AG REPORT OF INVESTIGATION INTO ALLEGATIONS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT BY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO

During the beginning of the Big V, Gov. Cuomo (NY) was out there a lot and seemed like the anti-Trump. Reasonable, articulate, and so forth. This might have been somewhat exaggerated, but early on, it was fair enough. Toss in how he was a bit of a glory hound and so on. Like many pols. This includes if you flag some questionable moves. Early on, there would be some all around, but I had a higher benefit of the doubt. 

[An example of the benefit of the doubt thing is how New York City handled things in March 2020.  Hindsight tells us that the shutdown probably came at least a week too late. Some now are very critical and I understand where they are coming from.

But, given the novelty of the situation and the great burdens of a shutdown -- I'm thinking of the shutting down of a major school system is a city where that will cause a lot of complications, much more than let's say a smaller system in a place like Washington State -- I can understand the hesitance. At the time, I surely was too optimistic.]

As time passed, especially as Biden came into office, a higher test arose. And, questionable moves about nursing homes, for instance, were even more complicated by evidence of cover-ups. I also saw allegations of favoritism in Big V treatment. Plus, he kept on (to be crude but accurate) having dick waving contests* with the mayor of NYC over who was in charge. This sort of this is particularly crude given the stakes.

Cuomo's power plays, which a recent report noted included attacks on my state senator (Sen. Biaggi, who is concerned both about ethics and sexual crimes), have long been a thing. He benefited from divided government and the long "three guys in a room" -- heads of the assembly and senate and the governor -- mentality of state government. The long term issues of state government is parodied in the film 1776 as being there since the beginning.

Simply put, the guy is a known asshole.  So it goes. But, again, he was able to take advantage of the situation to be governor for three terms now. This is different from being an ideal governor, especially now that we have full Democratic government.  (Sen. Biaggi knocked off the head of a swing group of independents that Cuomo used, one reason he is no fan.)  

I simply don't know how good he was, but again, he had a lot of issues. And, to be clear, various people (including Zephyr Teachout, one of his no hope challengers, better as a public interest scholar) have argued push comes to shove, he has not been a good governor even if he long came out top in power games.  The lack of an alternative, especially now that finding Republicans with any hope (Guiliani's son running isn't helping) is unlikely, might help him stay in office. Doesn't mean he is truly good at it.

One issue was/is problems with women. As in the #MeToo way.  Multiple allegations came out last year or so in this sense.  We now have a long report by the AG basically saying "I believe the women" and that he was not just an asshole.  He broke state and federal laws. The final two paragraphs are worthy of quotation:

Upon completion of our independent investigation into allegations of sexual harassment brought against Governor Andrew Cuomo and the surrounding circumstances, we have reached the conclusion that the Governor sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments. We find that such conduct was part of a pattern of behavior that extended to his interactions with others outside of State government.

We also find the Executive Chamber’s response to allegations of sexual harassment violated its internal policies and that the Executive Chamber’s response to one complainant’s allegations constituted unlawful retaliation. In addition, we conclude that the culture of fear and intimidation, the normalization of inappropriate comments and interactions, and the poor enforcement of the policies and safeguards, contributed to the sexual harassment, retaliation, and an overall hostile work environment in the Executive Chamber.

As to the federal law bit, it is discussed that federal law bars workplace sexual harassment. Which evidence shows he committed.  This all is not surprising, but it has more bit in a long report by the Attorney General.   The ball continues to be in the court of the state legislature, who in some fashion is formally investigating him.  Though top people said before that it was time for him to resign, this did not seem to be seen as exactly something that was time sensitive. 

He leaves office as of now 1/1/23.  The Lieutenant Governor is Kathy Hochul.  There is a certain familiarity to all of this.  Gov. Elliot Spitzer resigned because of a prostitution scandal. Recall he used to be in charge of prosecuting such things. The new governor, David Paterson, is basically forgotten today.  OTOH, he did fill Sen. Hillary Clinton's seat when she became Secretary of State (yeah, this happened) with Kirsten Gillibrand, a then lesser known upper state congresswoman from a reddish district. It is a reasonable bet that Gov. Spitzer would have chosen someone else.  

I have pushed for Cuomo's resignation on this blog in the past after his actions came to light.  I think this is worse than Spitzer, but he was not just some victim of Puritans. Prostitution should be legal, but that doesn't give him a pass with all that was involved, including the higher standard warranted for his position.  Resignation is separate from civil and criminal wrongdoing. 

Cuomo is worse. It can't be handwaved as a "victimless crime" (without going into the particulars of the Spitzer matter).  And, again, the sexual stuff isn't even the only thing that warrants resignation. The report might push the envelope some. A liberal leaning state like New York especially -- though it really shouldn't be partisan -- should put people to a higher test.  

I noted that Scott Stringer, also ran mayoral candidate who once seemed like a leading possibility, was rightly put to a higher test even if the allegation was long past.  Part of this is HOW he reacted -- his campaign went all out, even accusing the women of being some Yang supporter (the allegation turned to be weak), instead of -- he was supposed to be the progressive/left choice -- carefully handling the situation. 

(He did a better job when a second woman came out, if with a weaker case)

The #MeToo Generation warrants a level of care that brings within it some marginal cases. Sen. Al Franken -- the Alabama Senate race with a sexual predator issue arising there too arising around that time adding an additional complication -- was such a case.  He was rather upset about being forced to resign.  But, especially as things were even more raw, yes, he was put to a higher test, especially as a liberal senator from a state where he could be replaced with a fine choice like Senator Tina Smith.  

Cuomo is less of a marginal case.  He has long been a bully and "toxic workplace" issues have long been known.  Over time, multiple allegations, and not just about sexual harassment, of wrongdoing have arisen.  It is depressing really that he didn't have a better primary challenge last time (Cynthia Nixon is fine enough, including doing her part in various public issues, but she was not really a credible person to beat him).

I understand why Eric Adams, who will be the next NYC mayor (oh well; I wanted one of the women to win, but guess he has some potential), recently had a mutual suck-up appearance with Cuomo.  But, it was sort of depressing.  We can do better.  Let's have Gov. Hochul as a placeholder, and see if we can pick good person to run in 2022.  

The report might make this somewhat likely.  As of now, Cuomo is still out denying everything.  Suffice to say that is getting real old. 

ETA: President Biden, who previously said he would rely on the AG's report, later said he supports Cuomo resigning.   I don't know if this as any concrete effects, but there is something important about it all the same.

The report notes that it does not decide, but leaves open others to do so, criminal charges is warranted. And, I have seen reporting that at least one locality is investigating that.  After all, to the degree there was unwanted touching (as an example), that is not only a civil issue, but a criminal one.  

It was also emphasized by some of the reporting that we should focus on the enablers cited by the report.  Such third parties (and details) often are notable in these cases, even if on some level they don't seem like the "big game."  But, victims repeatedly note the problem of enablers.

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* I have been told someone I know personally found out about this blog. Not too many people read it.  I don't just treat it as a personal diary.  But, yes, at times I'm blunt and so forth.