The Times Union is the second Editorial Board that has called on New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to resign after news broke of the nursing home deaths coverup, and multiple women accused the governor of sexual harassment.
The newspaper’s editorial board wrote an op-ed titled, “Resign, Mr. Cuomo”:
Enough. Mr. Cuomo has squandered the public’s trust at a time when it’s needed more than ever. Amid an enduring pandemic, it is vital that people can believe what their governor and their government are telling them, and that the rules they’re asked to follow and the sacrifices they’re asked to make are truly in the interest of public health. It is time for Mr. Cuomo to resign, and for those who helped him deceive the public to go, too.
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We do not say this lightly. We endorsed Mr. Cuomo for governor three times. He has brought to fruition a host of important progressive goals. But between his manipulation of state ethics bodies, multiple allegations of sexual harassment and these latest revelations on nursing home deaths, he has lost the credibility he needs to lead this state, especially in the midst of a public health crisis.
The Board wrote, “New York still matters,” and “with its wealth, its legacy and its diversity come a special responsibility to stand as a moral voice in America.” The Board thinks “Mr. Cuomo can no longer be that voice.”
On Thursday, the New York Times detailed the coverup, citing new documents and interviews with six people involved in the concealment of deaths. Cuomo’s aides rewrote a report from state health officials to hide 9,250 coronavirus deaths in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
On Monday, Breitbart News reported a third woman came forward on Cuomo. Anna Ruch told the Times that, having never met Cuomo before, she removed Cuomo’s hand from her back at a wedding reception, and the governor then placed his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her.
“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” Ruch said. “I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment.”
The Democrat and Chronicle‘s Editorial Board was the first to call on Gov. Cuomo to resign after a trio of women accused him of sexual harassment.
The editorial board wrote:
We say this with no small amount of sadness. It is nothing less than tragic when public figures are felled by misbehavior that harms others and ultimately themselves. The governor faces no other choice. Three women say that he sexually harassed them, and one has a photo that helps verify her story. If he pursues a protracted battle to cling to his job — even as an investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James gets under way — it won’t end well.
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The power imbalance between the governor and, well, almost anybody is dramatic. This is why the leader of the Empire State must be held to the highest possible standard of behavior and decorum. New York governors are not above the rules, or above the law, or above the expectations of morality and basic decency. Our state needs a new leader who, undistracted by scandal, can protect New Yorkers’ lives during the pandemic, right the state’s economic ship and do much more to advance protections for women on the job and in society at large.
As previously reported by Breitbart News, Cuomo said he would not resign from his post and asked New Yorkers to wait for the facts to be made public before judging the situation.