6 AUGUST 26, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
NYC’s #1 Source for Political & Election News
Eleven years of Governor Andrew Cuomo,
from a promising start to an abrupt fi nish
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@ROBBPOZ
It began in the shadow of another
governor’s scandal, and ended before
its scheduled conclusion mired
in controversy.
The tenure of Andrew Cuomo as the
56th governor of New York state, which
ended at 11:59 p.m. Monday night,
Aug. 23, featured 11 years of seismic
political changes, major construction
projects and a devastating pandemic
that brought about the governor’s best
(and sometimes worst) qualities.
Cuomo had plans to do something
that his father, Mario, couldn’t do —
win election to the governor’s mansion
four times. In 1994, the elder Cuomo’s
fourth-term bid was derailed by Republican
George Pataki in the year of
the “Republican Revolution.”
But in 2021, the younger incumbent
Cuomo’s stewardship of the state came
to an ignominious end, rocked by a
massive sexual harassment scandal
in which 11 women came forward to
accuse the governor of groping and/
or making inappropriate statements
toward them.
The scandal dogged Andrew Cuomo
for months, as the governor claimed
he did nothing wrong, and that his actions
were simply misunderstood. He
tried to shake it off with apologies and
promises of reform, but the damning
independent investigation from state
Attorney General Letitia James issued
on Aug. 3 made Cuomo’s continued
leadership, in the eyes of Democratic
and Republican lawmakers statewide,
untenable.
On Aug. 10, even as his attorneys
continued a strident defense, Cuomo
gave New York state residents his two
weeks’ notice. Lieutenant Governor
Kathy Hochul became New York’s 57th
(and fi rst female) governor at midnight
Tuesday, Aug. 24, and will at the very
least complete what’s left of Cuomo’s
third and fi nal term in offi ce.
She’ll take the same oath of offi ce
that Andrew Cuomo did when he
became New York governor on Jan. 1,
2011. Aft er serving one term as New
York’s attorney general, Cuomo was
swept to power in November 2010 with
62.2% of the vote, promising to reform
government and change the way New
York did business.
HIS TENURE
Cuomo took offi ce nearly three years
removed from the sudden resignation
of then-Governor Eliot Spitzer in
March 2008. Spitzer, who was elected
governor in 2006 aft er serving two
terms as attorney general, had been
caught in a prostitution scandal.
Within months, Cuomo helped
steer the legislature toward approval
of the Marriage Equality Act, fi nally
legalizing same-sex marriage in New
York state aft er years of public battle
in Albany. It turned out to be one of
the biggest progressive victories of
the Cuomo era in New York.
The governor secured numerous
legislative victories in the years that
followed — from a property tax cap
to gun control measures; from a hydraulic
fracturing ban to marijuana
decriminalization and legislation.
He also helped get numerous public
infrastructure projects completed,
including a new Kosciuszko Bridge on
the Brooklyn/Queens border, the fi rst
phase of the Second Avenue Subway,
new terminals at LaGuardia Airport;
and a brand-new Hudson River crossing
replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge
that was renamed in his father Mario’s
honor.
Aft er Superstorm Sandy submerged
coastal areas of the city in October
2012, Cuomo led the eff ort to rebuild
the damaged Queens-Midtown and
Hugh Carey (Brooklyn Battery) Tunnels,
along with funding MTA repairs
to its tubes.
Cuomo governed as a moderate,
and wasn’t afraid to work with conservatives
lawmakers in Albany
— though that oft en raised the ire or
progressives who felt increasingly
ignored.
When he ran for re-election, Cuomo
faced challenges from progressives
Zephyr Teachout in 2014 and actor
Cynthia Nixon in 2018. Each time, the
upstart candidacies drew more than
a third of the vote from Democrats
across New York, but neither of the
progressives — nor Cuomo’s Republican
challengers in the general elections
— could topple him.
Still, the progressive angst over
Cuomo remained, embodied, in many
respects, by the governor’s feud with
Mayor Bill de Blasio. Like a bad sevenyear
marriage, the governor of New
York state and the mayor of its largest
tax base traded barbs and snipes over
all kinds of issues — in good times and
bad, in sickness and in health.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit
New York in the spring of 2020, with
the fi rst offi cial case diagnosed on
March 1. Cuomo won statewide and
national praise for his handling of
the health crisis that crippled the state.
With daily televised press briefi ngs
on the pandemic, Cuomo was seen as
a stalwart of facts and science in the
face of then-President Donald Trump’s
dithering and denial.
HIS UNRAVELING
Cuomo’s approval rating surged to
as high as 77%, and it seemed that winning
a fourth term was a fait accompli.
But it all unraveled quickly beginning
in the winter of 2021, when another investigation
by Attorney General James
found that the Cuomo administration
and the Department of Health failed
to be forthright on COVID-19 deaths in
nursing homes.
The situation was further aggravated
when Secretary to the Governor
Melissa DeRosa revealed that the administration
had withheld that information
from state lawmakers due to an
ongoing federal investigation. Public
reports of Cuomo’s multimillion-dollar
book deal for his autobiography on the
COVID-19 crisis further sparked the
ire of New Yorkers.
Sexual harassment allegations
against Cuomo also surfaced, beginning
with former aide Lindsey
Boylan’s public disclosure on Twitter.
As other women came forward
to accuse the governor, and calls for
his resignation mounted, he directed
James to open an investigation into the
alleged actions.
That led to the Aug. 3 report that outlined
accusations made by 11 women
— and served to be the beginning of the
Cuomo era in New York.
Governor Andrew Cuomo Photo by Mike Segar/REUTERS
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