Sunday, November 21, 2021

21 November 2021: NY Lawmakers - Cuomo Should Be Impeached

Lawmakers: Assembly’s Cuomo probe grounds for impeachment

This report captures a statement released by NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), who argues the state legislature must follow through on its probe of Andrew M. Cuomo's misconduct in office and impeach him.

Queens assemblyman Ron Kim, who blew the whistle on Cuomo’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic, issued a statement saying the Assembly must prepare to impeach the disgraced politician to bar him from holding office again in the state.

“As we wait for the release of the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s impeachment report, our legislative body must prepare itself for an extensive impeachment trial so we can hold Andrew Cuomo accountable for his crimes,” said Kim, a democrat vocal opponent of Cuomo, in a statement.

“We already have anecdotal corroborations that the disgraced governor broke the Public Officers Law multiple times, and therefore, we must see this report to its logical end and impeach the former governor,” Kim added.

Kim joins Democrat Phil Steck, an assembly member representing Colonie, who told The New York Times he also felt the report would justify Cuomo’s impeachment, describing the investigation as “right, just and fair.”

“When you read the report you come to the conclusion that [Cuomo] basically transformed the executive chamber to write a book for his own personal enrichment,” Steck said.

It remains to be seen if the report will change the minds of both Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Charles Lavine, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, who have spoken out against pursuing an impeachment.

There are legal questions of whether New York's state constitution would permit the impeachment of a state official who resigns before they might be impeached, so it will be interesting to see what might develop among lawmakers on that count. Based on his previous statements and general conduct, which includes slow-walking and stalling the Assembly's impeachment probe for months to protect Cuomo, we think it is unlikely Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will support impeachment unless enough Democratic Party members of the legislature make enough noise to follow it through.

Here is the 20 November 2021 Twitter post containing Assemblyman Kim's statement:

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