The leader of the New York State Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, is calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign, and the Assembly Speaker says the governor should consider voluntarily stepping down, after two new allegations of inappropriate behavior from more women over the weekend. But Cuomo says he has no plans to voluntarily leave office, and he says he has too much important work to so, to let the accusations “distract” him.
The Senate Leader says “everyday there is another account” of “allegations about sexual harassment, a toxic work environment” and questions over the governor’s handling of nursing home death data during the COIVD-19 pandemic. She says the growing distractions are impeding the business of government.
“For the good of the state Governor Cuomo must resign,” she said.
The Assembly Speaker, Carl Heastie, in a statement, stopped short of calling for Cuomo’s resignation, but says its time “for the Governor to seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York” .
A defiant Cuomo, in a conference call with reporters just before the leaders weighed in, called the charges against him, including two new allegations of inappropriate behavior, “irrelevant” until the state’s Attorney General Tish James, completes an investigation.
“No, there is no way I resign,” said, Cuomo who said he deserves “due process” while the AG probe continues. “I’m not going to be distracted by this either. We have to get a budget done in three weeks. We have a lot of work to do.”
Cuomo’s remarks are in contrast to a contrite apology he issued on March 3rd, saying that he was sorry if his behaviors unintentionally caused any misunderstanding or harm to his accusers.
The governor attacked as a liar one of the women, former aide Karen Hinton. She claims in the Washington Post that Cuomo inappropriately hugged her after calling her to private meeting in his hotel room.
“What she said is not true,” said Cuomo. “She has been a long time political adversary of mine, highly critical for many, many years, and has made many, many accusations.”
Hinton also worked as a press secretary to Cuomo adversary New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio. She wrote a scathing op ed in the New York Daily News in late February, taking both men to task for what she said was their bad behavior toward women.
Former aid Ana Liss told the Wall Street Journal that Cuomo inappropriately touched her at a reception and kissed her hand while at the office. Liss says she came to see it as patronizing behavior, and told the paper that believes she was viewed as “just a skirt”, by the governor and other top officials in his office. Cuomo did not deny Liss’s accusations, but he says it is customary for him to kiss and hug people at public events, and that he often engages in “friendly banter” with employees about their dating habits.
Cuomo also addressed the growing number of female politicians, including State Senator Alessandra Biaggi and Congresswoman Kathleen Rice, who have also called on him to resign. He says they are just playing politics.
"I have a news flash for you, there is politics in politics," Cuomo said, with a laugh.
Cuomo says he was elected by the people of the state of New York, and politicians who are his critics don’t get to “override elections”.