March 12, 2021

The Walls Are Closing in on Cuomo, Fast

NY Democrats, including Jerry Nadler and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are now calling for resignation.

Ron Adar/ZUMA

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In a remarkable display of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s quickly vanishing support among Democrats amid mounting allegations of his sexual harassment of women and his cover-up of nursing home deaths from the coronavirus, ten House Democrats on Friday issued a series of statements within minutes of each other calling for his resignation.

The Democrats include House Judiciary chair Rep. Jerry Nadler and House Oversight chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney, as well as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Grace Meng, Jamaal Bowman, Mondaire Jones, Nydia Velázquez, Yvette Clark, and Adriano Espaillat. That brings the total to 11 members of the state’s Democratic delegation to Congress to call for Cuomo to step down after Rep. Kathleen Rice became the first earlier this month. 

“The bravery individuals have shown in coming forward to share their experiences with Governor Cuomo is inspiring, and I stand in support with them,” Nadler’s statement read. “The repeated accusations against the Governor, and the manner in which he has responded to them, have made it impossible for him to continue to govern at this point.”

The statements come one day after state lawmakers opened an impeachment investigation into the mounting scandals engulfing Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, which include new groping charges by an aide that were reported to Albany police. The latest charges appear to be the most serious involving what the Times Union described as Cuomo allegedly “aggressively groping her in a sexually charged manner” inside the state’s executive mansion. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, the state’s two Democratic senators, have yet to join the calls for the resignation, instead backing an investigation into the claims.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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