14 March 2021: Impeachment Investigation By NY Dems To Be "Wide Ranging", May Even Include COVID Nursing Home Deaths

NY State Assembly's Cuomo probe will have 'wide latitude' to investigate

In a sign that New York's lawmakers may care about more than sexual harassment claims in assessing Governor Cuomo's fitness to remain in office, the impeachment investigation they initiated will probe Governor Cuomo's more serious scandals:

The state Assembly's probe of Gov. Andrew Cuomo as a prelude to possible impeachment proceedings will have "wide latitude" to investigate beyond allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct, a source told The Post Sunday.

The probe, headed by the Assembly's Judiciary Committee, could also eye the Cuomo administration's accounting of the coronavirus death toll in nursing homes, safety concerns surrounding the Mario Cuomo Bridge — named for the current governor's late father, also a three-term governor — and other scandals, an insider familiar with the investigation said.

The committee will look to hire outside counsel with experience in both criminal and employment law to spearhead the investigation.

New York's legislators almost seem like they're stalling in setting up the investigation, rather than proceeding with the scandals for which mountains of evidence have already been established. That may not be an accident, because the depth of Governor Cuomo's scandals are such they could devastate the state Democratic Party, which currently holds the majority in the legislature by a wide margin.

Note the double standard inherent in the following statement from the report:

"We need people who have time to investigate and research the law," said Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Nanuet), a member of the judiciary panel, noting that the Assembly already has a full plate, including working to hammer out a new state budget by April 1.

Abinanti is among the dozens of Democratic lawmakers who have called on Cuomo to resign, but said he has an open mind on impeachment.

"The governor has asked for due process and we will give him due process," Abinanti said.

What kind of twisted logic does one have to have to think that calling for a Governor's resignation from office should not automatically mean following through with their impeachment if they refuse? For an elected legislator, that's the equivalent of asking an allegedly corrupt politician to hold themselves accountable, but not being willing to hold yourself accountable for following through if they're too corrupt to do it.

Perhaps cleaning house in New York shouldn't stop with the governor's office.