13 June 2021: Opinion - What Will Cuomo's Next Act Be?

Cuomo's future is unknown

Albany Times-Union columnist Fred LeBrun sees a very limited political future for Andrew M. Cuomo.

With a big bucks fundraiser set for Gotham at the end of the month, speculation has it that in spite of ongoing serious investigations against him that might deter a lesser politician, Andrew Cuomo is preparing to run for a fourth term as governor.

Sure, that’s what he wants.

Stark reality is he has very little choice. The din over how well he ran New York’s early pandemic response and how terrific he was as a national leadership role model died off long ago. We did not know the whole story at the time. Nor, actually, did he, which made the pandemic a case study in what not to do in the middle of a crisis, i.e., write a book about how it’s going to turn out. But, oh, the promise of aspirations that emerged out of those daily televised COVID-19 briefings. He had his own presidential fan club.

Not anymore. There’s nothing for him in Washington even in his old friend Joe’s administration, at any level. Andrew is toxic. While the possible outcomes of the several ongoing investigations by the state attorney general and the federal Eastern District of New York against him on an arc range from exoneration to criminal charges, even the stuff on the benign end he’s admitted to and defended in his treatment of women is bad enough to disqualify him nationally.

LeBrun concludes that even a fourth term run for New York governor would be limited by whatever findings emerge from the multiple state and federal investigations now underway.

On a side note, one name we're not seeing in any speculation for who should be considered a viable alternative to Governor Cuomo is New York's current lieutenant governor, the second highest-ranking elected official in New York's state government, Kathy Hochul. How much of an empty suit must she be for her name to not even be seriously raised as a potential contender to challenge Andrew Cuomo on the ballot?