You HAD to know this was coming, right? I mean, how many women need to come forward and accuse you of sexual misconduct, groping, or outright rape? How many nursing home deaths can be laid at your feet and still have you keep your job? Andrew Cuomo resigned as Governor of New York today. It wasn’t a surprise…in fact, it was long overdue.
When it became clear that after Attorney General, Letitia James’ report was damning to the Governor’s continued presence, it was just a matter of time before Cuomo would vacate the Governor’s mansion, either by choice or by force. He took the “honorable” way out and committed hari-kari.
It’s not like we all didn’t know this was going to happen, right? I mean, you DID know he was out as Governor, one way or another after James damning investigation slammed him, right? When the President of the United States, himself a sexual predator, as well as the Majority Leader of the Senate (and a New Yorker), and the Speaker of the House of Representatives all tell you to quit, the writing is pretty much on the wall.
The question isn’t whether or not Cuomo would keep his job. The question is, how does this escapade change the way politicians behave? Cuomo isn’t the first politician to sexually abuse aides and others under him. But moving forward, will this change anything? We didn’t see any change going back throughout history. Why should this be any different? Did it change anything when Al Franken had to leave the US Senate? How about Matt Gaetz? Or John Conyers? Nothing has changed.
But Cuomo was a guy that could have very easily won the Democrat nomination for President last year. He was sitting on top of the world because of his daily COVID briefings, which were about a thousand times better than what Donald Trump was doing. He was seen as a truly rising star in the Democrat party. Just a year later, it’s all come crashing down on him, forcing him into early retirement and the end of a political career that also most likely ruined a family dynasty in the Empire State.
If it can happen to Cuomo, what do we have to do to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen to anyone else…that they are able to avoid that trap in the first place. It doesn’t just happen to Democrats either. In fact, over the past 10 or 11 years, there have been 20 instances of politicians on both sides of the aisle that have had sexual allegations thrown at them that ended up having some truth behind it. Cuomo is just the latest example.
But the Cuomo saga has been concluded…sort of. He still could face criminal sexual abuse charges in Albany. That is being investigated by the Sheriff there. And he could still face 15,000 charges of wrongful death of one type or another over his lame-brain decision to move COVID suffers into nursing homes to infect the most vulnerable population…and then hiding it from the world, about the numbers.
Let’s hope BOTH parties learn the lesson here. I doubt it, but I can hope, can’t I?
Carry on world…you’re dismissed!
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