Speaker Heastie Takes First Step to Determine whether Assembly Should Move to Impeach Gov. Cuomo

By Yehudit Garmaise

   After a sixth, even more serious, allegation of harassment came out today against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, NY State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) took the first step in drafting articles of impeachment of the governor, whom 55 legislators have now called on to resign, which the governor has said he will never do.

   Today, the Assembly asked its Judiciary Committee to open an investigation into the governor, whose latest allegations of harassment are so serious that they are being handled by the Albany Police Department.

   Last night, Cuomo’s legal adviser, Beth Garvey, said that she had called the police to report the allegations against the governor after she was told that the aide who was making the complaint did not want to press charges.

   “As a matter of state policy, when allegations of [this nature] are made, the agency informs the complainant that they should contact their local police department,” Ms. Garvey said in a statement. “If they decline, the agency has an obligation to reach out themselves and inform the department of the allegation.”

    The New York Post reported that in a private meeting of “select” Assembly Democrats, Heastie strongly recommended launching the Judiciary investigation into the governor. Later, in a meeting with his entire party, multiple sources familiar with the matter said that Heastie repeated his recommendation.

   Heastie said the Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D), should examine both the accusations that Cuomo harassed several female aides, as well as his administration’s misreporting and cover-up of the total number of nursing home deaths from COVID-19, in order to make a recommendation to the Assembly for or against impeachment, a source said.

      Although Heastie’s recommendation was debated, a source who serves in the Democratic Assembly said that the chamber’s members were, “overwhelmingly in favor of Carl’s proposal for a Judiciary Committee investigation of Cuomo.”

  If the Judiciary Committee recommends impeaching the three-term governor, the Assembly, which is composed of 106 Democrats, 43 Republicans and one independent, would only need to provide a simple majority vote of the Assembly, 

    If the Assembly were to impeach Gov. Cuomo were impeached, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul would automatically become acting governor as the governor awaits a trial before the state Senate and the seven members of the Court of Appeals.

(Photo: Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo)