ALBANY, N.Y. — There appears to be no serious move towards impeaching New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a day after the state Senate's majority leader called on the embattled governor to quit.
In the Assembly, where any impeachment proceeding would have to begin, the chamber's highest-ranking women issued a statement that echoed Cuomo’s own arguments against resignation, a sure sign that there is not nearly enough support among the Democratic-dominated chamber's leaders to launch impeachment proceedings.
In the statement, 21 women, all Democrats, wrote that, “Our democracy demands that we be diligent and expeditious in our search for truth and justice. This matter deserves no less degree of care." New York's attorney general, Tish James, is leading an investigation of the allegations.
State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins had said on Sunday that the cascade of accusations against the governor had become a distraction as the state seeks to negotiate a budget and deal with vaccine distribution and the economic aftermath of coronavirus restrictions. "For the good of the state," she said, "Governor Cuomo must resign."
But a statement from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who would have to sign off on the commencement of any impeachment proceedings, was more carefully worded. He said Cuomo should “seriously consider” whether he should continue to remain in his post.
Monday's statement from the women lawmakers took an even more guarded tone.
“We believe that the Attorney General will exercise due process and expediency in her deliberations,” it read. “We continue to support our Attorney General, the first woman, and the first African American woman to be elected to this position, as she launches this investigation.
We request that she be allowed the appropriate time to complete her investigation rather than undermine her role and responsibility as the chief law enforcement officer of the state of New York.”James announced on Monday that two lawyers, including one who prosecuted longtime Cuomo aide and confidant Joe Percoco, would lead the independent investigation of Cuomo's conduct.
The signatories to Monday's statement included Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Ways and Means Chair Helene Weinstein, the second- and third-highest ranking members of Heastie’s chamber. It was also signed by Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Committee.
The statement does not explicitly say that Cuomo should not resign. But it echoed the tone used by the governor in his recent appearances, where he has argued that nobody should come to any conclusions until the investigation is completed. "I don't represent or work for the politicians in Albany," Cuomo said at an appearance at the Javits Center in Manhattan on Monday.
The governor’s office said it had no role in drafting Monday's statement from the Assembly members.
Others have similarly suggested that people should wait until the attorney general's report is complete before passing judgment. But together, the 21 members represent a greater share of the 107-person Democratic conference than the 14 members who have said Cuomo should resign, or the six who have called for impeachment proceedings.
There’s a long way to go, in other words, before there’s evidence that most Assembly Democrats would be willing to begin impeachment — and thus end any chance their legislative priorities will receive attention in the coming months.
The only impeachment of a New York governor took place in 1913, when William Sulzer was both impeached and removed during his first year in office.
That trial "was all consuming,” said lobbyist Jack O’Donnell, who authored a book on the topic. “There was literally no other government work [that] went on while the trial was going on … There was just chaos in the state, where the lieutenant governor said he was in charge, the comptroller stopped paying bills.”
Republicans, however, will “keep pounding on this issue,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said on Monday. He announced that his conference, which has previously introduced resolutions to create commissions to study whether impeachment is warranted, will now introduce a resolution to skip that step and directly impeach Cuomo.
“I don’t think I’ve used the term bombshell, especially this weekend, [at] any time more in my life — it’s been one bombshell after another,” Barclay said. “We hope that the pressure keeps getting greater and greater.”
But Barclay’s conference will have no role in deciding what comes up for a vote, leaving Cuomo critics to hope that either some new developments increase the pressure for impeachment or that the governor simply heeds calls like Stewart-Cousins’ and steps down. That latter option still seems unlikely.
“Asking him to resign? He already said ‘no, I’m not,’” said Assemblymember Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), an impeachment supporter who has been raising the issue since at least 2014. “Now what are you going to do? He’s not the type to say ‘you know what, yeah, for the betterment of the state, I’m going to resign.’ That’s not in his makeup.”