Gov mess needs right prober
After trying three times to find the proper person to probe a pair of allegations of sexual harassment against him, Gov. Cuomo has formally deputized Attorney General Tish James to handle the matter, settling on the only available option under current law and one that still has flaws.
Saturday evening, shortly after The New York Times published details of former aide Charlotte Bennett’s charges (and following former aide Lindsey Boylan’s earlier declaration), Cuomo and his special counsel Beth Garvey said that a former federal judge would lead the examination. By Sunday morning that changed to having James select the prober in concert with the state’s chief judge, Janet DiFiore, a Cuomo appointee. Six hours later it was to be James alone. The official request happened Monday.
The referral is for “allegations of and circumstances surrounding sexual harassment claims,” and not about COVID in nursing homes or stalling the release of public data on patient fatalities or the type of political roughness that Assemblyman Ron Kim complained about.
When he was attorney general, Cuomo wanted the power to conduct criminal investigations without having to get a referral from the governor. But when he got the top job, he changed his mind. His predecessor in both positions, Eliot Spitzer, desired the free hand while AG, but dropped his support when he moved into the governor’s mansion.
The time has arrived to do what those AGs sought, and and state Sen. Todd Kaminsky has the right bill drawn up. Passage must be quick. The law now on the books has too many holes. Even having granted James the authority to appoint an outside investigator with subpoena powers, the statute says that the investigator “shall make a weekly report in detail” which “shall be transmitted to the governor.” Garvey says that won’t happen, but she can’t rewrite the law and neither can James. Likewise, the law gives the governor control over the purse strings of any probe.
Having the full, legal line of authority under the AG makes the most sense.