To understand how deeply New York Governor Andrew Cuomo fell, one has to look back over a good year. It was then that Cuomo was determined to lead the state and city of New York through the pandemic. His daily briefings made him a national celebrity, and quite a few Democrats asked if Cuomo was, in fact, a better presidential candidate than Joe Biden. The governor enjoyed his time in the spotlight. You don’t offend Cuomo by saying he’s a very vain politician.
In addition to his vanity, he was mainly characterized by his tactical skills and his sometimes brutal will to power. He was governor since January 2011. He has consistently fought his opponents – and there have always been many of them – in these ten years. In his ruthlessness he is not dissimilar to the former President Donald Trump.
It had therefore been widely expected that Cuomo would now go back into the fight, even though several women had made allegations of sexual harassment against him. The New York attorney general Letitia James had assessed these allegations as valid and credible in the past week.
Cuomo is hoping to save himself a humiliating impeachment
Two motives are likely to be behind his announced resignation. First, the pressure from within the own party was too great. Even the president had publicly urged Cuomo to step down. Second, Cuomo probably hopes to save himself a humiliating impeachment in this way. As I said, he was never squeamish, and one can assume that impeachment proceedings would have brought to light something that Cuomo would rather not see publicly displayed.
Apart from these considerations, his resignation is one thing above all else: right. The allegations are well documented, and it’s not just about a few old-fashioned remarks and patting here and there, as the governor would have us believe. With Cuomo, an orderly government policy would no longer have been possible in New York. But this is exactly what is needed in times of the persistent pandemic.
For example, Cuomo’s third term of office will end prematurely on the one hand and on the other hand with an interesting punch line: His designated successor, Kathy Hochul, will be the first woman to take over the post at the head of the state.
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