Cuomo - why does it take so long from this sort of stuff to come out?

[Tom]

Yeah, NYS is certainly corrupt. At all levels ot is pay to play so my cynicism no knows no bounds as is same with the politicians speaking out only now. But who should be recognized for finally killing irony is Stefanik. Snuggling up to the guy with eight credible rape allegations and feigning outrage now? That's some funny stuff there, that is.

[j44ke]

Politically speaking New York is a cesspool.

Spritzer
Wiener
Patterson
Schneiderman (AG)
Cuomo

And the hypocracy of an idiot like De Blasio telling him to resign.
And who are you going to replace him with? Some upstate Republican? Or are they going to open up the dusty box of old dry turd Democrats past their prime.
Despite everything I consider myself lucky to still be alive.

In the short term at least, he would be replaced by the current Lt. Gov., Kathy Hochul.

Re: due process - Right now, straw counts say there aren't enough members in the Assembly willing to impeach. They need 75 members, there are 43 Republicans, so that means 32 Democrats have to vote to impeach if all Republicans voted to impeach. Cuomo is not powerless. The fear his footsteps elicit in NY state politics is equivalent to the fear of Trump among Republicans at the Federal level. That's why Sen. Schumer and Sen. Gillebrand are calling for the resignation. They are offering political cover for their colleagues in the state Democratic Party. I don't think it is much comfort. And as far as demanding resignation solving problems for the Democratic Party, he's Cuomo. He's not scared of anyone. He's not going to leave.

It is the same problem as trying to get rid of Trump with impeachment. You can have a really great dog and pony show, but if you don't have the votes, it is just a really great dog and pony show. Nice job. Good work. But the guy is still there.

Are there any criminal charges yet? That's the only way that a criminal court gets involved. I heard some murmers that perhaps the groping accusation meets the level of criminal behavior. Otherwise, there would have to be civil cases brought by the accusers that would probably be settled out of court by Cuomo's estate 100 years from now.

But they should go for impeachment, just like they went for impeachment on Trump. If 32 Democrats don't vote for it, then they have to defend themselves individually to their constituents in the primaries. But the Democratic party should bring the articles of impeachment to the floor. That's the high road.

[BBB]

There is an accused rapist in the Australian government, members of the French government who are accused or convicted of assault, the British House of Parliament (very large building in London) is an abusive work place, heck even Prince Andrew been implicated in international sex trafficking and now the governor of New York has been accused of abuse and assault.

Obviously this is a women's problem. They need to do a better job reporting assault and abuse to the authorities as soon as something like this happens.

^Sarcasm^

Re the Australian scenario...you beat me to it!

Australia's Federal Parliament is having its moment of reckoning and it is not going too well.

A month or so ago a former staffer of the current defence minister alleged she was raped in the ministers office after a night out. This happened in March 2019, in the teeth of a federal election and an election in which the current government was rightly (imo) labelled as having a problem with women. Suffice to say the allegation did not see the light of day prior to the election, the alleged rapist was quietly let go (security breach) and while all sorts of people appeared to have known about the issue, no one (apparently) told the Prime Minister. This incident set off rounds of recriminations (who knew, when did they know, who did they tell, why doesn't the parliament have an appropriate process to deal with these types of incidents and so on). The defence minister ended up in hospital (pre-existing heart condition that no doubt the stress of the incident being played out in Parliament and in the media exacerbated the issue), but she did herself no favours by calling the staffer a 'lying cow', which resulted in lawyers at 20 paces and an apology. The Prime Minister led from behind and brought his wife into the fray by saying she asked him to consider his own daughters when coming up with the appropriate response (which is about 54 different reviews).

Sadly, and it is very sad, this story was blown off the front pages by an allegation that an un-named Cabinet Minister had raped a 16 year old when he too was a teenager. It quickly became apparent that the un-named cabinet minister was none other than the Federal Attorney General. The ABC (tax payer funded broadcaster) had touched the AG up - please excuse the pun - in an investigation into bad behaviour in Canberra that went to air last November with the result that the AG came off like a misogynistic a-hole (and they also had the rape allegations at the point, but couldn't air it in the story for legal reasons). In any event, the complainant had committed suicide in 2020. She had begun the process of revealing the alleged rape in 2019 and resolved to go to the Police in 2020, which happened, but was delayed by Covid. Unfortunately the complainant's mental health worsened and she withdrew the complaint (or supposedly she did) and took her own life. What was left behind was a lengthy dossier of the events in question, complete with contemporaneous diary notes. The Police, without a complainant or a sworn statement indicated they could take the issue no further and closed the investigation, at which point the AG outed himself (and despite being advised by one of the best defamation lawyers in the country, the press conference was a debacle). The PM continued his ham fisted handling of sensitive issues and declared it a rule of law issue and as the AG wasn't going to be charged then he was innocent and would we please all move on. The AG has refused to design and is currently on leave. Of course, the PM's approach has made matters worse and there are numerous calls for some form of seperate enquiry as it is very far from ideal that the AG has an allegation of rape hanging over his head. There are many more twists and turns to this story than the brief summary above and many more to come.

As to the why? Men can be pigs. We need to have a very good look at ourselves in the mirror. As has been said in a very eloquent put down to the PM, you don't need daughters, you just need a conscience.

[Bobonli]

Regarding the criminal investigation, and the last written reporting I saw was from Friday so it may be outdated:

A woman made an allegation but refused to file an official report with the state. So the gov’s counsel referred it to local police. This could be a clever counter attack by the governor’s lawyer, setting up a potential scenario where they turn the tables on the accuser and say she’s FOS because she wouldn’t come forward and file an actual complaint, or celebrate victory when the local LEOs can’t substantiate the claim. I would anticipate some offense being played this coming week or some spectacular distraction to help shift the focus off this story.

Maybe it’s time for a ticker tape parade to celebrate victory over Covid or unveil a new casino .....that’ll make people forget.

[classtimesailer]

When this sort of stuff comes out, but the man is useful, he can be president--Trump and now Biden. How it is negotiated with motions, and courts and juries is interesting but it is rarely justice.

[thollandpe]

The path a whistleblower takes is a very difficult one. And it’s very likely that we all owe a debt of gratitude to someone who elected to take that path, and suffered accordingly.

We could, and should, do a better job protecting them.

[j44ke]

When this sort of stuff comes out, but the man is useful, he can be president--Trump and now Biden. How it is negotiated with motions, and courts and juries is interesting but it is rarely justice.

I am not sure how a man who assaults women is useful. Certainly not useful to the women who are assaulted. Truly useful men are not a rarity, so the concept that we must bear with someone with substantial character defects because they can “get things done” is ridiculous. Elect someone else who doesn’t assault women. Seems pretty simple, but “we the people” have a strangely codependent relationship with tyrannical men. Even the idea that a man is specifically necessary is specious. Really, what have men done as a gender to prove their intrinsic value as men? They seem really dangerous, overly-emotional, and prone to selfish self-centered self-destructive behavior. Not saying individual men are worthless, but as a gender, what a friggin train wreck.

[davids]

A whole bunch of white guys pontificating on this issue...

All I'll say regarding Cuomo is that, when he was HUD Secretary he carried on a long-term assault against the Boston Housing Authority. It was petty vindictive politics. So my colleagues and I had some experience with his less than exemplary behavior. Not that I'm equating that with sexual harassment. I just know Andrew Cuomo can be an asshole.

[classtimesailer]

Not useful to me but but these Cuomos, et al serve somebody. And when the job is completed or another can perform that duty without all the fuss, the servant who thought they were a player is sacrificed.
The combination of fuss, and superflousness reaches a tipping point and out he/she goes. For me it was STI:Enough already.

[Too Tall]

Don't vote. It only encourages them.

[Sino]

^^^This.
And until that happens, I hope Cuomo stays in his position as governor and doesn't voluntarily resign. Because Al Franken and Gary Hart did, and Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, and Clarence Thomas didn't, and all we got from those episodes is confirmation that Dems are pushovers and that there is no political capital to be gained from taking the moral high ground.

This isn't political, this is a man who made life horrible and terrifying for many women. Any number of wrongs don't make a right. Any human that tortures another at the very least deserves to be removed from any public office. Period. Whether or not it's actually criminal is besides the point.

...and as I said in other posts that got me into trouble, finger pointing does neither side any good as both sides have their laundry lists of "wrongs."

[Bob Ross]

This isn't political, this is a man who made life horrible and terrifying for many women. Any number of wrongs don't make a right. Any human that tortures another at the very least deserves to be removed from any public office. Period. Whether or not it's actually criminal is besides the point.

Except that it is political.

You know who made it political? For starters, every single lawmaker who voted to impeach Bill Clinton. You know who else made it political? Every single person who made a false claim about sexual harassment...and then every single politician who realized that false accusations could be leveraged to attack and potentially remove the competition.

[Sino]

Except that it is political.

You know who made it political? For starters, every single lawmaker who voted to impeach Bill Clinton. You know who else made it political? Every single person who made a false claim about sexual harassment...and then every single politician who realized that false accusations could be leveraged to attack and potentially remove the competition.

So Clinton (himself a serial sexual abuser) being impeached for what I think any reasonable person will agree was at best an abuse of power is responsible for Cuomo sexually harassing women?

Honestly, this response is just disgusting to me.

Sexual abuse is not political, I'm sorry, it's just not. That you are defending sexual abuse is just downright awful.

[theflashunc]

Between this and the nursing home scandal, along with the potential under-reporting of COVID deaths in the state last Spring, I don't know how Cuomo survives politically.

But this shows yet again the flaws in a system where the mechanisms for evaluating and dispensing justice in these cases is inherently political. My hope is that after a thorough investigation (in part motivated by some of Cuomo's political rivals after all) his abhorrent behavior is cause for being thrown out of office. I have a hard time thinking there's not enough D votes in the Assembly to get him out if the evidence is damning enough, particularly with a Lt Gov waiting in the wings, the two senators from the state saying it's time to go, and a President taking a very "let's see what the investigation says" approach. Course, Ralph Northam had some blackface photos show up and he's still Governor in Virginia, so who knows where the politics of this ultimately end up?

But Cuomo plays a very nasty, bare knuckle style politics that will be a brawl the entire way.

[Bob Ross]

So Clinton (himself a serial sexual abuser) being impeached for what I think any reasonable person will agree was at best an abuse of power is responsible for Cuomo sexually harassing women?

Honestly, this response is just disgusting to me.

Sexual abuse is not political, I'm sorry, it's just not. That you are defending sexual abuse is just downright awful.

I'm not defending sexual abuse. I'm saying that Cuomo's being accused of sexual abuse has a political component, and that there's a long history of sexual-abuse-accusations-as-political-weapon, and that until such time that Cuomo can be investigated and -- if the evidence warrants -- tried and convicted for these crimes, he should not resign from his elected office. Because resignation is neither an appropriate punishment nor an appropriate consequence of the alleged crime; it is purely a response to the politics of the situation.

[theflashunc]

I'm not defending sexual abuse. I'm saying that Cuomo's being accused of sexual abuse has a political component, and that there's a long history of sexual-abuse-accusations-as-political-weapon, and that until such time that Cuomo can be investigated and -- if the evidence warrants -- tried and convicted for these crimes, he should not resign from his elected office. Because resignation is neither an appropriate punishment nor an appropriate consequence of the alleged crime; it is purely a response to the politics of the situation.

At a certain point though, resignation is the only way to save even the most minimal of face. If the polling in the state goes against him -- and already half the state thinks he should resign -- and you get the votes in the Assembly, it's time for a conversation about saving everyone a lot of time and heading off into the sunset. Nixon at least had the decency to do that when the handwriting was on the wall.

Sure, he can go down with the ship, but if he wants any semblance of an image rehab down the line, a resignation when facing the inevitable is the right call.

[Sino]

I'm not defending sexual abuse. I'm saying that Cuomo's being accused of sexual abuse has a political component, and that there's a long history of sexual-abuse-accusations-as-political-weapon, and that until such time that Cuomo can be investigated and -- if the evidence warrants -- tried and convicted for these crimes, he should not resign from his elected office. Because resignation is neither an appropriate punishment nor an appropriate consequence of the alleged crime; it is purely a response to the politics of the situation.

So now you're saying that the women shouldn't speak up because there are political consequences or there is a political component to it? I'm sorry, but there is not a "long history of sexual abuse accusations" that turned out to be false. There are some, certainly, but the same as in any other walk of life. And your example of Clinton couldn't be worse, since he DID it, lied about it, and continued doing it.

How on Earth is sexual harassment of anyone, let alone a subordinate, not cause for at the very least the person being removed or resigning from office? I truly can't believe you're going to defend Cuomo under the guise of due process or that because at some point, somewhere on planet Earth, someone made false claims about sexual harassment.

Please show me one example where five or more women have come forward about abuse/harassment by a US political figure and it have all been made up? Just one.

People like you enable monsters like Wienstein, et al.

Anyhow, I'm done. Your quotes are enough to speak for themselves.

[thollandpe]

This isn't political, this is a man who made life horrible and terrifying for many women. Any number of wrongs don't make a right. Any human that tortures another at the very least deserves to be removed from any public office. Period. Whether or not it's actually criminal is besides the point.

+1. If he did these things, send him packing.

Our symbol of justice wears a blindfold. Not only blind to who the accused and accuser are, but what has happened before in other unrelated cases. Just like the dice do not remember what has been rolled before.

The outcome should be right, justice should be done.

[e-RICHIE]

Doesn’t he have to be found/proven guilty before he leaves his job?

[vertical_doug]

Doesn’t he have to be found/proven guilty before he leaves his job?

I think his natural tendencies to bully and intimidate will kick in, and he will light himself on fire and have to resign. If it's true his proxies were calling state democrats and questioning their loyalty, and one of these making calls was the state vaccine czar, a line has been crossed.