NEW YORK (AP) – Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked New Yorkers to “wait for the facts”.
But patience is running out. The state’s two American senators, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and most of the other 29 members of the New York Congressional delegation called for his resignation. In the state legislature, more than 120 lawmakers asked the Democrat to step down.
Leaders in the state assembly on Thursday announced an impeachment investigation, a first step in potentially removing Cuomo from office.
Cuomo he refused appeals to resign and bet his political future on the outcome of an independent investigation by Attorney General Letitia James, who is examining allegations that the governor sexually harassed or improperly touched several aides.
Here is a look at the next steps on a possible path to impeachment:
INVESTIGATION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
James, an independently elected Democrat, hired former US Attorney Joon Kim and employment discrimination attorney Anne Clark to conduct his investigation. in the conduct of the governor in the workplace.
The investigation team will be empowered to subpoena documents and interview witnesses. Your findings will be published in a public report.
Since then, Cuomo has said he will “cooperate fully”.
James has no power to remove Cuomo from office unilaterally, but any findings that corroborate the allegations could influence a potential impeachment process – or add pressure for Cuomo to leave voluntarily.
Kim and Clark can choose to limit their scope to allegations that are already public or expand it to look for other women who may have complaints about Cuomo’s behavior.
James’ office sent a letter last week instructing the governor’s office to preserve all evidence related to the allegations of harassment. This could include documents and emails to and from Cuomo’s team, calendar entries and communications involving the transfer of one of his accusers to another office.
There is no deadline for the investigation to be completed and James did not say how long she expects it to take. A 2010 investigation that Cuomo oversaw as attorney general in his predecessor, Governor David Paterson, lasted about five months.
Andrew G. Celli Jr., who was head of the civil rights office in the attorney general’s office from 1999 to 2003, said that although James is a Democrat, his independence would allow her to “do what she thinks is in the best interest of all people, even if it means an adverse decision for the governor. ”
THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE
The Assembly’s Judiciary Committee will also be empowered to subpoena documents and testimony from witnesses. You can rely on the work done by the attorney general’s team of investigators or gather your own evidence.
The scope of his investigation may go beyond Cuomo’s conduct with women. The governor is also being criticized for dealing with the COVID-19 crisis in the state’s nursing homes.
Many lawmakers were outraged that the Cuomo government for months refused to release the total number of asylum patients killed by the virus.
The governor’s office said some of the data, related to the deaths of asylum patients who were transferred to hospitals, were unreliable. But in a recorded conference call with lawmakers, Cuomo’s top aide said the government withheld data at the end of the summer because it feared that the fatality numbers could be “used against us”.
The committee’s work could result in the drafting of impeachment articles against Cuomo, although that result is far from certain.
One of the women who allegedly accused Cuomo of palpating her did not speak publicly about what happened and it is not clear whether she would be willing to give public testimony in an impeachment trial.
THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS
The New York impeachment process to remove a governor from office has some parallels – and some important differences – with the process that the United States Congress uses for impeaching presidents.
As at the federal level, New York impeachments begin in the lower house of the legislature – in this case, the Assembly. If a majority of the members voted for Cuomo’s impeachment, a judgment on his removal from office would be held in what is known as the Impeachment Court.
The court consists not only of members of the state Senate, but also of judges from the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, who would also vote. There are seven appellate judges and 63 senators, although not all would serve in the impeachment court.
Governor Kathy Hochul (HOH-kull) and Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins are also members, but are excluded when a governor is on trial. At least two-thirds of jurors must vote to convict in order to remove Cuomo.
Democrats control both chambers of the legislature. Many have joined Republicans to call for Cuomo’s resignation or impeachment in recent days. Cuomo appointed all seven members of the Court of Appeals.
New York only accused a governor once, in 1913, when Governor William Sulzer was dismissed after 289 days in office, in what he claimed was revenge for turning his back on Tammany Hall’s powerful democratic machine.
Sulzer, accused of not reporting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and mixing campaign funds with personal funds, criticized the court’s secret deliberations, complaining: “A horse thief on border days would have received a fairer deal.”
SIDELINING CUOMO
If Cuomo were impeached by the Assembly, state law could force him to withdraw immediately – a dramatic difference from what happens when the President of the United States is impeached.
A section of the state’s judicial code regarding impeachment states: “No officer shall hold office after the articles of impeachment against him have been handed over to the Senate until he is acquitted.”
According to the state constitution, the vice governor would then take over.
“In the event that the governor is impeached, absent from the state or otherwise unable to exercise the powers and duties of the governor’s office, the vice governor will act as governor until the disability ceases or until the governor’s term of office expires” , states the constitution.
When Sulzer was impeached, Lieutenant Governor Martin Glynn was appointed acting governor.
If Cuomo were acquitted in an impeachment court, he would return to office. If the Impeachment Tribunal removed him from office, Hochul would serve the remainder of Cuomo’s mandate – until the end of 2022. The court could also choose to disqualify him from office in the future, in addition to removing him.
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Villeneuve reported from Albany, New York.
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On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak on twitter.com/mikesisak and Marina Villeneuve in https://twitter.com/reportermarina.