the line with anyone. But, I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate.
I’ve been given the most inane admonitions by female bosses over the years about how I spoke to women, but I cannot recall a time when it has ever been kosher for an ordinary employee to grope a subordinate. I think what Cuomo’s telling you is that the obnoxious and aggressive sons of the influential had a certain droite de seigneur ca. 1983 that’s been taken away from him.
Years ago, I was somewhat acquainted with a family of political influentials in New York State. The disgraced scion of this family took up blogging after his release from federal prison in 2008. I’d met the rest of his family, never him. His blog was quite engaging in its way. His assessment of the Cuomos based on his family’s dealings with them: “thugs at heart”. The Cuomos in his judgment violated the norms the crooked society of New York pols maintained for dealings amongst each other. Andrew always seemed vulgar and unscrupulous in a way his father was not, and this was evident from an early age.
One other thing: Cuomo is 63 years old. His first marriage took place > 30 years ago. He should have been out of the habit of making passes at women in the office some time ago.
And just like that: Biden steps right in the doo-doo by praising Cuomo for doing “a hell of a job”– “‘Well, he’s done a hell of a job. He’s done a hell of a job. And I mean, both on — everything from access to voting to infrastructure to a whole range of things. That’s why it’s so sad,’ Biden said. The president did not express sympathy for Cuomo’s victims, but said that ‘I respect the decision he made’ to resign.”
https://nypost.com/2021/08/10/cuomo-did-hell-of-a-job-as-gov-biden-says-after-resignation/
Neo’s “creepy” ways of the past have been with us forever. It is only with the ascendancy of women to the majority that it is deemed worse to touch butts than enabling the killing of 15,000 nursing home patients or taxing the H out of its citizens. But that’s what you get when femmes are in charge: emotionalism, with reason in 2nd place.
Yes, I’m sexist. And I value reason.
Cicero:
I have little doubt that, on average, women are more “emotional” – or rather, emotional about different things – than men. That’s just an average. Reason is something I value highly, and so do many women and men, and there are plenty of men who are hyper-emotional although it tends to take different forms than with women.
The physical acting-out of angry impulses, for example, seems to be far more common with men.
And there are plenty of male leftists (and others) who have very emotional reactions to politics and who also politically exploit the emotions of men as well as the emotions of women.
You value reason. So do I. So do lots of men and women. And I do mean “lots of” – I’m not talking about some tiny minority of either sex. It’s one of those cases in which the Venn diagrams would have a great deal of overlap.
It’s not about thoughtful analysis. It’s not about how do we make the system better. This is about politics. — Cuomo
Savor the deliciousness of the most powerful man in the state complaining about being caught up in the system created by his party having spent 30+ years making everything about politics and power grabs. Having said that, it is always possible that things can get worse with his departure.
I’m sure he gave two week’s notice of leaving so the Human Resources department would not hold a grudge against him! HR holds all the power these days.
It’s “droit du seigneur,” and Cuomo had only one marriage, which ended in 2005, followed by a fourteen-year connection to a woman he didn’t marry. She left him two years ago, so it’s only in the past couple of years he’s been considered “single.” This creepy behavior has been going on at the very least while he was living with his long-time girlfriend. I don’t read gossip columns so I don’t know if this behavior was one of the reasons she gave up on him.
More decent guys, having Cuomo’s money, would take a woman on a date rather than putting his hands all over the staff.
Sez sumpin’, don’t it, that fifteen *thousand* deaths returning old folks to their nursing homes to die is eminently overlookable (with the overall mainstream media optics deemed worthy of high praise from the imbecile class), but being a disgusting boor with the women is an offense deemed punishable with ignominious removal from high office.
[ Is “Governor of New York” a “high” office? — a snark I just can’t resist. ]
And something that gets lost, or unremembered, in all this, is that Hitler Trump had dispatched the floating U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort to New York (City) for relief, but they sherrrr weren’t gonna make use o’ nuthin’ that came from Darth Donald hisself.
No sireee.
[ emits incoherent grumble ]
. . .
[ calmer now ]
Is it too late to run De Blasio out of town?
I wonder whether other Dem governors who also had a nursing home fiasco urged him to quit to keep that issue out of the public eye.
expat. Hard to know, but you bet they’re relieved. I live in Michigan. Funny thing–not so funny–when you raise this issue with dems and progs and similar mush heads, you get a blank look. If they’ve ever heard of it, they’ve had a self-administered brain scrub.
But, this being Michigan, there isn’t much in the media about it.
No Janice Dean.
Well, well, well. Looks like I’m getting a new neighbor in a couple of weeks!
I really didn’t expect His Highness to fold quite this quickly.
Once Biden, Pelosi and Schumer called for his resignation it was over for Cuomo.
I don’t think they answer to Obama, much less Jarrett and Rice. But they are all part of the democrat’s upper hierarchy.
Good to know that Biden supports a mass murderer. I do think the democrat leadership is trying to sweep under the rug the hundreds of thousands of elder deaths (40 something % of Covid deaths?) for which eight democrat governors are responsible. But that will only happen if we on the right stop talking about it.
Richard Aubrey,
Michigan based journalist Charlie LeDuff has done some solid reporting on Whitmer and her handling of COVID.
Geoffrey Britain,
In this case it is not about whom answers to whom. It’s who is pulling Letitia James’ strings. If Cuomo (and, presumably Schumer) were running the show she would have been instructed to drag her heels on the investigation and the wording of her speech would have been much different. If Obama, Jarret and Rice are running the show and want one of their operatives (Letitia James) in the Governor’s mansion the findings and speech would have played out as they did.
want one of their operatives (Letitia James) in the Governor’s mansion the findings and speech would have played out as they did.
Kathy Hochul will be in the Governor’s chair, not James. No clue what the New York electorate will do in 2022. Very much doubt the party bosses want James anywhere near the governor’s chair. The Republican bosses (Al d’Amato in particular) reached into their toy chest and pulled out George Pataki in 1994, a man who was unknown outside his state senate constituency. Here’s a guess: the Democratic bosses will do the same next year and the Governor inaugurated will be someone not heard of outside of a circumscribed sphere. Will almost certainly be a Downstate pol though. The last governor from Upstate was elected in 1930.
More decent guys, having Cuomo’s money, would take a woman on a date rather than putting his hands all over the staff.
If he were decent, he’d have married once he was admitted to the bar and he’d still be married to that same woman (her health permitting). And he’d be practicing law or he’d have found some other professional-managerial position in which his legal training was an asset. (Lawyers often land jobs with banks, for example). And he’d have about four kids. And if he went into supra-local politics, he’d have been in-and-out during late middle age and / or early old age. Malcolm Wilson was a decent man.
@ kwo – “I think the 14 days is a stall, that he’s hoping the publicity will die down and he can snake his way back into the good graces of media and NY politicians. If I were in the NY legislature, I’d keep pushing impeachment proceedings until he permanently vacates office.”
Ralph Northam is still governor of Virginia, but no one else was likely to be implicated in his KKK LARPing, whereas there are lots of Democrats who can be tarred with what gets dug up during an impeachment trial.
Murder-by-Covid may not be the only fossil hiding in the tar pit.
https://www.wsls.com/news/2021/08/05/watch-live-virginia-gov-ralph-northam-gives-august-5-coronavirus-update/
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/10/14/richard-grenell-noticed-that-cnns-john-berman-forgot-to-ask-gov-northam-one-important-question-on-white-supremacy/
“…Berman never asked a question about his KKK hood picture.”
Bonus post:
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2021/08/10/look-at-these-180s-drew-holden-remembers-when-the-media-said-andrew-cuomo-was-conducting-a-symphony/
@ Barry – I’m glad Tara is still pursuing justice from Biden (Nevertheless, she persisted, somebody once said), but she is delusional about why Cuomo got the ax.
“The revelations and Cuomo’s resignation is a signal to the powerful men with nasty behavior that survivors’ voices will be heard and their behavior no longer rewarded. Not from a governor and not from the president of the United States,” Reade said.
Their behavior will continue and be rewarded (or at least accepted and covered up), unless they become a danger to other powerful men (and women), for whatever reason having nothing to do with survivors’ voices.
I would like to know who went around convincing the women it would be safe to come forward NOW, as opposed to when the abuses actually happened.
Michael Tracey has some thoughts, which have probably occurred to more than one pundit, but he’s putting them on record in the first “mainish stream” post* I’ve read to do so.
His account, taken from James’s report, lends some credence to the Governor’s complaint that the red line of acceptable behavior moved (although as noted above, he shouldn’t have assumed it would never change because of Who He Was), and still raises the question of who and what convinced all of his formerly happy campers to turn on the Senior Camper.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/cuomo-michael-tracey
Headline: “What Exactly Is Andrew Cuomo Guilty Of? – Aside from killing thousands of old people in nursing homes, of course”
*There ought to be a name for the collective conservative electronic media that would formerly have been considered main stream, except that now applies only to Democrat operatives with by-lines.
**Comey explaining how Hillary Clinton did all the illegal things she was accused of, but that no reasonable prosecutor would charge her with the crimes she committed, somehow springs to mind.
Ben Shapiro: “In order for true justice to be done, Cuomo ought to have to resign alone in a hospital room without any access to family.”
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1425136837710942208
Art Deco @ 10:24,
Yes, I know James doesn’t get installed if Cuomo is recalled I’m referring to the next election. My point is that the Old party bosses in NY have lost their clout and Obama and others now have it. You seem to think the “Democratic bosses” in NY still hold sway. If they did, I doubt Cuomo would be resigning right now.
It will be very hard for another Democrat to beat James if she runs (she holds two cards in the intersectional olympics), and she’s already stated her electoral goal is to be Governor.
AF,
Yes, of course she’s delusional…(alas)…but she’s OUR delusional.
(Though she really OUGHT TO BE the country’s delusional…)
Poor Tara, maybe you will get justice…one day. (What say you OH YOU oh-so-virtuous METOO-ers, ALL YOU oh-so-principled feminists??!!)
IOW, who knows how long Joe Biden will continue to be protected by “Biden” and the corrupt media/info-tech monkeys.
The question, AesopFan, about why all these women came forward now is interesting.
You seem to think the “Democratic bosses” in NY still hold sway. If they did, I doubt Cuomo would be resigning right now.
Disagree. The Speaker of the Assembly and the President of the state senate controls which legislative process that generates the budget (and the business opportunities for insiders), not Valerie Jarrett. Rank-and-file Democrats in the assembly (with a scatter of exceptions) do what they’re told by the chamber bosses. I’m a betting those chaps are delighted to be dealing with Kathy Hochul, who has no reputation for being a battle-axe. Now they call the plays.
Note, the Lt. Governor’s office as currently constituted is a nonsense position which should be eliminated. Of those who have occupied the position since 1974, Mary Ann Krupsak, Mario Cuomo (at the end), and Elizabeth McCaughey each had a raucous falling out with the Governor of the day. Alfred del Bello and Robert Duffy relinquished the position out of boredom. David Patterson was a good-natured Albany lifer who landed in the governor’s chair unexpectedly. The people who stuck it out in the job were Stanley Lundine (a good soldier for Cuomo eventually treated quite shabbily by Downstate pols), Mary Donohue (a Rensselaer County pol who one might wager was agreeable to the job because she had little ambition and it allowed her to rack up time toward her state pension), and Hochul. The people reconciled to the job are people who are not aggressive.
I note for the record, in case anyone is wondering (as I was until yesterday), that her last name is pronounced HOKE-ull. I had thought for the longest time it was HO-shul or something like that. It’s not a family name I had encountered before.
The reason the media/democrats promoted Cuomo as “America’s Governor” last year was because they needed someone to step in in case Biden “sundowned” on the campaign, and it looked like he was going to lose. (See Robert Torricelli, NJ) In the end, Biden was certified as the winner.
Come mid 2021, with Cuomo the most popular governor in America, thanks to the media support, and Harris, the least popular VP in 50 years, Cuomo is now a threat. Cuomo would crush Harris (or Biden) in the 2024 primary. So he is being sidelined. The sexual harassment allegations are just the excuse, everyone involved knew about those all along.