Upstate New York Democrat joins calls for Cuomo’s resignation in wake of harassment allegations
(The Center Square) – An upstate New York Democratic lawmaker became the latest to call for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to step down amid the sexual harassment allegations that have come to light in the past week.
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam, tweeted Monday afternoon that he wasn’t shocked to see Cuomo try to influence the investigation.
“This abuse of power will only continue and further distract from our work at the State Capitol,” Santabarbara posted on the social media site. “I firmly believe the Governor’s resignation would be for the good of our state.”
Moments after Santabarbara posted his statement, state Attorney General Letitia James said she received the promised referral letter from the governor. That’s a step she needed to hire an independent law firm and start the investigation.
The assemblyman joined Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Queens, and state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, D-Bronx, in calling for their fellow Democrat to step down as the state’s top executive. Biaggi called for Cuomo’s resignation on Saturday after The New York Times published its article detailing Charlotte Bennett’s account from last year.
Even New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday Cuomo should go if the investigation backs up the allegations.
“We’ve got to understand what happened here,” de Blasio said. “Anything like that, if someone purposely tried to use their power to force a woman to have sex with them? Of course, that’s someone who should no longer be in public service.”
Republicans, too, called for Cuomo to resign, citing not only the sexual harassment case but the nursing home scandal that’s triggered a federal investigation.
Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, told reporters Monday that the governor should receive due process regarding the investigations. However, the time dedicated to those reviews comes at the same time the state is trying to finish a budget and still manage the COVID-19 crisis.
“My concern was more that could he effectively focus on the pandemic response, on the fiscal crisis, the economic crisis, while at the same time focusing and being engulfed on two separate significant investigations on two separate issues,” Ortt said. “I don’t know that any one person could realistically dedicate the proper time to New Yorkers while also dealing with that.”
Later in the day, Republicans in the Senate called for a vote to strip Cuomo of his emergency powers. No Democratic member voted with their GOP colleagues, marking the 18th time that’s happened.
According to Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, D-Queens, Democrats are interested in pulling Cuomo’s emergency authority. However, while answering questions at a news conference for his HERO Act on Monday morning, said there’s some work that needs to take place between both the Senate and the Assembly.
Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers.
“I think we’d like to pass something as soon as possible, but again, that requires both houses to come to terms,” he said. “There have been discussions between the two houses, and as soon as we are able to come to agreement on a bill, I believe we both intend to move on it.”
Gianaris declined to go into specifics about the discussions.
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