[1]Alessandra Biaggi - Democrat for State Senate
Friends -
As many of you know, I have called on Andrew Cuomo to resign for his role
in the nursing home death scandal and its coverup, as well as the growing
number of credible sexual harassment allegations made against him.
If he does not resign, the legislature must do its job to uphold integrity
in New York government, and begin impeachment proceedings.
I do not arrive at this conclusion lightly, so I thought it important to
ask for some of your time to explain in detail how I got here.
Last year, Governor Cuomo made the decision to force nursing homes to
re-admit COVID-postiive patients. He has claimed since then that his
mandate was in line with CDC guidelines, but it was not.
He also later claimed that the mandate was to free up beds in hospitals.
But at that time, New York had many temporary hospital facilities -
including the Javits Center and the USS Comfort - that were not nearly
filled to capacity.
Weeks later, he stuffed a little-known provision supported by some of his
biggest donors into page 347 of the state’s budget granting legal immunity
to nursing home executives. I voted against that budget, and said at the
time “when we look back at this time, what we’re going to be judged by is
how we protected those who are the most vulnerable.”
The conduct that took these actions from bad, incompetent, corrupt policy,
to impeachable offense, followed when his administration covered up the
truth. When nursing home deaths spiraled out of control, his
administration - as they have admitted - lied about the numbers in its
official reports. They hid the facts from the public and the press — and
Andrew Cuomo had the gall to brag about New York’s low number of nursing
home deaths compared to other states, and to write a book about his
leadership.
Andrew Cuomo abused the power of his administration to serve himself and
his biggest donors, not the people of New York. Which is also what he has
done with the numerous, detailed claims of sexual harassment made against
him.
I immediately called for Governor Cuomo’s resignation after Charlotte
Bennett came forward because the governor did not deny the details of
their conversation and I consider her detailed and corroborated account to
constitute clear grooming and sexual harassment.
And now we are up to EIGHT women who have spoken about some form of
harassing behavior by the governor, with two explicitly stating that he
kissed or groped them without consent.
Again, in the face of these allegations, Governor Cuomo used the power of
the government to protect himself, having his aides to smear his first
accuser by leaking her personnel file, and now announcing his own sham
“investigation” so that he can obfuscate about what the Attorney General
finds in her investigation.
My position on the Attorney General’s investigation is that it must be
allowed to proceed, without interference or delay - AND that we already
have enough verified facts in the public domain to warrant action. In
other words, I do not believe that we must wait to see all of the things
the AG’s investigation will find before pushing for accountability.
A number of you have asked me: doesn’t the governor deserve due process?
Yes, the governor is guaranteed due process for criminal acts under the
law. And if he is prosecuted — like President Biden suggested may happen —
he will get that in a court of law. But calling on him to resign is not a
judgement about his liability for alleged criminal acts. It is a comment
on his ability to govern New York, which he has lost.
And if he is impeached, he will have a trial. Impeachment includes a full
trial, in the State Senate, where facts can be examined.
The Governor uses the power of his office to protect himself, and not for
the good of the people he is sworn to serve. He has violated the public
trust, repeatedly. He has harassed multiple women, including members of
his staff.
He cannot do his job under these circumstances.
The stakes right now are far too important. Our state is attempting to
come out of a COVID crisis that has taken far too many lives and cost our
communities so deeply.
We need a governor who can do the job at this moment, and we can trust
beyond a doubt will use the power of the office he or she holds to put the
people of New York first. We cannot trust Governor Cuomo to do so.
Thank you for reading. I hope it better helps you to understand why I am
approaching these issues the way I am.
All my best,
Alessandra Biaggi
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Alessandra wants to know: do you believe Andrew Cuomo should resign or be
impeached from office?
[ [link removed] ]Let AB know today.
[ [link removed] ]ANSWER
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