NEW YORK (AP) – Andrew Cuomo’s government has urged New Yorkers to ‘wait for the facts’.
Patience, however, became thin. The two U.S. senators from the state, Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and most of the other 29 members of New York’s congressional delegation, have asked him to resign. In the state legislature, more than 120 lawmakers have called on the Democrat to quit.
Leaders in the state assembly on Thursday announced an indictment, a first step to possibly remove Cuomo from office.
Cuomo has called for his resignation and rejected his political future over the outcome of an independent inquiry by Attorney General Letitia James, which is investigating allegations that the governor sexually harassed or improperly assaulted several female assistants.
Here’s a look at the following steps on a possible path to accusation:
PROJECT GENERAL’S INVESTIGATION
James, an independent elected Democrat, hired former acting U.S. attorney Joon Kim and Anne Clark, an attorney for employment discrimination, to lead her investigation. in the governor’s workplace’s behavior.
The investigation team will have the power to sue documents and question witnesses. Its findings will appear in a public report.
Cuomo has since said he will “fully cooperate”.
James does not have the power to unilaterally remove Cuomo from office, but any findings that support the allegations could incite potential accusations – or put pressure on Cuomo to leave voluntarily.
Kim and Clark may choose to limit their scope to allegations already made public, or to expand it to look for other women who have complaints about Cuomo’s behavior.
James’s office sent a letter last week instructing the governor’s office to keep all evidence related to the harassment complaint. This may include documents and emails to and from Cuomo’s staff, calendar entries and communications that include the transfer of one of his accused to another office.
There is no deadline to complete the investigation, and James did not say how long she expects it to last. An investigation in 2010 that Cuomo, as attorney general, oversaw his predecessor, Governor David Paterson, lasted about five months.
Andrew G. Celli Jr., who from 1999 to 2003 was head of the civil rights bureau in the Attorney General’s office, said that although James is a Democrat, her independence will enable her to ‘do what she thinks the best is the interest of the whole people, even if it means a detrimental finding to the governor. ‘
THE JUSTICE COMMITTEE
The Judicial Committee of the Assembly also has the power to summon documents and give evidence. It may rely on work done by the Attorney General’s team of investigators, or gather his own evidence.
The scope of the investigation may extend beyond Cuomo’s behavior toward women. The governor is also under fire for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis in the state’s nursing homes.
Many lawmakers are outraged because the Cuomo government for months did not want to abandon the full number of patients killed by the virus.
According to the governor’s office, the data related to the deaths of nursing homes transferred to hospitals is unreliable. But in a recorded conference call with lawmakers, Cuomo’s top aide said the government withheld the data in late summer because it feared the lethal numbers could be used against us.
The work of the committee could lead to the drafting of accusations against Cuomo, although the outcome is far from certain.
It is understood that one of the women who accused Cuomo of touching her did not speak in public about what had happened, and it is unclear whether she would be willing to give a public testimony in an indictment. .
THE DETERMINATION PROCESS
New York’s process of accusing and removing a governor from office has some parallels – and some important differences – with the process used by the US Congress to prosecute presidents.
As at the federal level, accusations begin in New York in the lower house of the legislature – in this case the Assembly. If a majority of members vote to accuse Cuomo, a trial over his dismissal will be held in the indictment court.
The court consists not only of members of the Senate, but also judges of the highest court of the state, the Court of Appeal, which would also cast votes. There are seven judges of the Court of Appeal and 63 senators, but not all will serve in the Court of Appeal.
Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul (HOH-kull) and Senate leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins are also members, but they are excluded if a governor is on trial. At least two-thirds of jurors must vote to convict Cuomo.
Democrats control both chambers of the legislature. Many have joined Republicans in the past few days asking for Cuomo’s resignation or accusation. Cuomo has appointed all seven members of the Court of Appeal.
New York once again sued a governor, in 1913, when Governor William Sulzer was ousted from office after 289 days in what he claimed was retaliation for turning his back on the powerful Tammany Hall Democratic machine.
Sulzer, who is accused of failing to report thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and of mixing campaign funds with personal funds, exploded the court’s secret deliberations and complained: ‘A horse thief in frontier days would have gotten a more square deal. ‘
SIDE LINE CUOMO
If Cuomo is indicted by the Assembly, state law could force him to act immediately – a dramatic difference from what happens when the U.S. president is indicted.
A portion of the state’s law regarding indictment reads: ‘No officer may exercise his office after articles of indictment against him have been delivered to the Senate until he is acquitted. ‘
According to the state constitution, the lieutenant governor would then take over.
“In the event that the governor is charged, absent from the state or otherwise unable to perform the powers and duties of the office of governor, the lieutenant governor will act as governor until the incapacity ceases or expires until the term of the governor,” reads the constitution.
When Sulzer was charged, Lieutenant Governor Martin Glynn was appointed acting governor.
If Cuomo were to be acquitted in an indictment court, he would return to office. If the court were to remove him from office, Hochul would serve the rest of Cuomo’s term – by the end of 2022. The court could also decide to qualify him in the future to hold office, in addition to to remove him.
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Villeneuve reported from Albany, New York.
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Follow Michael Sisak on Twitter on Twitter twitter.com/mikesisak and Marina Villeneuve by https://twitter.com/reportermarina.