NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo must go!
The Hump Day Hot Topics
NY Governor Andrew Cuomo must resign, of this I am absolutely certain!
Yesterday, NY Attorney General Letitia James strode to the press conference lectern and outlined the conclusion of her office's investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Cuomo, a governor whose star shone so brightly in 2020 during the early days of the Coronavirus Pandemic that there was speculation that some Democrats were considering a push to have him nominated for president over Joe Biden from the floor of the Democratic Convention!
General James confirmed that her office had interviewed 179 witnesses, collected over 74,000 pages of documents, and concluded that Gov. Cuomo harassed 11 women—including a state trooper assigned to his detail. In summation, the James Report holds,"We, the investigators appointed to conduct an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, conclude that the Governor engaged in conduct constituting sexual harassment under federal and New York State law."
Over the past decade, I have often lamented in my column spaces the diminishing value of good judgment and common sense in the public square, particularly where politicians and political parties are concerned. As the news has become more ubiquitous and fractioned into "conservative" vs. "liberal" factions, more often than not, many Americans choose to support and even defend dastardly or deplorable acts committed by public figures who share their ideological bent. This is a far cry from my youth when the news was just "the news" and whether your preference was Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather at CBS, Peter Jennings at ABC, Tom Brokaw at NBC, or Bernard Shaw at CNN, there was far less skepticism, cynicism, or hyper-partisanship emanating from the news digesting public.
Such is why, predictably, I noticed knee-jerk defenses of Cuomo yesterday from some Democrats on social media, with opinions ranging from the legal procedure axiom that "these are just allegations—and Cuomo has a right to refute them," to the home team shoulder shrug of "well, Donald Trump was caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by their private area; since nothing happened to him, they need to leave Cuomo alone."
The problem with the first example is that while Cuomo does have a right to defend himself if he so chooses, the breadth and depth of General James' investigation is far more than enough to warrant his resignation from office. While I can't quite capture when the word "allegations" became synonymous with "lies and distortions" in the court of public opinion, within my lifetime, albeit at the age of two, allegations of criminal and ethical misconduct during the Watergate Scandal were enough for a bipartisan push for Republican President Richard Nixon to resign from office—which he did in August of 1974 despite it being his legal right to refute the "allegations" during impeachment proceedings.
The problem with the second example is that the whole "Republicans commit acts of sexual misconduct, too" is a childish mind-set that completely misses the entire point that sexual assault and harassment are wrong no matter the political affiliation of the assaulter or harasser, period—full stop! This indefensible defense is based in rank misogyny and patriarchy, but judging from anecdotal social media evidence, there are even some women who are more than willing to give passes to men behaving badly if they are on their ideological team, whether it is former President Bill Clinton, CNN legal analyst Jeff Toobin, or Gov. Cuomo on the left; or former President Trump, current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, former Alabama Judge Roy Moore, and current Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz on the right.
Thus, my position is that as a Democrat, I don't care if Republicans lack the will to publically pillory their party leaders for sexual misconduct—I believe that Gov. Cuomo should resign because Democrats must be at the vanguard of stopping the age-old excuse that "boys will be boys" when grown, politically powerful men assault or harass underage girls and grown women.
My thoughts on this subject are informed, in large measure, on conduct that I observed very early in my professional life. As a 26-year old prosecutor in 1999, there was a Leon County judge who once called me to the bench during a minor in possession of alcohol case involving four young (and scantily clad) blonde women who were students at Florida State University. After I rested my case in the bench trial, the judge, looking like a randy old frat boy who was hot under the collar, whispered "counselor, just look at them, do you really want to ruin their records over what, a beer?" I stood there resolute and replied, "the law is the law, sir, and I am here to do my job," to which he replied, "well I'm here to do my job and I am going to find these young ladies not guilty." I had won all 17 of my trials up to that point—but took my first loss due to the seemingly puerile predilections of a public servant, not because of the insufficiency of the case that I presented.
I must add that later that year, this same judge berated a female colleague of mine, one that he often made googly eyes at in open court, during a jury trial when her key witness did not show up; his screaming and shrieking was so bad that it reduced my colleague to loud sobs in open court—and forced our boss to come down and have harsh words with the jurist.
It was then, at 26, that I realized that women in the workplace had significant burdens to bear when it comes to men (and sometimes women) behaving badly. For these and many other reasons, I can confidently state that the majority of those who are reading today's Hobbservations either knows someone, be it a family member or friend, who has been sexually assaulted or harassed—or they have been sexually assaulted and harassed themselves. That, alone, is enough for each of us to do our parts to protect girls and women from unwanted and at times, illegal advances from those with the authority to make life miserable for them in the workplace.
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well written.
This part! "Republicans commit acts of sexual misconduct, too" is a childish mind-set that completely misses the entire point that sexual assault and harassment are wrong no matter the political affiliation of the assaulter or harasser, period—full stop!"