Andrew Cuomo resigned. What happens next?
Assemblyman Ron Kim suggests term limits, among other things
Welcome to a Tuesday edition of Progressives Everywhere!
Tonight’s newsletter will focus on the Cuomo story, and because it follows up Sunday’s piece on the governor’s scandal, I’m making it available for the wide list. We’ll get back to the news roundup on Thursday.
It looked for all the world like soon-to-be-former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was ready to dig in and force the New York legislature to impeach and remove him from office. As I reported on Sunday, progressive lawmakers were already working to pressure leadership to expedite the impeachment process, and after the absurd 45-minute televised rebuttal delivered by Cuomo’s lawyer this morning, it sure looked like things were going to get ugly.
Even the beginning of Cuomo’s speech was a pugnacious defense of his predatory habits, so his sudden pivot to announcing his resignation created shockwaves around the country. One person that was not surprised, however, was one of Cuomo’s most ardent critics: Assemblyman Ron Kim. The Queens Democrat has spent the last 18 months leading the fight to unearth the truth behind Cuomo’s Covid nursing home scandal, which helped kick off the backlash to the governor who was made out to be a national hero during the Covid crisis.
“No matter how he modeled this out, there was no way out for him, just to put his lens on and how he calculates,” Kim told me this afternoon. “So he tried to have a gracious exit to save his reputation. I assume that he might have tried to negotiate at least finishing his term, but that was something no one would entertain. So a gracious resignation that still makes [it look like] him doing the right thing was really his only out.”
Cuomo did not suffer from a lack of arrogance or self-belief, so the question then becomes what altered his calculations? What made him suddenly realize that he wouldn’t be able to punch his way through another scandal? It may have been the exit of Melissa DeRosa, his long-time aide and henchwoman.
DeRosa announced her resignation on Sunday with a vague statement that nonetheless signaled that she didn’t see any future for Cuomo. It was another way of saying that this time, she couldn’t possibly shiv enough reporters and lawmakers to save her boss’s reputation. Losing the confidence of his most loyal servant, even if she’s still working for him at the moment, must have served as a reality check for Cuomo, who had weathered a number of other storms and controversies during his two-and-a-half terms in office.
Then again, her resignation was really a two week notice, as she promised to step down in 14 days, indicating that perhaps this was coordinated from the start. Cuomo also gave himself 14 days before officially stepping down.
Another factor could have been Cuomo’s desire to head off any further probing of his various improprieties — the Assembly’s investigation is not only looking into his rampant sexual harassment, but also the nursing home scandal, his shady book deal, and other highlights from his decade in office. His speech repeatedly urged the state to move on from the firestorm, which felt like him imploring the legislature to drop its investigations.Bbut that’s not up to him.
Progressives in the legislature are already publicly demanding that they pursue this all the way to the end, even after Cuomo has left office. Here’s Assemblywoman Yuh-line Niou’s statement on the subject. State Sen. Julia Salazar agrees, as does Sen. Michael Gianaris. But not all legislators think it’d be worth pursuing impeachment and removal. Kim says that he hasn’t heard from Assembly leadership on next steps, but he’s determined to ensure there is accountability for whatever the investigation turns up.
“If impeachment is the process, then so be it,” he says. “But if they come up with a different path, in terms of oversight hearings or subpoena powers, it has to be a way to get truth for those seniors and the women [who came forward with allegations about Cuomo].”
Pursuing impeachment and officially removing a former Gov. Cuomo from office would serve several purposes. Beyond a trial making public all the dirty laundry discovered in the various investigations of his administration, a conviction would take away his state pension and bar him from running for office again. If a Cuomo comeback doesn’t seem like a real possibility at this point, just know that moments after his resignation speech, CNN’s anchors and “analysts” were already discussing his political future. (See here for my thoughts on that.)
There are other methods to both prevent a Cuomo reemergence and to ensure that no state official can amass as much power as he did going forward, as Kim suggested during our conversation.
“We have to return the balance of power in the [government] through reforms, but one of the clear safeguards against someone in the executive office for way too long is term limits,” he said. “Two terms, eight years.”
Even if Cuomo doesn’t return to office, his centrist, corporate-friendly policies could live on in the administration of Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will soon become the first female governor in New York State history. Cuomo chose her to burnish his credentials with women and upstate voters, not to mention her moderate politics. Her involvement with Cuomo’s various scandals remains unclear.
“She’s inheriting this seat as one of the chief validators for Cuomo for many years, so I think we need to get clarity on what role did she play in propping up that abusive culture?” Kim said. “Did she know about any of the open cases with the women? What is her plan to prevent such a culture from taking place again? Will she clean house of all the corrupt operators and enablers that allowed Cuomo to exist? Will she commit to not hiring people connected to lobbyists and private corporations, like Andrew Cuomo did? His entire circle of people monetized that office.”
Hochul began her career as a conservative Democrat who made a big stink about opposing gun control and held anti-immigrant views. She was endorsed by the NRA when she first ran for Congress in 2011 and worked for M&T Bank for a few years after leaving Congress. While she’s moved left to some degree due to sitting in statewide office, she has a lot of work to make peace with ascendant New York progressives in the legislature.
The legislature made some incredible strides over the past few years, more in spite of Cuomo’s resistance than thanks to his assistance — the $2.3 billion excluded workers fund, for all of its distribution problems, stands as a national standard for helping low-income workers and immigrants. But there were a number of policies that they could not get signed into law without Cuomo’s willingness to help push them over the line, and so while the resignation should have nothing to do with ideology, the reality is that his exit does create an opportunity to advance the cause of working people in New York.
“She can be a partner in bringing in the type of policies that we've been fighting for the people of New York, but based on her background of being anti-immigrant and from upstate New York, I think there's a long road before she can be a true collaborative partner with the progressive wing of the party,” Kim said. “But I certainly hope that we can work together and achieve that. If not, then we need to figure out who will be the next governor after Kathy, someone who can usher in those kinds of changes.”
But it’s not just Hochul who will have to put in some serious effort.
“But we also have to reflect internally on what our value are,” he added, sending a message to his colleagues in the Assembly. “How did we not pass single-payer universal health care this year? We have no more excuses without Andrew Cuomo in office.”
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