Governor Andrew Cuomo reversed course earlier today, announcing that he will resign as governor, effective August 24. Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul will at that point become New York's first female governor.
Cuomo's sudden reversal, making the decision to resign, recalls the late President Richard Nixon, who stepped down 47 years ago this month after claiming that he would not in the face of the Watergate scandal. It is also the 2nd time in 13 years that a sitting governor resigned while in office. Eliot Spitzer had been engaged in extra-marital affairs that led to his stepping down as governor in 2008, with David Paterson, legally blind, becoming not only New York's first African American governor, but also the first disabled governor since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Cuomo addresses the press:
Video obtained from the website of the Albany Times-Union.
What might've been the tipping point was former executive assistant Brittany Commisso, whose husband ran an unsuccessful campaign for Mayor of Albany a few years ago, giving an interview to CBS & the Times-Union over the weekend.
Hochul, a former aide to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, makes her own history as the first female governor in NY history. Just who will be her lieutenant will be an interesting choice.
But let's look at it from this perspective. Cuomo, like Nixon, decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Rather than further tarnish the legacy of his late father, Mario, who served three terms as governor himself in the 80's, Andrew decided he wasn't going to be like a certain other pervert now hiding out in New Jersey. Resigning may spare him from possible impeachment, although radio reports this morning suggested that impeachment might still be a possibility, albeit a remote one.
Next stop for Governor Casanova? A church confessional.
He got what he deserved.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's over yet.
ReplyDelete