Source: Politics<\/p>\n
ALBANY, N.Y. \u2014 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo started the year as one of the nation\u2019s most powerful governors, a household name who was racing toward a potential fourth term in office.<\/p>\n
Now, two months later, he\u2019s embroiled in two major scandals and facing a daily onslaught of questions about deaths in nursing homes, accusations of sexual impropriety and growing speculation that his political career may be in jeopardy.<\/p>\n
“It appears he’s earned himself a primary,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a frequent critic of the governor and one of the names tossed around as a possible 2022 challenger.<\/p>\n
New allegations arrived this week<\/a> from a former aide, Lindsey Boylan, who says Cuomo kissed her without her consent, suggested a game of strip poker while on a business trip and made other inappropriate comments.<\/p>\n As the governor scrambled to deal with the fallout from that scandal, one of his top cabinet members was in a standoff Thursday with state lawmakers over the other: The revelation that his administration for months failed to report the deaths of thousands of nursing home patients who had been hospitalized with Covid-19.<\/p>\n That controversy mushroomed last week when Assemblymember Ron Kim (D-Queens) said Cuomo called him and threatened to destroy his career over his nursing home criticism, drawing attention to Cuomo\u2019s long history of hardball tactics<\/a> some describe as bullying and abusive.<\/p>\n Cuomo\u2019s growing body of detractors now encompasses Republicans, progressives, good government types and women\u2019s rights advocates, among others. To his critics, the two controversies are not unrelated.<\/p>\n \u201cSexual harassment is a form of power abuse, and when you piece it it altogether\u2014 the hidden but now public harassment and what we\u2019ve already seen in broad daylight by Cuomo\u2014 you can put together a profile of the kind of power abuser he really is,\u201d said Erica Vladimer, a former legislative staffer who accused her then-boss of sexual harassment<\/a> and co-founded an advocacy group<\/a> to address a culture of such behavior in Albany.<\/p>\n Unlike questions over his policy decisions, friends and foes alike have called the new attacks on Cuomo\u2019s character self-inflicted. His decision to call and berate Kim \u2014 and Kim\u2019s decision to air it publicly \u2014 opened a floodgate for others with similar experiences, said New York\u2019s GOP chair Nick Langworthy, during a Thursday discussion the party hosted virtually with his counterpart in California.<\/p>\n \u201cCuomo made a very big mistake in doing this because Assemblyman Kim took the age old advice on how to handle a bully, which was that he fought back, punched back, and in doing so, inspired many others to recount their own stories of inappropriate and abusive behavior by this governor,\u201d Langworthy said.<\/p>\n The allegations were enough to drive Cuomo\u2019s Emmy-winning briefings off the air, at least for a day: The governor scrapped a virtual press conference that had been planned for Wednesday as an embattled administration and weary staff pivoted to a new sort of crisis almost exactly a year after the first Covid-19 case was found in the state.<\/p>\n For a governor who has been so much in the public eye over the last year, his silence in recent days has been conspicuous.<\/p>\n \u201cThe moment requires something other than hiding back, but he\u2019s not there yet,\u201d said an administration official.<\/p>\n Cuomo is a self-proclaimed gearhead and fix-it guy, but a sexual misconduct allegation isn\u2019t something that can easily be shut down with a political machination or a pivot. \u201c\u2018The car broke down and I\u2019m going to get it going?\u2019 Well, that\u2019s not the right metaphor [for now],\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n Mayor Bill de Blasio, another frequent foe, on Thursday joined calls from both Republicans and fellow Democrats for an independent probe into the sexual harassment allegations.<\/p>\n “These allegations are really disturbing,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cWe need a full and independent investigation. I want to emphasize the word ‘independent’ investigation \u2014 by some individual or entity that is not compromised, is not something that is dominated by the governor\u2019s office, but an independent investigation, because this is just unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo\u2019s poll numbers have already suffered from the nursing home scandal. His job approval rating was down to 48 percent in a Marist poll released this week. Only 36 percent of registered voters said Cuomo deserves to be re-elected to a fourth term, while 58 percent said it\u2019s \u201ctime to elect someone else.\u201d That survey came out before Boylan published her harassment account.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not dead yet, but he\u2019s taken a sizable hit. I think New Yorkers are paying attention in a way they haven\u2019t before,\u201d said Republican consultant Jessica Proud.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to see the path out of this for him. He\u2019s someone that will certainly dig his claws in, and I don\u2019t think he will resign of his own volition,\u201d she said. \u201cHe will essentially be a non-functioning governor.\u201d<\/p>\n Any effort to take down Cuomo, however, will face its own obstacles. Despite mounting calls for an investigation into the harassment allegations, there is no clear roadmap for such a probe<\/a>. Albany\u2019s main investigatory body, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, is largely controlled by the governor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some have called for an investigation by state Attorney General Tish James or special prosecutor she could appoint. She, too, has been a Cuomo ally, but has recently asserted her independence: It was her investigation that first revealed the state undercounted nursing home deaths by about 50 percent. The state\u2019s top Republican lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday requesting an investigation<\/a> into the harassment claims.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear what James might do, should she decide to engage. The office of New York\u2019s attorney general has wide jurisdiction to weigh in on state ethics matters, but those have historically been assumed on a situational basis. A spokesperson for James\u2019 office said they are reviewing the letter from GOP lawmakers, but did not comment further.<\/p>\n Advocates for anti-harassment reforms are calling for a standing referral \u2014 either from the Legislature or the executive \u2014 giving the attorney general the power to investigate, issue reports and, where necessary, prosecute cases of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n That would give more clarity for who should tackle this and any other civil or criminal investigations that might arise in the future, said Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham law professor and Cuomo critic who has run for both governor and attorney general on Democratic lines.<\/p>\n \u201cIn Albany, sexual misconduct, silencing and retaliation has gone hand in hand with corruption,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople who are harassed in Albany repeatedly feel trapped because the places they might turn to complain are all deeply intertwined with power structures.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cObviously I\u2019ve been criticizing Andrew Cuomo for a long time,\u201d Teachout added. \u201cBut this moment is different because of the level of national exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n If Cuomo follows through on his plans to run for re-election next year, no clear challenger has yet emerged<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governor beat back primary challengers on his left in 2018 and 2014, and observers say that to have a shot next year, a rival Democrat would have to be able to make inroads among voters of color in New York City.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only candidates who could beat him are people who could beat him in his base,\u201d said Democratic consultant Rebecca Katz, who worked on Cynthia Nixon\u2019s 2018 campaign. \u201cNew York City held very strong for Cuomo. And if any progressive challenger is going to come close to beating him, they have to beat him in New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n James and Williams are viewed as among the strongest potential challengers, but neither has said yet if they will run.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not focused on that,” said Williams, who narrowly lost a bid for lieutenant governor against Cuomo\u2019s No. 2, Kathy Hochul, in 2018.<\/p>\n Williams said the latest revelations about the governor\u2019s tactics are \u201cnot new nor surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve just been hidden in plain sight for so long,\u201d he told POLITICO. \u201cIt has not gotten the exposure that was definitely warranted for many, many years. And if it had, New York state might just be in better shape.\u201d<\/p>\n