Good morning, it’s Wednesday and it feels like I have lived 11 lifetimes since we last “spoke.”
So much has happened since yesterday morning. New York has seen another governor resign – except technically speaking, he’ll be around for another 13 days. AND his replacement will make history when she ascends, becoming the first female governor this state has ever seen.
As a former reporter, I covered the demise of two governors, multiple legislative leaders and too many rank-and-file state and local lawmakers to count. I am TIRED, people. T-I-R-E-D! Can we have one person in charge who doesn’t rob us blind and can keep their hands to themselves? Is that too much to ask?
Apparently so.
We might as well get right down to it, since there’s a lot of headlines to weed through. But before we do…It’s National Raspberry Bombe Day.
You don’t know what that is you say? Yeah, me neither, and so: “A typical bombe contains sherbet, heavy cream, sugar, chopped nuts, candied fruit and a dash of rum. The dessert is layered using a spherical mold and frozen overnight.”
Sounds delish, and also refreshing on a very hot day…like the one that lies ahead.
It’s going to be in the low-90s, with a mix of sun and clouds and a stray shower or thunderstorm possible.
In the headlines…
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he would resign from office, succumbing to a ballooning sexual harassment scandal in an astonishing reversal of fortune for one of the nation’s best-known leaders.
Cuomo said his resignation would take effect in 14 days. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, will be sworn in to replace him, becoming the first woman in history to occupy New York State’s top office.
A spokesman said the 14-day wait time is to ensure an “orderly transition” of power, but critics want Cuomo out without delay.
“Given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to government, and therefore that is what I’ll do, because I work for you, and doing the right thing, is doing the right thing for you,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo meditated on the lessons he had learned about “generational and cultural shifts” and argued his expressions of endearment could be dated, but certainly not malicious.
Even as he gave two weeks’ notice, took responsibility for his actions and apologized to his accusers in a televised appearance, Cuomo called the AG’s report that forced him to resign “false.”
Here’s the full transcript of Cuomo’s resignation speech.
Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s top aide, will keep working for the governor until he formally leaves office in two weeks – even though she announced her own resignation over the weekend.
Behind the scenes, the governor vacillated between defiant and defeated, eventually accepting that his formidable political army had fallen away.
President Joe Biden said Cuomo did a “hell of a job” while in office and that’s why “it’s so sad” he’s now resigning.
Hochul will become the state’s first female governor, inheriting a political landscape that Cuomo dominated for more than a decade. She will assume office as New York is fighting a resurgent coronavirus pandemic and the fallout over Cuomo’s departure.
“As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York State’s 57th governor,” Hochul said.
Hochul reportedly hasn’t spoken with the governor since February. Her last public appearance with Cuomo was at a Covid briefing in Buffalo at the end of January.
It is unclear if the state Assembly will move forward with the impeaching process now that Cuomo has announced his resignation.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle believe the impeachment investigation should continue.
If he’s not impeached, Cuomo could try to make a comeback in 2022; he’s sitting on $18 million in campaign cash, though he has big legal bills to pay.
Errol Louis: “(D)on’t count Cuomo out just yet. At least one political advisor to the gov has suggested that he could quit, wait a short time and then declare himself a candidate for the job next year. Stranger things have happened.”
With Cuomo’s resignation, the 2022 race for governor is essentially wide open.
State Sen. Elijah Reichlin-Melnick introduced a bill that would freeze the campaign funds of any impeached elected official, who would then lose those dollars permanently if convicted.
Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to make public accusations against Cuomo, thanked the attorney general and investigators, and said that she was “in awe of the strength of the other women who risked everything to come forward.”
Cuomo’s scandals – over sexual harassment, a cover-up of nursing home deaths and his pandemic book deal – have led to an exodus of top aides, meaning Hochul’s first days may be spent crafting help-wanted postings.
Cuomo’s resignation led to an outcry among Port Authority staffers who want the agency’s top officials to halt his controversial proposal to build an AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport.
Hochul has the power to appoint her own successor as lieutenant governor.
Utica GOP Sen. Joe Griffo would like to see a formal process established for Hochul to pick a new LG.
Hochul has an opportunity to mend strained relationships with state lawmakers and leaders in the city, particularly the next mayor, after Cuomo and the current mayor, Bill de Blasio, publicly fought over transit.
Over a decadeslong career in Democratic politics that stretches back to her high school days in Hamburg, Hochul has used charm, not fear, to tackle one daunting challenge after another.
Here’s a breakdown of everything Hochul will need to address after she takes office on Aug. 24 and becomes the first female governor of New York.
Cuomo’s resignation put an end to the demands that he leave office in disgrace, but he still faces multiple criminal investigations and a potential impeachment that could bar him from running for office again.
Cuomo’s decision to resign would not impact the criminal investigation into executive assistant Brittany Commisso’s allegation Cuomo groped her at the Executive Mansion last year, Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said.
Cuomo was joined by his daughter, Michaela, and DeRosa after his resignation announcement.
Some want the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge to resume its old name – the Tappan Zee – now that Cuomo is resigning.
Democratic NYC mayoral nominee Eric Adams says Cuomo’s decision to resign was “necessary for New York State to move forward and continue the critical work of our recovery.”
Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy, who served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Fox News that there is currently no provision of New York law that would bar the governor from issuing a self-pardon.
In 2014, following his shutdown of a probe intended to investigate corruption in New York politics, Cuomo called the White House “ranting and raving” about then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara.
“If he, in fact, called a U.S. Attorney’s bosses and implied, ‘Stop this guy from looking into me,’ that could easily amount to an impeachable offense,” said Jessica Levinson, director of Loyola Law School’s Public Service Institute.
Cuomo’s pandemic memoir “American Crisis” has become a financial and ethical headache for Penguin Random House, dragging the company into the scandals that prompted the governor’s resignation announcement.
Now that Cuomo has resigned following a sexual-harassment scandal, what’s next for the TV brother who helped him respond to it? Some are calling for him to go, too.
Chris Cuomo is off this week in what he said was a planned vacation for his birthday. He reportedly advised his brother to step down.
Actor Alec Baldwin called Cuomo’s resignation a “tragic” moment for New York, and blamed it on “cancel culture.”
As the governor’s approval ratings soared, superfans scooped up merchandise proclaiming their devotion. Now, all of that ephemera is being reconsidered.
In non-Cuomo news…
The U.S. Senate passed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, a huge step for Democrats as they try to push President Joe Biden’s sweeping economic agenda through Congress.
The vote, 69 to 30, was uncommonly bipartisan. The yes votes included Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and 18 others from his party who shrugged off increasingly shrill efforts by former President Donald Trump to derail it.
The measure fulfills a call from Biden for the two major parties to work together to deliver one of his top priorities, but it faces an uncertain fate in the House as progressive Democrats press for even greater spending.
“The death of this legislation was mildly premature,” Biden said during a speech at the White House yesterday afternoon. “After years and years of ‘Infrastructure Week,’ we are on the cusp of an infrastructure decade that I truly believe will transform America.”
There is a far harder task ahead for Biden’s agenda: keeping Democrats in lock step.
Senate Democrats tried to defuse political grenades — largely symbolic — that Republicans are lobbing during an hours-long budget fight.
Most Republican senators have signed on to a pledge to force Democrats to raise the debt ceiling through procedures that don’t rely on GOP votes, escalating the political tug of war over who is responsible for keeping the U.S. from defaulting.
New York can expect a flood of money to upgrade and repair the city’s mass transit networks in the Senate’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Half of the states have reported at least 500,000 COVID-19 cases, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows, and 11 have reached the 1 million mark as the pandemic reasserts its grip on the U.S.
Breakthrough infections seemed to be vanishingly rare when previous versions of the coronavirus dominated in the United States. But recent outbreaks suggest that the numbers may be higher with the arrival of the Delta variant.
Chief health adviser to the White House Dr. Anthony Fauci said he supports vaccine mandates for all teachers to better protect children from contracting the coronavirus.
Twitter suspended Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, from its service for seven days after she posted that the Food and Drug Administration should not give the coronavirus vaccines full approval and that the vaccines were “failing.”
Local leaders in open rebellion against Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates won a pair of court victories on that cleared the way for them to at least temporarily require the face coverings they say are needed to combat the Delta variant.
Abbott asked hospitals to delay elective medical procedures, as rising Covid-19 cases bring hospitals in many parts of the nation’s second-largest state to capacity.
Oregon is preparing to restore a statewide mandate, ordering both vaccinated and unvaccinated people to use face coverings when gathering indoors, just the third state to do so.
COVID-19 cases have filled so many Florida hospital beds that ambulance services and fire departments are straining to respond to emergencies.
The federal government has sent hundreds of ventilators and other equipment this week to help Florida respond to a record number of Covid hospitalizations.
Employees of D.C.’s government will be required to prove they are vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing, the mayor announced.
France and Italy are requiring diners to prove their negative Covid-19 status before they eat in restaurants.
The number of available jobs since May has outnumbered Americans looking for work. One factor is a mismatch between where people want to work and which industries are hiring.
Three more Capital Region residents have died due to complications from COVID-19, county data show.
Albany County is once again urging people to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status after it found nearly half of all coronavirus infections in the county last week had occurred among individuals who had received the coronavirus vaccine.
William B. Picotte, a member of one of the Capital Region’s leading real estate families died suddenly on Aug. 6. He was 71.
In this summer of shortages, it appears that there may also be a shortage, at least in some quarters, of plastic drinking cups.
State lawmakers and union officials demanded that the MTA resume cash transactions at subway token booths, saying the no-cash policy started during the pandemic discriminates against low-income New Yorkers.
Disgraced former Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota landed five years in prison for obstructing a federal investigation into a cover-up involving sex toys, assault and a top local police chief.
Biden nominated Damian Williams to be the new US attorney for Manhattan, one of the most high-profile federal prosecutor positions in the nation. Williams, 40, would be the first black man to hold the post, if confirmed.
Biden announced his nomination of Carla B. Freedman, a federal prosecutor from Syracuse, to be his U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, a region that covers the Capital Region.
Tech workers at The New York Times are planning a walkout today in protest of what they see as the news company’s attempts to hinder their unionization efforts.
Four Brown University students, past and present, allege the Ivy League school systematically fails to protect women from sexual assault.
The U.S. Postal Service plans to charge more for packages shipped during the holidays, including those sent by individuals, to offset the rising cost of deliveries at the busiest time of the year.
