Ocasio-Cortez and Other House Democrats Just Ratcheted Up the Pressure on Cuomo
A majority of the Democrats representing New York state in the U.S. House of Representatives are calling upon fellow Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign.
“Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of the people of New York,” Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York wrote in a statement released to Twitter on Friday. “Governor Cuomo must resign.”
Read my statement calling for the resignation of Governor Andrew Cuomo. pic.twitter.com/JyZntu9HJS
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) March 12, 2021
Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamal Bowman of New York also issued a joint statement calling for Cuomo to step aside.
“Unfortunately, the Governor is not only facing the accusation that he engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment and assault. There is also the extensive report from the Attorney General that found the Cuomo administration hid data on COVID-19 nursing home deaths from both the public and the state legislature,” the statement read.
“As members of the New York delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, we believe these women, we believe the reporting, we believe the Attorney General, and we believe the fifty-five members of the New York State legislature, including the State Senate Majority Leader, who have concluded that Governor Cuomo can no longer effectively lead in the face of so many challenges.”
After two accounts of sexual assault, four accounts of harassment, the Attorney General’s investigation finding the Governor’s admin hid nursing home data from the legislature & public, we agree with the 55+ members of the New York State legislature that the Governor must resign. pic.twitter.com/jV5dwtuVPr
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 12, 2021
Cuomo faces multiple allegations of sexual harassment. In the most recent claim against him, a current office aide claimed the governor groped her last year at his official residence.
According to the Albany Times-Union, the woman, whose name is being withheld, was summoned to the mansion to supposedly assist Cuomo with a technical issue concerning his cell phone. According to the report, the aide and Cuomo were “alone in Cuomo’s private residence on the second floor when he closed the door and allegedly reached under her blouse and began to fondle her.”
The time has come. The Governor must resign. https://t.co/GjcvuNfpfQ
— Kathleen Rice (@RepKathleenRice) March 2, 2021
Initially, Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice, representing New York’s fourth district, was the only one to call for Cuomo to quit.
Now, that list has swelled to include 12 members of the Democratic delegation — including Reps. Carolyn Maloney, Mondaire Jones, Grace Meng, Yvette Clark, Adriano Espaillat, Nydia Velasquez, Antonio Delgado, Brian Higgins and Sean Maloney in addition to Nadler, Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman. As of Friday morning, only seven House Democrats from New York were not calling for Cuomo to resign.
Other political leaders across the state have said the governor should resign — something he has insisted he will not do.
On Thursday, the Democratic-controlled New York Assembly laid the foundation for an investigation that could result in impeachment proceedings against Cuomo. A majority of state lawmakers have said they believe Cuomo should either be impeached or resign because he has lost the ability to effectively govern.
Women’s groups were also calling for Cuomo to go.
“New York Governor Andrew Cuomo must resign. He is unfit to serve as the leader of his state for another day,” the National Organization of Women said in a statement Thursday, according to Fox News.
That sentiment was echoed by the president of the state chapter of NOW.
“He should resign,” New York NOW president Sonia Ossorio said, according to the New York Post. “Many people were willing to let the investigation play out, but the latest allegation was a bridge too far.”
In a statement, the state chapter additionally said that “listening to these firsthand accounts is like a punch in the gut. It’s all too familiar — because most of us — at one time or another — have encountered this feeling — of being diminished, of being sexualized, of being put into an uncomfortable situation by an inappropriate word or touch.”
“Women across the state — and particularly the courageous women who have come forward — deserve a full and public accounting of what happened,” the statement continued.
“This will be essential to creating government workplaces where powerful elected officials don’t feel entitled to objectify, proposition, or harass employees, and where the mechanisms are in place to truly hold those who don’t abide by the rules accountable.”
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