New York State's challenges of confronting Covid-19 and an approaching budget deadline took second place to the political crisis ensnaring Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo Tuesday after a third allegation of sexual harassment prompted questions about not only his political survival, but his immediate ability to govern.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris of Queens, the Senate's deputy majority leader, noted Tuesday the seriousness of the Cuomo crisis and its interruption of the immediate task of adopting a budget.
"It is getting increasingly difficult to get the work of the state done," Gianaris told The Buffalo News amid a chorus of Republican and Democratic calls for the governor to resign.
Several new developments point to the increasing sentiment throughout Albany's upper echelons that the harassment allegations of three women, combined with continuing fallout from Cuomo's handling of statistics stemming from Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes, were creating a grave crisis for the governor. They included:
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Deal among legislators
Leaders of the Assembly and Senate announced the Legislature will pass legislation stripping Cuomo of the temporary emergency powers granted him last year at the pandemic's outset.
“We certainly see the need for a quick response but also want to move toward a system of increased oversight, and review," said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. "The public deserves to have checks and balances."
Working Families seeks resignation
Working Families, the left-leaning minor party with significant influence in New York politics, called on Cuomo to resign.
"Andrew Cuomo’s reign of fear, harassment, and intimidation cannot continue,” state Director Sochie Nnaemeka said in a statement. “We are calling on Governor Cuomo to resign immediately because he is unfit to serve the people of New York."
The Cuomo opposition comes as no major surprise, since the party opposed the governor though much of his tenure in Albany. But it also could lead to Working Families naming its own candidate and diluting Cuomo's support should he run for a fourth term in 2022.
'Time has come,' Long Island Democrat says
Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Long Island Democrat, became the first member of the state congressional delegation to call for the governor to step down.
"The time has come. The Governor must resign," she said on Twitter.
No other Democratic representatives in Washington from New York have followed, nor any local state legislators (though several downstate senators and members of the Assembly have).
Democratic leaders, under pressure from Republicans in the political minority as well as a growing number of Democratic members of the Assembly and Senate, pushed up a change to diminish the governor’s existing authority.
Four leaders could be key
Charles E. Schumer, the U.S. Senate majority leader, called the three women's allegations "serious, very troubling."
"These women have to be listened to. I've always believed that sexual harassment is not acceptable, must not be tolerated," he said at his weekly press conference. "Now there's an investigation in the hands of a very, very capable person – the attorney general of New York State. I supported it and called for it. And now she's doing it."
Several observers noted Tuesday that Cuomo may survive as long as calls for resignation do not originate with four key leaders: Schumer, Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, or Stewart-Cousins (though all have expressed their concerns).
College Democrats speak out
The influential College Democrats of New York called for Cuomo to resign, saying "abuse of power in any form or context is unacceptable, especially when wielded by a public servant."
Republicans explore prospects
On the Republican side, Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island said Tuesday he will explore running for governor next year, telling Newsday he will begin calling Republican leaders to assess the prospects of a race. Rep. Tom Reed of Corning has expressed similar sentiments.
Cuomo again stayed out of public view on Tuesday. But his office tried to display a sense of normalcy as it issued press release after press release through the day on everything from updates on Covid-related issues to the awarding of various state grants to an infusion of more money for food banks.
Staunch allies offer some pushback
Significantly, however, Cuomo gained at least tepid support from a pair of staunch allies – Heastie and state Democratic Chairman Jay S. Jacobs – signaling at least some pushback to salvage the deteriorating situation.
Jacobs, the governor's hand-picked party leader who also heads Nassau County Democrats, called for all involved to wait for the outcome of an investigation headed by Attorney General Letitia James.
"It is both premature and unfair for anyone to opine on the outcome until that investigation is completed and the results reported," he said.
While noting widespread Democratic support for the James probe, Jacobs was quick to deflect attention back toward Republicans and allegations of sexual harassment and assault leveled over the years at former President Donald Trump.
"I contrast that with the calls from our Republican colleagues who, in the face of more than two dozen accusations from women against the head of their party, Donald Trump, sat in silence for more than five years – with not even a peep to be heard from any of them," Jacobs said. "While they may have just now discovered their moral compass, Republican leaders have absolutely no standing whatsoever to share their opinion on the current matter."
Heastie spokesman Michael Whyland, meanwhile, also turned attention toward Republicans, accusing them of "playing politics during a time when New Yorkers can least afford it."
"These are the same do-nothing politicians who just a few weeks ago sat idly by while Donald Trump worked to undermine our democracy and destroy our institutions," Whyland said. "But Republicans who play these games will have to go back to their districts and explain to their constituents why they are more interested in trying to score meaningless political points than helping New Yorkers recover."
