11 August 2021: Editorial - Cuomo Still Needs to Be Impeached

Editorial: In a post-Cuomo New York, some things must change

The editors of the Albany Times-Union are looking forward at what must happen in a post-Cuomo New York:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo may plan to step down in two weeks, but the damage he has done will endure long past the time he officially hands the reins of state government to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.

For all the good Mr. Cuomo did in his time in office, he leaves the state with a mess of his own making. But his downfall has also brought into sharp focus what must be one of Ms. Hochul’s and the Legislature’s top priorities: fixing the broken ethical guardrails that Mr. Cuomo has exploited over and over in a host of ways. If they fail, another governor will surely exploit them again.

The editors cite Cuomos multiple scandals as evidence of the need for reform, from the sexual harassment incidents that finally forced his announced resignation, to the COVID nursing home deaths and his cover-up, to his pandemic book deal, and to even his cover-up of the defective bolts used to construct the bridge named after his father. They identify three main areas for reforms:

Change would start by scrapping the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the toothless lapdog that Mr. Cuomo — who first ran as an avowed ethics reformer — created under the guise of improving ethics and lobbying enforcement. Lawmakers should forge ahead with plans to amend the state constitution to create a more independent watchdog over the executive and legislative branches. New York needs a body that can daily hold state officials accountable for violations large and small, from the countless minor rule-breakings to major corruption — which is what getting away with the little things enough times inevitably leads to.

Clearly, too, the Office of the Inspector General needs an overhaul. It lost all credibility when it was called on to investigate a leak of confidential information to the governor and then concluded that there was no way to verify it — after it conspicuously failed to interview the very governor who received the information. That office’s independence needs to be more than theoretical.

And there needs to be more of a healthy distance between the governor and the State Police. The state’s law enforcement agency, particularly the detail that protects the governor, can’t become just another part of his or her inner political circle — nor can it ever look the other way when it sees misconduct going on, even by the state’s highest elected official.

Cuomo's exploitation of these structural weaknesses within New York's government allowed him to systematically engage in ethical misconduct. The editors however identify one more action beyond targeting these areas for reform for New York's legislature to take on:

... the Legislature needs to proceed with impeachment and trial regardless of Mr. Cuomo’s resignation. Conviction is the only way to ensure that he doesn’t get it into his head come the next election, or the one after that, that time has healed the wound he has left in New Yorkers’ hearts. It may close, but the scar will be a blemish on this state, and his legacy, forever.