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NEW YORK (AP) – Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged New Yorkers to “wait for the facts”.
Patience, however, has waned. The two US state senators, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and most of the 29 other members of the New York congressional delegation have called for his resignation. In the state legislature, more than 120 lawmakers called on the Democrat to step down.
State Assembly leaders on Thursday announced an impeachment inquiry, a first step towards Cuomo’s potential removal from office.
Cuomo has rejected calls to resign and has staked his political future on the outcome of an independent investigation by Attorney General Letitia James, which is examining allegations that the governor sexually harassed or inappropriately touched several female helpers.
Here’s a look at the next steps on a possible path to impeachment:
INVESTIGATION BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
James, an independently elected Democrat, hired former Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim and employment discrimination lawyer Anne Clark to conduct his investigation in the conduct of the governor in the workplace.
The investigative team will have the power to subpoena documents and question witnesses. Its findings will be published in a public report.
Cuomo has since said he will “cooperate fully.”
James does not have the power to unilaterally remove Cuomo from office, but any findings supporting the allegations could influence a possible impeachment proceeding – or increase the pressure for Cuomo to leave voluntarily.
Kim and Clark can choose to limit their scope to already public allegations or expand it to seek out other women who might be complaining about Cuomo’s behavior.
James’s office sent a letter last week asking the governor’s office to keep all evidence related to the harassment allegations. This could include documents and emails to and from Cuomo staff, calendar entries, and communications involving the transfer of one of his accusers to another office.
There is no deadline to complete the investigation and James has not said how long she expects it to take. A 2010 investigation that Cuomo oversaw as attorney general into his predecessor, Gov. David Paterson, lasted about five months.
Andrew G. Celli Jr., who was head of the civil rights office in the attorney general’s office from 1999 to 2003, said that if James is a Democrat, his independence would allow him to “do what she thinks is the best he can. everyone’s best interests, even if it means an unfavorable conclusion for the governor.
THE JUDICIAL COMMITTEE
The Judicial Committee of the Assembly will also have the power to subpoena documents and testimony. He could build on the work done by the Attorney General’s investigative team or gather his own evidence.
The scope of his investigation could go beyond Cuomo’s conduct with women. The governor is also criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 crisis in nursing homes across the state.
Many lawmakers have been outraged that the Cuomo administration has refused, for months, to release the total number of nursing home patients killed by the virus.
The governor’s office said some of the data, related to the deaths of nursing home patients who had been transferred to hospitals, was unreliable. But in a taped conference call with lawmakers, Cuomo’s senior aide said the administration withheld the data at the end of the summer because it feared the death figures were “used against us.” “.
The committee’s work could result in the drafting of articles of impeachment against Cuomo, although this outcome is far from certain.
One of the women who allegedly accused Cuomo of groping her has not spoken publicly about what happened and it is unclear whether she would be willing to testify publicly in an impeachment trial.
THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
The New York process for removing and removing a governor from office has parallels – and important differences – to the process used by the US Congress to remove presidents.
Like at the federal level, indictments in New York City begin in the lower house of the legislature – in this case, the Assembly. If a majority of members vote to impeach Cuomo, a trial over his impeachment would take place in what’s called the impeachment court.
The court is made up not only of members of the state Senate, but also of judges from the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, who would also vote. There are seven appeals court judges and 63 senators, but not all of them are on the impeachment court.
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul (HOH-kull) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins are also members, but they are excluded when a governor is tried. At least two-thirds of jurors must vote to convict in order to eliminate Cuomo.
Democrats control both houses of the Legislative Assembly. Many have joined Republicans in calling for Cuomo’s resignation or impeachment in recent days. Cuomo appointed the seven members of the Court of Appeal.
New York only removed a governor once, in 1913, when Gov. William Sulzer was fired after 289 days in office in what he claimed was retribution for turning his back on the powerful Democratic machine of Tammany Hall.
Sulzer, accused of failing to declare thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and of mixing campaign funds with personal funds, criticized the court’s secret deliberations, complaining: “A horse thief at the border would have received a more square agreement.
CUOMO SIDELINING
If Cuomo were impeached by the assembly, state law could force him to step down immediately – a dramatic difference from what happens when the U.S. president is impeached.
A section of the state’s judicial code regarding impeachment reads: “No officer may perform his duties, after the articles of impeachment against him have been handed over to the Senate, until he is acquitted. . “
According to the constitution of the state, the lieutenant-governor would then take over.
“In the event that the Governor is removed from office, is absent from the State or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office of Governor, the Lieutenant Governor shall act as Governor until the incapacity ceases or until the term of the governor. expire, ”says the constitution.
When Sulzer was impeached, Lieutenant Governor Martin Glynn was appointed acting governor.
If Cuomo were to be acquitted by an impeachment court, he would resume his duties. If the impeachment court were to remove him from office, Hochul would serve the remainder of Cuomo’s term – until the end of 2022. The court could also choose to disqualify him from office in the future, in addition to remove him from office.
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Villeneuve reported from Albany, New York.
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On Twitter, follow Michael Sisak on twitter.com/mikesisak and Marina Villeneuve at https://twitter.com/reportermarina.
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