How New York Government Andrew Cuomo Fights for Political Survival

New York Attorney General Letitia James is overseeing an investigation into the harassment charges by current and former assistants to the governor and is expected to issue a report on his findings later this year. Democrats, who control the state assembly, are investigating the harassment charges as well as the state’s delayed release of a full version of Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have requested data on deaths in nursing homes and are interested in other state policies related to the facilities, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Cuomo and his lawyers said they were cooperating with all the sins. The governor said he had never touched anyone improperly and apologized if his behavior made someone uncomfortable. During a press call on Wednesday, he said he would not answer questions while the investigations were pending.

“I have a job to do,” he said. Cuomo said.

Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, said Friday that the government is committed to expanding the vaccination program in New York and introducing a state budget.

On one occasion Wednesday, the governor appeared in a Baptist church in the historic Black Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan to receive a coronavirus vaccine. He was praised by Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and retired Democratic U.S. Representative Charlie Rangel.

Mr. Rangel said that Cuomo’s critics are accumulating, but that “proper process and trial are basic in which we believe in this country.”

This background was intentional, political figures said. A poll released by the Siena College Research Institute last week found that 50% of the 804 New York voters polled did not believe the governor should resign immediately. Among black voters, 69% said the governor should not resign.

“Politically, he was wounded but not killed,” said poll spokesman Steven Greenberg. This is remarkable, said Mr. Greenberg noted that the percentage of Democrats who said they were willing to re-elect Cuomo in 2022 declined to 46% in March from 65% in February.

Black voters usually represent just under a quarter of the electorate in a Democratic primary across the country, and Mr. Cuomo carried it by large margins during his respective primary victories in 2014 and 2018 over Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon, who are white.

In 2002, a few days before the Democratic primary for governor, Mr. Cuomo left the race after polls showed him with little chance of defeating then-accountant H. Carl McCall, who is black.

Cuomo was flanked by New York Yankees and Mets officials on Thursday when he announced that fans will be able to attend the teams’ home games when their season begins next month. The event was closed to the press, but the news it generated was printed on the front page of the New York Daily News and Newsday.

Bradley Tusk, founder of the political advisory firm Tusk Strategies, said the announcement of the baseball was deliberate.

“The governor should buy as much time as he can – to slow down the momentum of the attacks on him and to show the public that he is doing other things,” he said. “The more normalcy returns, the more he is not overwhelmed by scandal.”

Peter Kauffmann, a communications consultant who advised Cuomo’s first two government campaigns, said that this strategy was based on President Bill Clinton’s response to the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the 1990s. Mr. Cuomo, as housing secretary in Mr. Clinton’s cabinet served, and Mr. During the accusation of mr. Clinton worked for the press office of the Democratic National Committee.

“The problem with his current crisis strategy is that it’s in 2021 – not in 1998, and that Andrew Cuomo is not Bill Clinton,” he said. Kauffmann said, referring to changing cultural norms and the relative charisma of men.

Mr. Tusk said James’s investigation posed a significant risk to Cuomo, and that his remaining support among lawmakers could evaporate if it confirmed the allegations.

Charlie King, who joined him in 2002 as lieutenant governor with Mr. Cuomo elected and remains an informal adviser to the governor, agrees that the findings of the inquiry will be important.

“You have to look at the overall facts when it comes out and see what people’s reactions are,” he said. King said.

THE QUESTION: Who, together with mr. Cuomo stood when he said he was ending his government’s bid in 2002?

—Do you know the answer? Send me an email!

THE LAST ANSWER: Mary Anne Krupsak becomes the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor after being elected in 1974, along with Hugh Carey, who was elected governor.

Write to Jimmy Vielkind by [email protected]