New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, who is being asked to resign because of sex scandal should have read from history that without women, the human race would have become extinct. Also, he should have heard the flip side of this that some women have contributed to the fall of great men in history.

There was Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn, a French economist, politician (he was a top kick in the French Socialist Party), former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He fell because he was involved in several financial and sexual scandals. Former President Bill Clinton, because of the same peccadillo, escaped impeachment narrowly.  There was Samson in the Bible. So also was King David who, after taking Uriah’s wife, ordered that he be put in the hottest part of a battle to die. God punished him. Helen of Troy, in Greek legend, was the indirect cause of the Trojan War.

Cuomo who fought Covid-19 to a standstill in New York succumbed to the appeal of women so much that President Joe Biden on Tuesday called for his resignation. A damning new report from the state attorney general’s office, according to USA Today, alleged Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women including state employees in violation of state and federal laws.

“I think he should resign,” Biden was quoted, sticking by his position from March when he said, “the Democratic governor should resign if the AG investigation confirmed the sexual harassment claims.”

The report has it further:

“Biden did not say when asked whether the New York state legislature should impeach Cuomo if he refused to step down. The president said he was sure some of Cuomo’s embraces of women were “totally innocent” as the governor has claimed.

“But apparently, the attorney general decided there were things that weren’t,” Biden said.

The president’s statement is the most devastating yet politically for Cuomo, who for months has resisted calls that he resign from prominent New York Democrats as he seeks to finish his third term. Cuomo is up for reelection in 2022.

The bombshell report released by New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office provided corroborated accounts of harassment by Como that included unwanted groping, kissing, hugging and inappropriate comments, including claims from one executive assistant who says Cuomo reached under her blouse and grabbed her breast.

Responding to the report in a 14-minute address, Cuomo remained defiant, making clear he plans to stay in office and denying the claims. The governor, who was not charged with any crimes, vowed to bring in a sexual harassment expert to train his staff.

‘The facts are much different than what has been portrayed,” Cuomo said. ‘I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances. I am 63 years old. I have lived my entire adult life in public view. That is just not who I am. And that’s not at all who I have ever been.’

At one point, Cuomo highlighted a photo montage that showed him kissing, hugging and embracing famous politicians and co-workers to push back at claims he inappropriately kissed a worker on her forehead.

“I do it with everyone,” Cuomo said. “I do banter with people. I do tell jokes – some better than others”

Even before the AG investigation got underway, the majority of New York’s congressional delegation, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called for Cuomo to resign in March after the allegations first surfaced publicly. Calls for him to resign renewed after the release of the report.

“No elected official is above the law,” the senators said Tuesday. “The people of New York deserve better leadership in the governor’s office. We continue to believe that the governor should resign.”

“We commend the brave women who came forward and spoke truth to power,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “The time has come for Governor Andrew Cuomo to do the right thing for the people of New York State and resign.”