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How good are voters’ memories? The outcome of the New York City mayoral election may hinge on that question.
Disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo got a boost Monday when a key New York Democrat, Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, called on Cuomo to join the race.
“The city is in crisis,” Torres said, adding that he isn’t interested in “relitigating” the circumstances that forced the fallen governor to resign in 2021 — even though Torres himself was among those who demanded that Cuomo step down.
At that time, Cuomo’s entire party had abandoned him as he faced an impeachment inquiry — something that had occurred only once before in the state’s 250-year history.
Less than four years later, most New Yorkers only remember the salacious accusations of sexual harassment that helped bring Cuomo down.
But he was accused of far worse: a string of self-serving decisions, coverups and outright lies that cost some New Yorkers their lives and put others at risk, all aimed at boosting his image and lining his pocket.
Yet last week, the Staten Island Democratic Party preemptively endorsed the ex-governor’s potential mayoral bid.
Cuomo “is the only proven leader with the track record of results and resolve,” said local chairman Laura LoBianco Sword.
Really? New York’s Democratic Party can offer moderate-voting Staten Islanders no one better than a defrocked governor still under an ethical cloud?
That’s a thin bench.
Torres may not want to relitigate, but Cuomo’s still in hot water over the conduct that led to his resignation.
A state attorney grievance panel continues to consider a complaint asking that Cuomo be disbarred or suspended from practicing law, Gothamist reported Wednesday.
And just last week, New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that the state’s ethics commission is constitutional — and can proceed with its investigation of the $5.1 million book deal Cuomo made to cash in on COVID-19. He may be forced to relinquish the money.
Cuomo is accused of personally profiting from disaster by having his staff write a book touting his pandemic leadership skills while 1,000 New Yorkers a day were dying from the disease.
The book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” soared onto the New York Times bestseller list — until an avalanche of scandals in the spring of 2021 tarnished Cuomo and killed the book’s appeal.
By then the state Assembly had initiated an impeachment inquiry.
Cuomo’s misuse of state resources to cash in on the book contract was sufficient grounds for impeachment. But the inquiry, conducted by the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, uncovered additional serious charges.
Investigators concluded that Cuomo had mandated the return of COVID-infected hospital patients to nursing homes while they still tested positive, and then fudged the soaring death toll that resulted.
Their report also confirmed “overwhelming evidence” of sexual harassment.
And it laid out evidence that the governor’s office had concealed from the public allegations about possible defects in bolts used to construct the Mario M. Cuomo bridge — though Davis Polk halted that investigation when the governor resigned, leaving it incomplete.
Bad enough that Cuomo had to rename the iconic Tappan Zee after his own father, and schemed (unsuccessfullly) to get the new bridge pictured on state license plates.
Ego will drive some people to dangerous extremes.
On Aug. 3, 2021 state Attorney General Letitia James issued her findings supporting the sexual harassment charges, and Cuomo resigned shortly after.
Fast forward to this year’s mayoral race. New York City voters, desperate to halt the crime and chaos destroying their quality of life, are seeking an alternative to the gaggle of far-left candidates vying for the job.
Torres pointed to Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Jewish-bashing Democratic Socialists of America, who is also seeking the mayoralty.
“We’re confronting a level of extremism unprecedented in the history of New York,” Torres rightly said.
The Asian Wave Alliance, tired of leftist extremism, also encouraged Cuomo to run, calling him “the most common-sense candidate.”
But New Yorkers should be incredulous that the man deemed totally unfit for the governor’s office in 2021 is billed as their best choice for City Hall now.
In September, Rep. Elise Stefanik grilled Cuomo during a congressional hearing over the “multi-million” advance on his self-glorifying book.
She asked him to stand up and apologize to the families in the room whose loved ones died from COVID-19 in New York’s nursing homes. Cuomo refused.
“There’s a reason you are the former governor of New York,” she seethed. “You will never hold elected office again.”
That depends on how much New York City voters choose to remember.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of the Committee to Save Our City.