The State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee is slated to meet Monday morning to consider drafting articles of impeachment against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. It’s the kick-off of a process that’s expected to drag on well into the fall, if Cuomo remains steadfast in his determination to cling to power.
Outside attorneys hired in March by the Assembly to investigate an array of allegations against Cuomo had a pre-scheduled meeting scheduled for Monday to brief Judiciary Committee members, even before the release of the Attorney General’s bombshell sexual harassment report last Tuesday, which corroborated the accounts of 11 women who were sexually harrassed by Cuomo.
While there’s now widespread support in the Assembly to move towards impeachment, the nitty gritty details still have to be hashed out, and it’s unclear what if any concrete steps the committee will take right away.
“I don’t expect anything to happen on Monday because we’ve already indicated that we’re giving him an opportunity to submit additional documents,” said Assemblymember David Weprin, a Judiciary Committee member, indicating the Friday, deadline the committee gave Cuomo to present his side of the story.
As has been the case in several previous meetings of the Judiciary Committee where the Assembly’s probe was discussed, there’s a chance members vote to go immediately into an executive session to be briefed by the investigators behind closed doors, with few, if any, comments made to the public.
READ MORE: How Does Impeachment Work in New York
Several lawmakers expected the drafting of impeachment articles to take several weeks, once the Assembly’s own investigation that looks beyond sexual harassment has concluded. They said they expected the full Assembly would be prepared to vote on the articles by late August or early September, thus sending the matter to the State Senate for a trial.
Over the weekend, Cuomo showed no signs of loosening his grip on power. At a press conference Friday, his personal attorney Rita Glavin laid out what’s likely to make up part of his defense against impeachment; she attempted to poke holes in the report and questioned the women’s motives, as well as the motives of the investigation itself.
Meanwhile over the weekend, the woman with the most severe allegation against the scandal-scarred governor spoke publicly about what happened to her for the first time. In an interview with CBS and the Times Union, Brittany Commisso, who was referred to as "Executive Assistant #1" in the attorney general’s report, told investigators she was summoned to the executive mansion, where Cuomo groped her under her blouse, the culmination of months of inappropriate gestures and comments towards her. The Albany Police are investigating that incident after she filed a formal criminal complaint last week.
Cuomo and his attorneys have denied her account. Cuomo has until Friday, August 13th at 5 p.m. to present any evidence to the Judiciary Committee.
Just one governor in the state’s history was impeached, William Sulzer, more than a century ago. Another hurdle for lawmakers is that New York’s constitution, according to legal experts, doesn’t actually spell out what an impeachable offense is. There’s just a brief reference to what constitutes an impeachable offense describing it as, “willful and corrupt misconduct in office.”
“I'd like to see the governor leave, but I have to make a determination in my own head whether the charges are impeachable and that's something we have to discuss among ourselves,” Assemblymember Thomas Abinanti, another member of the committee said. “[Does the evidence] confirm what the attorney general has said with respect to the sexual harassment? And can we prove it?”
