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
Alessandra wants to know: do you believe Andrew Cuomo should resign or be impeached from office?
Paid For By The Committee To Elect Alessandra Biaggi
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