Government

Andrew Cuomo Resigns

The other shoe inevitably drops.

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(Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

A wild 365 days for Andrew Cuomo. The New York governor earned national plaudits for his handling of the COVID pandemic, parlaying his daily press appearances into a bestseller and ultimately frivolous talk of a dark horse presidential nomination. Or at least an Attorney General nod. He was the toast of the nation for his “tough talk” about Trump’s mishandling of the COVID crisis.

Today, he resigned, effective in 14 days.

Ultimately the damning report produced by the New York Attorney General’s office proved too much for the governor to continue in office. It shouldn’t have taken evidence of abuse this extensive to dislodge him from office.

From the beginning, there were voices (like me!) questioning whether Cuomo’s ascendant brand was more style over substance. New York’s response was haphazard, the hospital bed shortage stemmed largely from his policies, and he attacked Medicaid coverage for poor people at the height of the crisis. His past run-ins with the U.S. Attorney’s Office over public corruption, altercations that landed his senior advisor in prison, as well as lingering questions over his handling of his own NYAG investigation into his predecessor David Paterson — resulting in Paterson’s resignation and Cuomo’s elevation to the job.

But since then we’ve learned of high-level manipulation of public health reports and multiple complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct. New York Attorney General Tish James opened an investigation, the state legislature has started the process of a possible impeachment, and the NY congressional delegation came out calling for his resignation.

This shouldn’t put a stop to the investigations though. Don’t let this announcement hand-wave away how serious those allegations are.

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It’s been 15 years since a New York governor left office without resigning. So begin the clock begins on Kathy Hochul’s resignation, I suppose.

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