Monday, May 24, 2021

24 May 2021: NY Lawmakers Starting to Think NY Assembly's Cuomo Impeachment Probe is a Sham

Pace of Andrew Cuomo Impeachment Probe Frustrates Some Lawmakers

It's not a surprise that New York legislators who favor Governor Cuomo's removal from office are unhappy with the pace at which the New York Assembly's impeachment probe is moving. The probe was effectively designed to fail by Cuomo ally Assembly Speaker Carl "Scope Creep" Heastie, who in addition to setting up its bottomless pit investigative philosophy, also severely underfunded it.

What this report emphasizes is how important NY Attorney General "Tish" James' investigative findings will be in driving what elected officials do.

Some members of the New York state Assembly who support the impeachment of Gov. Andrew Cuomo are growing frustrated with the pace of the chamber’s inquiry into the Democratic governor and his administration, and said they would use an outside report as a basis for moving forward.

The members said they expect that a state attorney general investigation into accusations that Mr. Cuomo sexually harassed current and former aides will wrap up before the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s probe. The impeachment probe began in mid-March; State Attorney General Letitia James’s investigation started March 1.

The committee is looking at the harassment allegations, as well as administration policies on Covid-19 in nursing homes, concerns about the use of state resources to work on the governor’s memoir and priority access to Covid-19 tests that people close to Mr. Cuomo received in the early days of the pandemic.

The committee hasn’t met since April, but it is scheduled to convene again on Wednesday. Assemblyman Charles Lavine, the committee chairman, said in March that the inquiry would take months rather than weeks. He declined to comment Friday through a spokesman. Legislators in the Democrat-dominated chamber are scheduled to adjourn their annual session on June 10, but the investigation is expected to continue during the summer recess.

Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Queens Democrat who favors impeaching Mr. Cuomo, said the Judiciary Committee wasn’t moving quickly enough and he would push his colleagues to act if Ms. James’s report affirmed the harassment allegations.

That reality is why Governor Cuomo and his loyalist followers have been seeking to undermine the AG's probe.

Here is relevant coverage from the timeline on that last point:

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