Assembly begins impeachment investigation into Cuomo
Dozens of New York state lawmakers added their names to the list of those calling for the resignation of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in the 24 hours after an Albany Times Union report published on Wednesday evening revealed that a current staffer of Cuomo’s had alleged the governor called her to the Executive Mansion and groped her in a sexually aggressive manner.
The renewed calls for the governor to resign or step down pushed Assembly Democrats to move forward with an official impeachment investigation, which will be run by the Judiciary Committee.
“The reports of accusations concerning the governor are serious,” Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement. “The committee will have the authority to interview witnesses, subpoena documents and evaluate evidence, as is allowed by the New York State Constitution.” He said it would be “an expeditious, full and thorough investigation.”
The majority conference made the decision in a Thursday-afternoon meeting; a source who participated told the Times Union that the inquiry is not expected to be limited to just the sexual harassment claims, but also the administration’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes and the alleged cover-up of data of fatality data.
Attorney General Letitia James, whose office is overseeing an investigation into the harassment claims, issued a statement Thursday evening saying that the Assembly’s decision “will have no bearing on our independent investigation into these allegations against Gov. Cuomo.”
There were more than 40 Democratic Assembly members calling for resignation by Thursday evening. Local Assembly members John McDonald of Cohoes and Patricia Fahy of Albany issued statements suggesting that Cuomo should step aside temporarily in light of the multiple scandals engulfing his administration.
Impeachment can’t move forward in the Assembly without the speaker allowing it to come to a vote; it would need just a majority to pass, at which point Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul would become acting governor. If the current number of Democratic Assembly members calling for Cuomo to step aside temporarily or resign translate to impeachment votes and are added to the 43 Republican votes, there would be enough to impeach.
After impeachment, the action would move to the other legislative chamber, where governor’s fate would be decided by the 63-member state Senate plus the seven judges on the state Court of Appeals — all of whom were appointed by Cuomo. A two-thirds vote (47) of that gathering would be needed to formally remove Cuomo.
After the new details emerged Wednesday, statements came from Democratic state senators including Michelle Hinchey, John Mannion, Shelley Mayer, Andrew Gounardes, Toby Stavisky and Brian Kavanagh. A total of 22 state senators had called for Cuomo to resign by Thursday evening.
The entire GOP Senate conference put out a signed statement Thursday endorsing Cuomo’s resignation or impeachment and removal. That means there were as of Thursday evening 42 calls for resignation among those potential jurors, which presumably would translate into votes for removal. That means that removal would require some combination of five Democratic senators or members of the Court of Appeals to join.