20 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 26, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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.
Th e 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.
Th e 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 took 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 percent 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.
Th e 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 seven-year 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.
Th en 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 percent,
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.
Th e 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.
Th at 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.
Photo by Mike Segar/REUTERS
Governor Andrew Cuomo
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