Is this fair treatment for Cuomo?
Is there nothing to be said for Andrew Cuomo? After all, he was one of the few national leaders who stood up to Donald Trump. But his stewardship of the State of New York is teetering on the brink. Make no mistake, I do not like him either. He is a bad dude: thuggish, crude, rude and lacking in politesse. The last thing I would want to do is lionize him. But please, can we not all lose our heads here?
Cuomo is said by The New York Times to have no friends, and perhaps this is true. So true that Democrats I know repeat this as though it were a mantra. Certainly, Cuomo has no friends in the mainstream media. He has insulted them too much for too long. He has no friends in the Democratic Party. No surprise there; Democrats like to eat their young, and their old, when the political winds turn. Just ask Al Franken.
Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand were calling for Cuomo’s resignation long before the damming 165-page report of Attorney General Letitia James was ever written. At least President Biden waited for the report, which was released with no notice to Cuomo, and no fair opportunity to refute the charges. Now, facing an impeachment inquiry by state legislators who revile him, he is really in the soup.
The madding crowd is piling obloquy not only on Cuomo, but on his aides. Maureen Dowd calls his top aide Melissa DeRosa — now former top aide, because she just resigned — a “Quisling,” the name of the Norwegian politician who betrayed his country to Hitler.
Dowd also likens DeRosa to Ghislaine Maxwell, awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors; to the secretariat ushering young women to the sanctum sanctorum of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, now in prison after conviction of rape; and, in a flight of fancy and literary reference, to Mrs. Jewkes in Samuel Richardson’s “Pamela,” holding down the scullery maid while the master had his way with her. Really!
As a lawyer and former federal prosecutor, I am alarmed by the total lack of due process here. James based her devastating conclusions in part on interviews with 179 unnamed witnesses, of whom just 41 were under oath. Seasoned Albany observers say that’s the way investigations go in the Empire State, but I am unpersuaded.
Cuomo may well be guilty of sexual harassment or even unwanted sexual touching. But let’s reach that conclusion after at least a frisson of due process. And that means notice and hearing, confrontation with accusers who are willing to come forward, opportunity for cross-examination, and a disinterested investigation by someone other than James, who may be herself a candidate for governor.
James wanted an “independent” investigation. She went out like Diogenes with a lantern looking for an honest man. She got Joon Kim, with years of experience investigating Cuomo. He almost put the hat on Cuomo when he was in the U.S. attorney’s office, participating in Preet Bharara’s investigation of Cuomo’s early gutting of a supposedly independent anti-corruption panel.
The James report has 11 accusers. Of those named, two did not work for the State of New York at the time of the alleged misconduct. There are none who reported Cuomo’s transgressions to the relevant New York State agency dealing with sexual harassment complaints. Yes, I know, they say they feared retaliation. But this is an area that might be probed in cross-examination.
One of the women alleging inappropriate touching, Brittany Commisso, identified in the James report as Executive Assistant #1, has just filed a criminal complaint and outed herself on network morning TV.
If the facts alleged in the complaint are made out, they would constitute a serious offense. But Cuomo has denied it, there are evidently no witnesses, and the mob is howling for his resignation without so much as a hearing.
Cuomo seems to have a predilection for an excessive form of flirting, uncomfortable for our times. Allegedly, he has engaged in unwanted touching of the backs or backsides of women. This would merit a searching investigation into all the facts and circumstances of possible violation, but not because, as the James report indicates as something other than a truism, the mid-section is, as a state trooper put it, “between my chest and my privates.”
To read the tea leaves, it does not appear that Cuomo can hang on. And surely, if he does, he will face a Sisyphean primary fight if he chooses to seek re-election. But it is very sad to have no friends when you need them most.
Zirin is a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York.