The Times Union became the second New York paper to call for embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign over his coverup of the state’s nursing home deaths and growing sexual harassment scandal.
In an op-ed titled, “Resign, Mr. Cuomo,” the Times Union Editorial Board laid into the embattled governor, saying squandered the public’s trust:
First Gov. Andrew Cuomo hid the truth about deaths of nursing home residents from the public. Then his administration lied about why. Then, pretending to come clean, it lied about why it lied.
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.
The paper pointed it that it had endorsed Cuomo three times, but his actions have caused them to reconsider their position:
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 call comes at a time when Cuomo is facing sexual harassment allegations from five separate accusers while questions surrounding his alleged cover up of nursing home data continues to intensify.
The governor has also lost the trust of the state’s lawmakers, with both chambers of New York’s Congress voting last week to strip Cuomo of the emergency powers he was granted last year to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Times Union call for Cuomo to resign follows the Democrat and Chronicle‘s Editorial Board, which was the first newspaper to demand the governor step down.
“We say this with no small amount of sadness,” the Democrat and Chronicle Editorial Board said. “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.”
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