OPINION
THE
EDITORIAL BOARD
Governor Cuomo, It’s Time to Resign
Aug. 3,
2021
By The
Editorial Board
The
editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by
expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate
from the newsroom.
Last
winter, after the first wave of accusations of sexual misconduct and harassment
by Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York came to light, this board called for an
investigation to run its course and for legal authorities to carry out the slow
and careful work of separating allegations from evidence. At the same time, we
questioned whether Mr. Cuomo could continue to serve as the state’s leader,
given both the seriousness of the allegations and the collapse of political
support among his allies in New York and Washington.
The answer,
which came on Tuesday in the form of a thorough and damning report by the
state’s attorney general, Letitia James, is a decisive no.
From the
report, for which investigators interviewed 179 witnesses and gathered more
than 74,000 pieces of evidence, two things are clear. First, Mr. Cuomo may yet
face legal consequences for his alleged actions, which include a yearslong
pattern of “unwelcome and nonconsensual touching,” “offensive comments” and
other improper behavior toward at least 11 women, several on his staff.
Second,
regardless of what may happen in a court of law, the governor has only one
conscionable option left: He should resign.
Mr. Cuomo
continues to deny that he did anything wrong, suggesting that all the women who
have come forward somehow misinterpreted his touching and physicality in the
same way. “I am 63 years old. I have lived my entire adult life in public view,”
he said in a recorded video released shortly after the report came out. “That
is just not who I am.” He failed to note that many of the allegations against
him involve conduct that happened not in public but behind closed doors, in
elevators or over the phone.
Most people
would object to the behaviors detailed here, but the fact that it was coming
from the most powerful person in New York State, often toward direct
subordinates, makes it all the more disturbing. Anne Clark, one of the
investigators, said at a news conference that in one case, a state trooper told
them that while she and Mr. Cuomo shared an elevator, he “ran his finger from
her neck down her spine and said, ‘Hey, you’” and that, in a separate incident,
“she was standing holding the door open for the governor. As he passed, he took
his open hand and ran it across her stomach from her belly button to the hip
where she keeps her gun. She told us that she felt completely violated to have
the governor touch her, as she put it, ‘between her chest and her privates.’”
The stories
get worse, and the women who came forward to share them, even in the face of
threats of retaliation, as detailed in the report, should be commended for
their bravery.
The calls
for Mr. Cuomo to step down only grew louder on Tuesday. Top Democrats,
including President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, added their names to
the expanding list of those who have come to see that it is untenable for Mr.
Cuomo — among the nation’s highest-profile and most powerful governors — to
remain in office.
Mr. Cuomo
has always had a self-serving streak and been known for his political bullying.
He also has used those traits to be an effective politician and, in many of his
achievements as governor, won the public’s trust. What this report lays out,
however, are credible accusations that can’t be looked past. As Ms. James said
on Tuesday, Mr. Cuomo’s alleged conduct “corrodes the very fabric and character
of our state government and shines light on injustice that can be present at
the highest levels of government.”
If Mr.
Cuomo cares for the well-being of the state and its citizens as much as he has
said he does over the years, he needs to do the right thing and step down.
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