Andrew Cuomo remained defiant as top Democrat lawmakers in the state joined calls for him to resign, reportedly telling one they’ll have to impeach the New York governor for him to leave the office.
Cuomo, once the darling of the mainstream media for his handling of the pandemic, finds himself embroiled in scandals on numerous fronts.
The governor issued an executive order in March forcing nursing homes to take on patients that had tested positive for coronavirus, then according to his own top aide, engaged in a cover-up.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a report indicating advisers to Cuomo “successfully pushed state health officials to strip a public report of data showing that more nursing-home residents had died of Covid-19 than the administration had acknowledged.”
Making matters worse, the governor has been accused by five separate women of sexually harassing them.
JUST IN – NY Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins calls on Gov. Cuomo to resign. pic.twitter.com/h2SkDz5HiR
— Disclose.tv
(@disclosetv) March 7, 2021
Top Democrats Call on Cuomo to Resign
While the nursing home scandal is far and away the more shocking issue plaguing Governor Cuomo’s administration right now, the sexual harassment claims are causing Democrat lawmakers to take notice.
New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins called on Cuomo to resign Sunday.
“We need to govern without daily distractions. For the good of the state, Governor Cuomo must resign,” Stewart-Cousins – a Democrat – said in a statement.
Heastie – also a Democrat – issued his own statement saying, “I too share the sentiment of Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins regarding the Governor’s ability to continue to lead this state.”
NEW from @CarlHeastie : pic.twitter.com/jQPrXBLGEd
— Katie Glueck (@katieglueck) March 7, 2021
The pair join Democratic State Assemblyman Ron Kim who called on Cuomo to “do the right thing and resign.”
Kim’s target was the nursing home scandal and cover-up, in which he accused the governor of threatening to ruin his career if he didn’t help run cover for Cuomo in the media.
Kim would later call the activity outlined in the Wall Street Journal article “criminal.”
This is criminal.
The Gov’s top advisors pushed state health officials to strip a public report of the data showing more nursing home deaths.
The changes Cuomo’s aides made to the report reveal that they had the fuller accounting of NH deaths as early as the summer of 2020. https://t.co/OxR9TEcXCy
— Ron T. Kim (@rontkim) March 5, 2021
RELATED: Cuomo Is Accused Of Sexual Misconduct By Two More Women – ‘Just A Skirt’
Cuomo: You’re Going to Have to Impeach Me
Fox News reports that, as of Sunday, “a total of 37 lawmakers from either the Assembly or state Senate want [Cuomo] to resign, and 10 have called for impeachment.”
But Cuomo would have none of it, suggesting being forced to resign based only on allegations would be “anti-Democratic.”
“There is no way I resign,” Cuomo told reporters.
“They don’t override the people’s will, they don’t get to override elections,” he said of the lawmakers calling for him to step down. “I was elected by the people of New York state. I wasn’t elected by politicians.”
Earlier today, @NYGovCuomo said, “There is no way I resign.” Powerful members of his own party are making that stance increasingly untenable. https://t.co/9KqiBNnRxv
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) March 7, 2021
Cuomo would later dismiss “the premise of resigning because of allegations [as] actually anti-democratic.”
His statement completely neglects the fact that he’s been caught issuing an executive order that led to the deaths of thousands of seniors, then engaged in what state Assemblyman Mike Lawler (R) described as a “criminal conspiracy” to hide the numbers from the DOJ.
Cuomo was so defiant, the Associated Press details a phone conversation he had with Stewart-Cousins practically daring lawmakers to impeach him.
“In a brief phone conversation Sunday prior to the press conference,” they write, “Cuomo told Stewart-Cousins he wouldn’t quit and they would have to impeach him if they wanted him out of office.”
An Assembly Republican-led commission to impeach Cuomo was established in February.
To impeach the sitting governor of New York, the Assembly would need a majority vote in the 150-member body, and the state Senate would need a two-thirds majority of court members to convict.
The post Cuomo Defiant As Top Democrats Call On Him To Resign: You’ll Have To Impeach Me appeared first on The Political Insider.
