8 April 2021: How Related Are Governor Cuomo's Scandals to His Actions in Office?

“One More Accuser and the Restaurants Would Be at 125%”: In Cuomo’s Loosening of COVID Lockdown, Some See a Ploy to Save His Own Skin

This gossipy opinion piece says what many in New York are thinking:

The only thing I remember from college statistics class is that correlation is not causation. The principle often applies in other realms too. So the fact that a barrage of sexual harassment allegations against New York governor Andrew Cuomo has been followed by an expansion of indoor dining capacity for restaurants; a tripling in the permitted number of wedding guests; the abolition of quarantine for domestic travel; and the welcoming of some fans to Yankees and Mets games…well, that’s all a coincidence, right?

“The dark joke around Albany,” a Democratic elected official says, “was that one more accuser and the restaurants would be at 125% capacity.” Okay, so maybe there are some politics involved: Cuomo is eager to generate some good publicity to counteract the pounding he’s been taking in the press, and to try to slow the decline of his public approval numbers in the polls. At least the governor is relaxing COVID restrictions at the same time case numbers are finally falling, right?

There's a growing body of evidence to indicate the scandals are changing not just how Governor Cuomo does his job, but what he can do.