The continued refusal of Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, to resign in the face of growing scandals, compares with Virginia Rov. Ramph Northam, who would not resign in 2019, despite calls from members of his own party to resign due to a scandal of his own.
“#Cuomo draws a Northam,” tweeted Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, comparing the two Democratic governors.
Legal commentator Hugh Hewitt tweeted on Sunday that Cuomo is “the full Northam.”
Governor Andrew Cuomo has apologized for his past behavior after allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior by three women, and told reporters on Wednesday that he was “embarrassed” about his actions.
Cuomo has been accused by several women of sexual harassment and the creation of an uncomfortable work environment with apparent sexual advances. He is also accused of covering up the deaths in nursing homes in New York at the start of the pandemic last year, which is largely attributable to the New York policy of sending coronavirus-positive patients to nursing homes even after the federal leadership or it would have changed, changed.
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Furthermore, Cuomo and his best assistants are accused of creating a hostile work environment, which intimidated and abused subordinates and reporters. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday on the most recent allegation of sexual harassment against Cuomo by a woman named Ana Liss and an alleged ‘toxic’ work environment in the governor’s office.
Northam’s 2019 scandal was about a photo that appeared on his medical school yearbook page with two men – one dressed in black and the other dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Virginia Government, Ralph Northam, answers a question during a press briefing at the Patrick Henry Building in Richmond, V. Tuesday, June 9, 2020. (Bob Brown / Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)
Northam had tremendous pressure in early 2019 to resign from Democrats, both in Virginia and nationwide.
“There is no place for racism in America,” said President Biden, who has not yet announced his presidential campaign. “Governor Northam has lost all moral authority and must resign immediately. Justin Fairfax is the leader Virginia needs now.”
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“Leaders are called to a higher standard, and the stain of racism should have no place in government halls,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, who had just announced her presidential campaign a few days earlier. “The governor of Virginia needs to step aside so the public can heal and move forward together.”
Among the many other national Democrats who at the time called for Northam to resign was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., (who was then the Senate Minority Leader); House Chairman Nancy Pelosi, D-California; and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, Democratic Party chairwoman Virginia Susan Swecker said Northam “should resign immediately” and “no longer have our confidence or support” and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus also asked that he resign.
Cuomo is now facing calls to resign from State Senate leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Speaker Carl Heastie, both Democrats. On Sunday afternoon, at least 35 Democrats and 12 Republicans in the New York legislature called for Cuomo to resign.
Cuomo said Sunday that there is no way I should resign, while New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating the allegations against him. He said: “let’s get the findings, and then we’ll go from there. But I’m not going to be distracted by this either.”
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The White House on Monday did not respond to a request for comment on whether Biden and Harris are now appealing to Cuomo to resign. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week that the president believed that “every woman should be heard” and that the allegations against Cuomo should find an “independent review”. But that was before even more allegations came out against the governor.
Cuomo’s office on Monday did not respond to a separate request for comment, which also asked if the governor was considering resigning.
The scandals faced by Northam and Cuomo differ in important ways. The photo in which Northam allegedly appeared was taken while he was in medical school decades ago, while the allegations against Cuomo have been over the past few years while he was the governor of New York.
The allegations against Cuomo also involve actual behavior by the governor that makes sexual remarks to much younger assistants who in some cases interpret them as suggestions for sex.
No governor has accepted full responsibility for the allegations against him.
After Northam initially admitted that he was on the race-sensitive yearbook photo, he turned around and denied that the photo was of him. A review could not unequivocally prove whether Northam was in the picture or not.
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“I am not in the racist and offensive picture that appeared in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook under my name,” Northam said in a May 2019 statement. That said, I know and understand the events in early February, and my response to that has hurt many Virginia, and I’m sorry. I felt it was important to take responsibility for the presence of the photo on my page, but rather than give clarity, I rather deepened pain and confusion. ‘
Cuomo, meanwhile, has conceded to some of the allegations about his behavior. But he only apologized ‘that I acted in a way that made people feel uncomfortable’, saying that it was ‘unintentional and I really and deeply apologize for that.’
“I feel terrible about it and honestly, I’m ashamed of it,” Cuomo also said, adding that he “never knew I was making anyone feel uncomfortable.”
Cuomo also denied touching any woman inappropriately, as some have claimed.
Fox News’s Ronn Blitzer, Evie Fordham and Remy Numa contributed to this report.