Republican lawmakers in New York submitted a resolution on Monday to start impeachment proceedings against Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo – which has not been done in New York for more than 100 years.
“There was one bomb after another,” Will Barclay, the Republican leader of the state assembly, told reporters at the state capitol in Albany, where he announced the impeachment resolution.
Cuomo was surrounded by bipartisan pleas to resign or be impeached because of two scandals that have shaken his government in recent weeks: allegations that his government intentionally underestimated deaths in Covid-19 nursing homes and allegations by five women that he harassed them sexually. Cuomo denied any wrongdoing with the nursing home numbers and denied harassing women while apologizing for how his behavior might have made some of them feel.
“The real problem now is that the governor has lost so much credibility and confidence that we don’t think he can go ahead and govern,” said Barclay. “So we want to move on, do this impeachment in the Assembly”.
The impeachment resolution is unlikely to be pursued at this time. Democrats control 106 of the Assembly’s 150 seats, and only a handful of members said they would vote for impeachment.
If Cuomo is impeached, however, there are “very few precedents to lean on,” said Peter Galie, professor emeritus of political science at Canisius College in Buffalo.
Only one New York governor was impeached – William Sulzer, who was impeached for campaign funding violations and was removed from office in October 1913 after a three-week trial. Historians claim he was the victim of an invasion of Tammany Hall, the corrupt political organization that supported him.
“During his tenure, his efforts to remove Tammany Hall’s influence from the state government resulted in an investigation that uncovered fraud in his own campaign contributions,” said the National Governors Association website.
Sulzer said his impeachment was a “political lynching” and “the culmination of a deep-seated political conspiracy to get me out of office”.
As for the impeachment process itself, Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, said: “It is very similar, but not the same as the federal system.”
The impeachment begins in the Assembly and “requires a majority of the members of the Assembly” to vote to nominate the governor.
Unlike the Federal Constitution, the New York Constitution “makes no mention of serious crimes and misdemeanors,” said Galie. In terms of possible accusations, “there is nothing there”, leaving the way to go entirely to the Assembly, he said.
If the Assembly votes to accuse the governor, a trial is held in the state Senate. Unlike the federal system, senators are not the only judges / jurors. Judges from the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, also hear the case. This may be an advantage for Cuomo, who has appointed all seven judges.
Gillers said the judges were probably added to eliminate the appeals, because “the state court judges would have already participated in the impeachment trial”.
A two-thirds vote is required for conviction and the penalty is removal from office. The Senate and judges could also vote to prohibit the governor from holding any other state office – a penalty that has not been applied against Sulzer. He was elected to the Assembly a few weeks after being impeached.
A spokesman for Cuomo responded to threats of impeachment on Monday, saying that Cuomo is focused on his work.
“There is work to be done and New Yorkers have elected the governor to do it, which is why he has been focusing on getting as many shots as possible, ensuring that New York gets its fair share of Covid’s aid package. from Washington and working on a state budget that expires in three weeks, “said spokesman Rich Azzopardi.
Twenty Democratic lawmakers issued a statement on Monday calling for Attorney General Letitia James to take time to complete her investigation of the sexual harassment allegations, saying, “Our democracy requires us to be diligent and quick in our search for truth and justice.”
James announced on Monday that his office had hired Joon Kim, a former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Anne L. Clark, an employment discrimination attorney, to lead an independent investigation into the allegations of harassment. sexual.
“These are serious allegations that require a rigorous and impartial investigation. We will act with caution and follow the facts wherever they lead,” Kim said in a statement.
Tom Winter contributed.