17 October 2021: Opinion - Worse for Cuomo Is Ahead

Worse for Cuomo Is Ahead

It's a very thin weekend for news involving Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. Fred LeBrun's column fills the void by focusing on what lies ahead for the resigned-in-disgrace governor. Here's an excerpt:

The awakening truth that must be overcoming the former governor at this point is that perhaps for the first time his political future is mostly not in his hands anymore.

Bad news is coming at him from all directions. A federal grand jury in Brooklyn is looking into the state’s already debunked handling of pandemic nursing home deaths, and the dicey $5.1 million book deal associated with it. Attorney General Letitia James has a criminal investigation ongoing over the book as well. Several district attorneys and the Albany County Sheriff’s Office are looking into sexual harassment issues, and an unknown number of civil suits also related to sexual harassment are waiting in the wings.

In addition, very soon the much anticipated Assembly Judiciary Committee report on various alleged Cuomo bad behavior is expected. That committee morphed from the official impeachment inquiry committee. Much of what was charged in James’ Aug. 3 bombshell independent investigation report of sexual harassment claims against the former governor is expected to be affirmed and expanded on by the Judiciary Committee’s report.

Out of all of this, and I probably missed a few inquiries, it is reasonable to assume the lie will be repeatedly put to Cuomo’s denials of having done nothing wrong, nothing illegal. Not that the toxic workplace described in many stories we’ve already all seen along with the many credible chronicles of misbehavior toward women hasn’t already done that....

An imploding Cuomo will play out in real time, I have a hunch, with surprisingly little consequence for anyone but Andrew. At the moment he is a already not much more than a distraction, and it is rather deliciously ironic that former Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul was told by Cuomo she would not be on the ticket for his next run for governor. Now she can tell him that he is not on hers.

Andrew M. Cuomo's political fate was determined when he gave the green light to the deadly 25 March 2020 directive in the first month of the coronavirus pandemic. How it has played out since has been mostly about forcing the truth of the consequences of that event to light, which has been paired against the political motive to limit the damage from that single event to members of Cuomo's party.