Like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, he fights for political survival

New York Attorney General Letitia James is overseeing an investigation into allegations of harassment by current and former aides to the governor and is expected to issue a report on her findings later this year. Democrats, who control the state assembly, are investigating allegations of harassment and the delayed establishment of the publication of a total of Covid-19 deaths in residences.

Brooklyn-based federal prosecutors have requested data on residential deaths and are interested in other state-related facility policies, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Mr Cuomo and his lawyers have said they are cooperating with all investigations. The governor has said he never touched anyone inappropriately and has apologized if his behavior bothered anyone. During a press call Wednesday, he said he would not answer questions while investigations were pending.

“I have a job to do,” Cuomo said.

Rich Azzopardi, the governor’s senior adviser, said Friday that the administration is focusing on expanding New York’s vaccination program and enacting a state budget.

At an event Wednesday, the governor appeared at a Baptist church in Manhattan’s historic Black Harlem neighborhood to receive a coronavirus vaccine. He was praised by Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and retired, U.S. Democratic Representative Charlie Rangel.

Rangel said Mr Cuomo’s criticism was mounting, but that “due process and hearing are basically what we believe in this country.”

This backdrop was intentional, political agents said. A poll released last week by the Siena College Research Institute found that 50% of New York’s 804 voters surveyed did not believe the governor should resign immediately. Among black voters, 69% said the governor should not resign.

“Politically, he is injured but not dead,” poll spokesman Steven Greenberg said. Significantly, Greenberg noted, the percentage of Democrats who said they were willing to re-elect Mr. Cuomo in 2022 had dropped to 46 percent in March, from 65 percent in February.

Black voters typically account for just under a quarter of the electorate in Democratic primaries across the state, and Mr. Cuomo led them by a wide margin during their respective 2014 and 2018 primary victories over Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon, who are white.

In 2002, days before the Democratic primary to govern, Mr. Cuomo left the race after polls showed he had little chance of defeating then-intervenor H. Carl McCall, who is black.

On Thursday, Mr. Cuomo was flanked by New York Yankees and Mets officials when he announced that fans could attend the teams ’home games when the season begins next month. The event closed to the press, but the news it generated was printed on the cover of the New York Daily News and Newsday.

Bradley Tusk, founder of political consulting firm Tusk Strategies, said the baseball announcement was deliberate.

“The governor must win as long as he can, both to curb the momentum of attacks against him and to show the public that he is doing other things,” he said. “The more normalcy returns, the more it is not surrounded by scandal.”

Peter Kauffmann, a communications consultant who advised Mr. Cuomo’s first two government campaigns, said the strategy was modeled after President Bill Clinton’s response to the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the 1990s. Cuomo was housing secretary in Mr. Cuomo’s office. Clinton and Kauffmann worked in the Democratic National Committee press office during the dismissal of Mr. Clinton.

“The problem with his current crisis strategy is that it’s 2021, not 1998, and Andrew Cuomo isn’t Bill Clinton,” Kauffmann said, referring to the change in cultural norms and the relative charisma of men.

Tusk said Ms. James’ investigation posed a significant risk to Mr. Cuomo and that his remaining support among lawmakers could evaporate if the allegations were confirmed.

Charlie King, who ran for lieutenant governor alongside Mr. Cuomo in 2002 and remains an informal adviser to the governor, agreed that the findings of the investigation would be important.

“You have to look at all of the facts when they come out and see what people’s reactions are,” King said.

THE QUESTION: Who was with Mr. Cuomo when he said he was ending his government candidacy in 2002?

“Do you know the answer?” Email me!

THE LAST ANSWER: Mary Anne Krupsak became the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor after she was elected in 1974, running with Hugh Carey, who was elected governor.

Write to Jimmy Vielkind to [email protected]