NEW YORK (AP) – The two main Democrats in the New York legislature withdrew their support for Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment and underestimating COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins became the first senior Democrat in the state to say that the three-term governor should step down. Assembly President Carl Heastie did not actually demand that Cuomo resign, but said in a statement that “it is time for the governor to seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York”
On Saturday, two more women who worked for Cuomo publicly accused him of improper behavior, in the wake of other charges in recent weeks.
“Every day there is another account that is moving away from government business,” Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. “New York is still in the middle of this pandemic and is still facing its social, economic and health impacts. We need to govern without daily distraction. For the good of the state, Governor Cuomo must resign. “
His public incentive to resign came shortly after a press conference on Sunday, in which Cuomo said it would be “undemocratic” for him to resign.
“There is no way I will resign,” Cuomo told reporters.
“They do not cancel the will of the people, they cannot cancel the elections,” he said. “I was elected by the people of the state of New York. I was not elected by politicians ”.
In a brief telephone conversation on the Sunday before the press conference, Cuomo told Stewart-Cousins that he would not give up and that they would have to accuse him if they wanted him out of office, according to a person informed by someone on the call. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the call was to be private.
Cuomo said the next six months will determine the success with which New York will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. “I will not be distracted because there is so much to do for the people,” he said, noting that the state must approve a budget in three weeks and administer an additional 15 million COVID-19 vaccines.
Support for Cuomo declined with surprising speed as he faced two scandals, one about his treatment of women in the workplace and a second about his government’s months-long refusal to release comprehensive statistics on COVID-19 deaths in homes of elderly people.
Some lawmakers were furious at the revelations that the Cuomo government delayed the release of some data on patient deaths in nursing homes in hospitals, at least in part because of concerns that could be used against them by the president’s government. Donald Trump.
Several women said publicly that they felt sexually harassed, or at least made them feel humiliated and uncomfortable. The state attorney general is investigating. Cuomo asked people to wait for the investigation to be completed before trying him.
Others who called for Cuomo’s resignation include Congresswoman Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from Long Island.
Former Counselor Lindsey Boylan, 36, said Cuomo made inappropriate comments about her appearance, joked about playing strip poker and once kissed her on the mouth at the end of a meeting. Former aide, Charlotte Bennett, 25, said Cuomo asked if she ever had sex with older men and made other comments that she interpreted as assessing her interest in a case.
Another former aide, Ana Liss, told The Wall Street Journal in a story published on Saturday that when she worked as a political advisor to the governor between 2013 and 2015, Cuomo called her “sweetheart”, kissed her hand and asked personal questions, including if she had a boyfriend.
Asked about Liss’ story at his press conference on Sunday, Cuomo said that such a conversation was “my way of making friendly jokes”.
Echoing comments he made at a news conference last week, Cuomo acknowledged that he had made jokes and asked personal questions in an attempt to be a collegiate and often greeted people with hugs and kisses.
“I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable,” he said. Cuomo denied touching anyone inappropriately.
Although Cuomo has apologized in recent days for his behavior, at least tacitly acknowledging that some of the things women have said are true, he has also pointed out some accusations as completely false.
On Sunday, he contested a story told about him by Karen Hinton, a former Cuomo press officer when he served as federal housing secretary under President Bill Clinton.
In an article published on Saturday in The Washington Post, Hinton detailed an uncomfortable interaction in a hotel room he had with Cuomo when the two met in California years ago, while trying to fix things after a disagreement.
Hinton said that when she got up to leave, Cuomo gave her a hug that was “too long, too long, too tight, too intimate”.
She described the encounter not as sexual harassment, but as a “power game” for “manipulation and control”. She was no longer Cuomo’s sidekick at the time.
Asked on Sunday about Hinton’s account, Cuomo said it “was not true” and noted that the two had long been political opponents.
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AP reporter Michael Balsamo contributed to this Washington, DC report