14 August 2021: NY Assembly Lawmaker on Cuomo Impeachment - "We Were So Close to the End"

We were so close to the end': Area lawmakers decry suspension of impeachment probe

This report from the Batavia Daily News suggests the New York Assembly's Democratic party majority's decision to shut down the Assembly's impeachment of Andrew M. Cuomo was premature.

Assemblywoman Marjorie Byrnes, R-Caledonia, called the decision to suspend the impeachment probe into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo a missed opportunity and a broken promise.

“We were so close to the end,” said Byrnes, a member of the Assembly Judiciary Committee conducting the investigation. “This had been going on for months and months. We were within a weeks of wrapping this up and now I’m worried people will never know the information.”....

Byrnes, who learned of the Assembly’s decision when contacted by reporters, said the decision “leaves a really bad taste.” As a member of the committee she said she could not speak as openly as she’d like about the ongoing investigation, but expressed plenty of frustration.

“The investigation promised to tell the truth, but it was shut down and the work over before the end of the investigation,” Byrnes said in a telephone interview Friday night with The Daily News. “How do we tell people to trust us when time after time they’re left disappointed?”

“People were trusting us to give them answers,” she said, “This was an opportunity to gain the public’s trust in its elected officials, and that’s going to be missed.”

The report also covers NY Assembly Carl Heastie's announcement that the Assembly would drop its impeachment efforts:

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Friday cited in a statement two reasons for the decision to suspend the investigation.

“First, the purpose of the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s impeachment investigation was to determine whether Governor Cuomo should remain in office,” Heastie said in the statement. “The governor’s resignation answers that directive. Second, we have been advised by Chair (Charles) Lavine — with the assistance of counsel — of the belief that the constitution does not authorize the legislature to impeach and remove an elected official who is no longer in office.”

Heastie said the committee’s work uncovered credible evidence in relation to allegations made in reference to the governor.

“This evidence — we believe — could likely have resulted in articles of impeachment had he not resigned,” said Heastie, D-Bronx.

Heastie said he asked Lavine to turn over to the relevant investigatory authorities all the evidence the committee has gathered.

“As I have said, this has been a tragic chapter in our state’s history,” Heastie said. “The people of this great state expect and deserve a government they can count on to always have their best interests in mind. Our government should always operate in a transparent, safe and honest manner. These principles have and always will be the Assembly Majority’s commitment to all New Yorkers.”

Whether the information and evidence collected by the NY Assembly in its impeachment probe might ever be made public remains to be determined.