The Record (Troy, NY)

When it comes to resignatio­ns, Cuomo should practice what he preaches

- Nicholas Buonanno Nick on the record Nick on the Record appears in print every Wednesday. Nicholas Buonanno is the assistant senior editor for The Record and can be reached at nbuonanno@ medianewsg­roup.com.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the good and the bad parts of how Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administra­tion have handled parts of the pandemic response.

The last time I wrote about the governor, the only “scandal” that he was involved in was the undercount­ing of coronaviru­s-related nursing home deaths, which is still alarming. However, since then, the governor has been accused by several women of sexual harassment or inappropri­ate behaviors.

One female did come out late last year with her allegation­s against the governor, but recently more women have come forward and shared their stories and experience­s working in the governor’s administra­tion.

From what these women have said about Cuomo and senior members of his staff, it seems like more and more people are veering away from supporting Cuomo and we are

Before a full investigat­ion was done on former State Attorney General Eric Schneiderm­an concerning public allegation­s of assault, Cuomo issued a statement that Schneiderm­an should resign.

now saying people on both sides of the political aisle in the State Legislatur­e call for the governor to resign.

After trying to pick his own investigat­or, Cuomo did eventually agree to let New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office lead the investigat­ion.

James on Monday appointed a former federal prosecutor and an employment lawyer to investigat­e allegation­s that Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed female aides.

Joon Kim, who was the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York for parts of 2017 and 2018, will join the employment lawyer Anne Clark, in conducting the probe, the attorney general’s office said.

The allegation­s against Cuomo really do make you shake your head and are eyeopening, however, I do believe that everyone is entitled to being “innocent until proven guilty.” And that’s exactly what the governor and his supporters are preaching right now.

But the ironic part of the governor saying that he won’t resign and to let James’ office investigat­e the allegation­s is that the governor did not preach that when other elected officials were accused of various things in the recent past.

Before a full investigat­ion was done on former State Attorney General Eric Schneiderm­an concerning public allegation­s of assault, Cuomo issued a statement that Schneiderm­an should resign.

Cuomo also did the same thing when former Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse was accused of domestic violence and before an investigat­ion was ever completed, Cuomo and many others were calling for Morse to resign.

According to the investigat­ions, Morse was never found guilty of any domestic violence allegation­s and was never charged based on those exact allegation­s.

If Cuomo had not publicly come out and called on elected officials like Schneiderm­an and Morse to resign before a full investigat­ion was completed then why is he allowed to preach that for himself now?

For the good of the state, I hope that the investigat­ion being done on Cuomo is handled in the right manner and is completed as quickly as possible, but in a thorough way.

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