26 February 2021: Payback Time For Cuomo's Legacy of Political Power Abuse

Amid the Scandals, Cuomo's Enemies Are Ready to Unleash a Decade of Resentment

The article addresses how the scandal has weakened Governor Cuomo politically. Here's an excerpt:

"He is the most damaged he has ever been," said one senior capitol aide. The Legislature is threatening to claw back the emergency powers Cuomo was granted to deal with the pandemic, something that the governor has likened to extortion. Progressives and Republicans have teamed up to call for his impeachment.

One Democratic senator told me that their conference is divided between those who hate the governor and those who are willing to tolerate him. None, though, supports him. They have a supermajority in both chambers now, one Cuomo did little to help them achieve. It is time, many feel, to bring the Big Dog back on the porch to, at least, restore normal checks and balances, if not reengineer the way Albany works so that the governor responds to their initiatives, not the other way around.

At minimum, lawmakers are ready to unload a decade's worth of resentments. "We are heading into budget negotiations," said one progressive trying to get a tax on the rich passed in Albany. "A weakened Andrew Cuomo is very good for us."

There is currently an idea floating around the capitol that if lawmakers can just make Cuomo's life unpleasant for the next year, with investigations and hearings and by blocking his initiatives, he will just go away, declining to run for a fourth term. People who know him say that is ridiculous. "This guy is 63 years old, and he is driven to eclipse his dad. He realizes there is nothing else he can really do other than be governor of New York," said one adviser.

If nothing else, this article reveals how different the incentives are for politicians in choosing their courses of action. Sane people need not apply.