NEW YORK – A 45-page report detailing the New York State Assembly investigation into former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s alleged misconduct while in office has been completed and released to the public.
On Monday, President Carl Heastie released the full report of what he called a “deeply sad chapter in New York history.”
“The conduct of the former governor, as depicted in this report, is extremely disturbing and indicates that someone is unfit for office. I hope this report will help New Yorkers better understand the seriousness of the allegations that have been made and serve us well. guiding a more ethical and responsible government. New Yorkers deserve no less, “he continued.
Rafael Pujols gives us the detailed report.
An outside law firm hired to investigate Cuomo and his administration on behalf of the Judiciary Committee found that the former governor was involved in multiple sexual harassment cases, used state resources to write his book, and “was not completely transparent regarding the number of residents of the nursing home who died as a result of COVID-19 “.
Read the Cuomo Report of the New York State Assembly here.
Investigators confirmed news reports that the state Department of Health wanted to exclude from reporting on nursing homes thousands of patients who died after being transferred to hospitals.
“The investigation showed that while they were considering these issues, the book deal was in place, there is a chapter in the book on nursing homes,” Assemblyman Phil Steck, a Democrat representing part of the Albany area, said Friday. “They were trying to do it as what they thought was least damaging to the governor rather than just telling the truth.”
Officials in the Cuomo administration, at the time, acknowledged that their count of deaths at the nursing home was incomplete, but said it was only because it would take time to verify the data. Health officials insisted it was not an attempt to improve the death toll in the state or protect Cuomo’s reputation.
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Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, said Friday that the former governor and his team had not yet been able to see a copy of the Assembly’s report or all of the investigators’ evidence.
“The Assembly Judiciary Committee has chosen not to review its findings with us, which is its prerogative, but it may once again result in a unilateral report,” Azzopardi said.
On the subject of Cuomo’s $ 5.1 million book contract, Steck said the report makes it “very clear” that the then-governor violated conditions set by the state ethics committee, which had said Cuomo could not use state resources or staff in the project.
Investigators found that Cuomo ordered some state employees to work on the book, and while some said they volunteered their private time to do it, Steck said there was “not enough time in the day for it to be volunteer work and to be able to work on business issues. state officials “.
Ethics commissioners this week reversed their approval of Cuomo’s book contract.
Walsh, a former assistant attorney for Saratoga County, said that could “open the door” to an ethics fine.
The final report comes months after Cuomo resigned in disgrace following the attorney general’s independent investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by the governor during his tenure in Albany. The heads of the Assembly’s report, President Carl Heastie and Chief Justice Charles Lavine, had previously announced that the investigation would be suspended once Cuomo resigned.
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Criticism came quickly from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and from various accusers for the governor who felt it was imperative to publish the committee’s findings. Days later, the two Democrats backtracked and announced their intentions to publish the report at the end of their investigation.
Cuomo’s resignation in August hampered the law firm’s efforts to interview witnesses about the misrepresentation of nursing home data, according to Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, a Republican.
“I think the timing of the governor’s resignation really truncated the investigation and the ability to investigate on that,” said Walsh, whose district includes parts of Saratoga and Schenectady counties. “Several people who were scheduled to be subpoenaed did not cooperate after the governor’s resignation.”
Cuomo faces ongoing investigations from the state attorney general into his $ 5 million book contract and from state prosecutors, who are looking at his handling of nursing home death data.
Since March, outside attorneys have been helping the committee conduct a wide-ranging investigation into whether there were grounds to indict Cuomo, a Democrat. The announcement came on a day that the Assembly had initially set as a deadline for Cuomo’s legal team to respond with any additional evidence to refute the allegations against him.
Some legal and political experts had said that while people may still be interested in a process that holds Cuomo accountable, it is unclear whether lawmakers have the legal authority to impeach him when he walks out the door.
“I’m not sure what the purpose of the impeachment is. Impeachment is removing him from office, ”said Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University. “He has to be charged and then convicted by the Senate, and that is a lot of work, a lot of hours. You’d think these New York State representatives have better things to do than judge a governor who has already resigned. “
The state Legislature, both houses are controlled by Democrats, would have had to muster the political will to move quickly with impeachment hearings, Gershman said, and would only do so as a punitive act to prevent Cuomo from again seeking state office and benefits granted to elected officials who leave under normal circumstances may be stripped.
“I think that scenario is incredibly unlikely,” said Ross Garber, an attorney who has represented four recent US governors facing impeachment proceedings in their respective states.
His reading of state law is that a person must be in office at the time of impeachment, citing discussions in 1853 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
But that interpretation has never been proven. Only once before has a New York governor been indicted. In 1913, during the state’s notorious Tammany Hall era, Governor William Sulzer was indicted, just 10 months after he was sworn in.
A simple majority of the Assembly would be needed to advance the articles of impeachment to the Superior Court of Prosecution, which is made up of members of the Senate and the highest court in the state. To convict, two-thirds of the prosecution court must agree.
But the state constitution doesn’t explain much else, including the reasons for impeachment.
“Now the guy has resigned and you want to charge him, and you have to define his crimes as challengeable to do so, and that has a precedent consequence,” said Gerald Benjamin, a longtime New York state government scholar and expert. “Are you defining only those things that you did as challengeable, or are you defining all the things that are challengeable, one of which is what you did?”
He agreed that it is unclear whether lawmakers can impeach a governor who resigned.
“There is very little in the Constitution about impeachment, and the language is quite vague,” added Richard Rifkin, who has served in state government for 40 years, including in the attorney general’s office and as special counsel for former Gov. Eliot Spitzer. . .
“There really is no definitive precedent to say that he may or may not continue with impeachment after impeachment,” Rifkin said. “If you spoke to multiple attorneys, you could very well get different answers and no one would be wrong.”
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