Cuomo for AG? Oh, let the GOP’S fun begin
FAlbany or reasons that defy easy logic, Andrew Cuomo’s next job is a frequent topic of speculation. I’ll concede that I’m as guilty as the next speculator. Will the Democrat run for president? Will he be made ambassador to Lithuania? Will he become the sous chef at a commune in Oregon? The questions come and go like tides. For some of us who follow politics in Albany, the conjecture might stem from the continually frustrated hope that New York’s governor is on his way out of town. We want the cloud over the Capitol to lift, bathing state government in glorious sunlight.
Or maybe we just have nothing better to do.
Whatever the cause, the din arose once more a few days ago when the Associated Press reported that Cuomo is among the contenders to be Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general.
The other contenders, the AP said, citing an anonymous source, are outgoing Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
Could it be? Have we finally arrived at the moment when, fingers crossed, Cuomo departs and honest-to-goodness democracy returns to Albany?
Alas, no. The governor will not be Biden’s attorney general. You can bet on it.
I’m not saying that because Cuomo keeps insisting he wants no other job than the one he has, as he did again after the AP report. No, Cuomo won’t be nominated because he could never be confirmed by the Senate. His baggage would sink that ship before it left the pier.
Now, I realize I wrote a column at the start of October musing on the outside chance Cuomo could get a Biden White House job. But that opinion resulted from my misguided faith in pollsters, who confidently predicted a big blue wave would wash Democrats into a comfortable majority in the Senate.
That isn’t what happened, of course. As things stand, pending the two seats up for grabs in
Georgia, Republicans hold a 50-to-48 Senate edge and will likely be able to block a Biden cabinet pick they find objectionable.
Don’t you just know that Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell and Republicans would love to put at least one Democratic head on a stick? And if Biden were foolish enough to give them the chance, they would be especially delighted for that head to be Cuomo’s, given his prominence and partisan bluster.
What’s more, keeping Cuomo from becoming attorney general has the added advantage of being the right thing to do, given his record in Albany. Even some Democrats would agree.
Of course, some of you may have come to admire Cuomo for his handling of the pandemic and know him only as St. Andrew of COVID, as
Some of you may have come to admire Cuomo for his handling of the pandemic. ... You may not know about the unfortunate aspects of Cuomo’s tenure. But many in Albany certainly do.
Alexis Grenell memorably dubbed him. You may not know about the unfortunate aspects of Cuomo’s tenure. But many in Albany certainly do.
We remember that one top Cuomo advisor, a friend of the family named Joe Percoco, was not only convicted on bribery and corruption charges but also sullied the reputation of ziti, a perfectly fine pasta. The governor wasn’t implicated, but it was a bad look nevertheless.
Another Cuomo ally, SUNY Polytechnic founder Alain Kaloyeros, was convicted of a bid-rigging scheme that favored Cuomo campaign contributors. Kaloyeros is appealing the verdict, but, again, not a good look for the governor.
Then, there was the Moreland Commission to
Investigate Public Corruption. Cuomo created the panel and promised it would be independent. But when members started looking under rocks he didn’t want lifted, the governor meddled and interfered before shutting the commission down.
How damning would the commission’s work have been to Cuomo? We’ll never know. He made sure of that.
But a guy who shuttered a corruption investigation has no business being the attorney general, heading the Department of Justice and its many probes. Surely, we can agree on that.
And just think of the witnesses Senate Republicans could call to testify if Cuomo is nominated.
Here’s Preet Bharara, who investigated whether
the Democrat was guilty of obstructing justice for stopping the panel’s work. (The governor was not charged.) Up next is Todd Howe, a Cuomo insider who pleaded guilty to eight felonies and became a key witness against Percoco.
That would only be the start of Republican fun.
Senators could ask Cuomo about, say, nursing home deaths. They could quiz the governor about some of the lamentable things he has said, such as when he declared that conservatives have no place in New York. Oh, Republicans would have a field day.
You know what that means. Andrew Cuomo is going nowhere.