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Bill Would Allow Impeachment Of Former State Officials

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Republicans are pushing legislation in the next legislative session that would allow the state Legislature to impeach and convict a former state official.

The process won’t be easy, however.

Doing so means the GOP must amend the state Constitution, which requires legislation to pass both houses of the legislature in back-to-back sessions and then be approved by state voters.

The bill is sponsored by Assemblyman Matthew Simpson, R-Glens Falls, and Sen. Dan Stec, R-Glens Falls. Stec introduced the Senate version of the legislation in August, but it wasn’t referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee until November after an opinion was given by the state Attorney General’s Office. Simpson then introduced the bill in the Assembly in late November.

State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, is one of several Republicans to sign on as a co-sponsor in the Senate.

“On top of the disturbing revelations about the former governor’s sexual harassment, the report details the then-governor’s schemes to willfully and purposefully mislead the public on the true number of nursing home deaths. The report also details the governor’s illegal use of state resources and employees to complete his $5.2 million book deal,” Simpson said. “I believe the governor needs to be impeached even though he has resigned. The evidence in this report is compelling and overwhelming. This is why I am sponsoring Sen. Dan Stec’s bill (S.7336) in the Assembly that will create a constitutional amendment allowing former officials to be impeached for their offenses from their time in office. We need to continue holding Andrew Cuomo accountable, barring him from future public service is an important safeguard for our state and constitution.”

A nearly five-month, non-criminal investigation, overseen by New York’s attorney general and led by two outside lawyers, concluded that 11 women from within and outside state government were telling the truth when they said Cuomo had touched them inappropriately, commented on their appearance or made suggestive comments about their sex lives.

The former governor has also found himself being told by the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics to give up millions of dollars a publisher paid him to write a book about his response to the coronavirus pandemic. The order came a month after the commission voted to rescind the ethics approval it had given Cuomo as he entered into the $5.1 million book deal.

“American Crisis” was published in October 2020, months before Cuomo resigned amid allegations he sexually harassed at least 11 women. It was published by Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House.

The Assembly report includes a section detailing attorneys’ reasoning why state law doesn’t allow Cuomo to be impeached after his resignation. The debate over impeachment has not been a party line issue.

“Substantial debate has swirled recently about the legislature’s ability to conduct an impeachment proceeding against a former state official,” Stec wrote in his legislative justification. “Upon conviction, the impeached may be barred from holding future elected office, making clarity surrounding this issue a matter of public interest. It is indisputable that the prohibition of certain former state officers from holding future office is in service of the public good.This is especially true for those credibly accused of sweeping abuses of power and corruption. As such, it is only rational and just to amend the New York Constitution and codify the Assembly’s right to impeach a former office holder and the Senate’s right to, should the evidence warrant it, convict him or her of the charges.”

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