That Time Governor Cuomo Told Me The NY Attorney General Does Not Work For Him

"In New York we have an independent Attorney General. She doesn't work for me."

Back in 2018, Governor Cuomo called me about my representation in the 3D-printed gun litigation. I wrote about that exchange here. One exchange in particular is especially relevant:

He stated "in New York we have an independent Attorney General." He complained, "[S]he doesn't work for me." (At the time, Barbara Underwood was the acting Attorney General.)

Yes, New York does have an independent Attorney General. Cuomo knows that fact all too well.

Comments

[Bob from Ohio]

James wants to be governor. Cuomo is in her way.

Popcorn time for me but let's not lionize her. She's a politician so when she's not kissing babies, she's stealing their candy.

[Commenter_XY]

Bob from Ohio...One of the rarest pleasures in life can be quiet observation from afar. I feel like this just might be one of those times. I'll gladly hold Ms. James' coat while she administers a beatdown to the governor. 🙂

[Martinned]

If he deserves it, he should get it. Strange concept, I know.

[Bob from Ohio]

"I’ll gladly hold Ms. James’ coat while she administers a beatdown to the governor. "

Sure, I agree but she already punted by not seeking criminal charges.

[Krayt]

I assume she has to get back to prosecuting Trump over tax stuff, being apolitical.

[DaivdBehar]

This episode is a huge rent seeking lawyer scam. He touched people on the butt. He kissed their foreheads. If feminists are equal, why can't they handle that on their own? This is just lawyer bullshit.

Feminism is not even real. No one believes in it. It is a lawyer scheme to plunder the assets of productive people. When females get assets, they get nitpicked, by accused by male punkass bitches, and have their assets plundered.

If the legislature wants to impeach someone, they should impeach the AG for her rent seeking fraudulent scheme.

[CJColucci]

Problem is, the Governor asked the AG to investigate.

[Dr. Ed 2]

And what dirt does he have on her?
I'm guessing he does...

This could well be like the downfall of the Klan in the 1920s when the leader of the Indiana Klan went to prison -- justifiably so for stuff involving the gristly death of a young woman -- and took down half the state with him.

I doubt she's a blushing virgin...

[CJColucci]

If he had it, we'd know by now. Though I know nothing of Tish's sex life, I'd be more disturbed if a woman of her age were a "blushing virgin" than if she were not. And I suspect most voters would agree.

[bernard11]

You're an idiot.

[Dan Schiavetta]

You seem to blame him for that quote -- and for actively asking the AG to do an independent investigation. Are you calling him naive? Or unwise and weak -- as opposed to the smart and strong Trump, who quite successfully employed a strategy of stonewall and resist?

[CJColucci]

Your mistake is to think there is a point.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

She was acting defensively.

[Bored Lawyer]

On a more serious note, what he said reflects a different Constitutional reality. At the federal level, we have a unitary Executive. In NY, at least, the Attorney General is a distinct office Constitutionally. (I believe several other states have the same system as NY.)

Query whether that is a better system.

[LawTalkingGuy]

I think most states have a similar system where the AG is an elected and constitutionaly distinct office. (TN has a weird one where it’s Supreme Court appoints the AG).

I think both systems have their pluses and minuses. On balance I think appointment by the Governor is probably better. But if I was designing a system from scratch, I’d see if I could make some of the norms of AG independence constitutionally mandated, just so they’re not totally a flunky of their appointer.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Maine has the legislature elect the AG in a closed session.

[Krayt]

Ooen sessions mean fighting has to happen elsewhere beforehand.

[Commenter_XY]

The Governor (or POTUS) is ultimately responsible (and accountable to the people via elections) for law enforcement. The AG should remain an appointed office under the governor's (or POTUS') full and complete authority.

[Martinned]

Just because you say so, or is there some logic to that view?

[M L]

"Decision, activity, secrecy, and dispatch will generally characterise the proceedings of one man, in a much more eminent degree, than the proceedings of any greater number; and in proportion as the number is increased, these qualities will be diminished.

This unity may be destroyed in two ways; either by vesting the power in two or more magistrates of equal dignity and authority; or by vesting it ostensibly in one man, subject in whole or in part to the controul and co-operation of others, in the capacity of counsellors to him. Of the first the two consuls of Rome may serve as an example; of the last we shall find examples in the constitutions of several of the states...

The experience of other nations will afford little instruction on this head. As far however as it teaches any thing, it teaches us not to be inamoured of plurality in the executive. We have seen that the Achæans on an experiment of two Præetors, were induced to abolish one.7 The Roman history records many instances of mischiefs to the republic from the dissentions between the consuls, and between the military tribunes, who were at times substituted to the consuls...

Wherever two or more persons are engaged in any common enterprize or pursuit, there is always danger of difference of opinion. If it be a public trust or office in which they are cloathed with equal dignity and authority, there is peculiar danger of personal emulation and even animosity. From either and especially from all these causes, the most bitter dissentions are apt to spring. Whenever these happen, they lessen the respectability, weaken the authority, and distract the plans and operations of those whom they divide. If they should unfortunately assail the supreme executive magistracy of a country, consisting of a plurality of persons, they might impede or frustrate the most important measures of the government, in the most critical emergencies of the state. And what is still worse, they might split the community into the most violent and irreconcilable factions, adhering differently to the different individuals who composed the magistracy...

But one of the weightiest objections to a plurality in the executive, and which lies as much against the last as the first plan, is that it tends to conceal faults, and destroy responsibility... "

[Brett Bellmore]

There's a difference between taking the same power, and dividing it between different people, and taking different sorts of power, and dividing them between different people.

What you're looking at here isn't two people having to cooperate in making decisions, but instead different sorts of decisions being assigned to different people.

[M L]

I thought about that, and it does seem like there an attempted distinction there. But I think the distinction must be pretty shaky. I think it fits the description of "two or more magistrates of equal dignity and authority."

So you have the judicial, the legislative, and then . . . two others? How do you split the executive function in two?

[M L]

I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm just saying, here's a pertinent argument made back then. I find it compelling, but open to others.

[CJColucci]

Of course it can be done. It has been.

[M L]

I should have said, shouldn't be done.

[Kazinski]

They huge drawback to that is AG's often make charging decisions on both the National and state levels, some degree of AG independence can help insure that an AG does not go out of their way to protect a governor, or try to get a governor, for political reasons.

[M L]

See The Federalist No. 70.

[apedad]

Unless he knows the allegations are COMPLETELY false, the gov should resign with the 'don't want to be a distraction, etc.' excuse.

He's not doing himself any favors.

[Commenter_XY]

Nah apedad....Let's see him fight for his honor and integrity throughout the next year. Surely, he is innocent. I want to hear his side of the story; he seems quite eager to tell his side. We should indulge him. Don't you agree? 🙂

How could something so heinous (serial harassment) remain undiscovered by the New York MSM for all of these years? That is another truly puzzling aspect to me.

[jb]

All but two of these cases have been previously reported by the MSM. There was a big push for Cuomo to resign last year for this very reason! Sorry that doesn't fit into your weird anti-media narrative, though.

[CJColucci]

Serial sexual harassment is, almost by definition, sexual harassment that isn't detected early.

[Commenter_XY]

True. 🙂

[Brett Bellmore]

Or isn't acknowledged by anyone who matters, early.

Which usually turns out to be the case; Not that nobody knew, but nobody know mattered cared.

[Brett Bellmore]

"nobody who mattered". God, I hate being dyslexic. Was a spelling bee champ before the chemo...

[Goju]

Cj,
Or actively suppressed, or intentionally ignored until it is no longer possible to turn a blind eye.

[apedad]

Com_XY, I do agree he should fight for his honor and integrity - just not as the gov.

We have enough STUPID spectacles in politics (both sides), and don't need the gov of NY being involved in a dragged out spectacle that is just headline fodder.

[Commenter_XY]

Oh, but what fun that would be. 🙂

You're right, of course = We have enough STUPID spectacles in politics (both sides)

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

a dragged out spectacle that is just headline fodder

{Laughs in Kavanaugh}

[Don Nico]

"How could something so heinous (serial harassment) remain undiscovered by the New York MSM for all of these years?"
C_XY, of course you and I know the answer to that.

[Commenter_XY]

We do, Don Nico.

[wreckinball]

NOTHING will happen to him

[TwelveInchPianist]

We'll see. Justin Fairfax is still Lt Gov of VA.

[Jimmy the Dane]

Cuomo is no angel here, but read the report. More smoke than fire. I'm not defending the guy, just saying there isn't much substance to many of these "incidents".

[jimc5499]

Really? There's more substance there than with Kavanaugh and look at the crap they put him through.

[Jimmy the Dane]

It is a classic Alinsky play. Make the target the controversy. That is what the report is designed to do. They made it long for a reason with only a paragraph of conclusion. Looks authoritative and how many lazy politicians or journalists are going to read the whole thing? Then finish the move by branding the target a sexual harasser and then never talk about why that happened ever again.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Looks like they're going after consensual behavior as well:

"Another senior staff member admitted to sitting on the Governor’s lap during an event for certain members of the Executive Chamber and heads of State agencies, while the Governor noted he “wouldn’t be surprised, at a social event or something,” if “somebody may have sat on [his] lap,” including the senior staff member in question, or if he had held hands with certain women on his staff. A senior staff member also recalled the Governor lying down on a couch with his head on a staff member’s lap. None of these senior
staff reported feeling uncomfortable with this behavior. "

[Jimmy the Dane]

There are a few allegations of touching. If true, those are definitely questionable and I think since there was at least an investigation here they need to be treated as true for purposes of public perception. But those are sprinkled into a lot of what the law (and objective, rational normal people) would be highly suspect of whether or not it constituted harassment.

[TwelveInchPianist]

He told a female Doctor she looked good in her gown...

[CJColucci]

Some of the incidents strike me as defensible, but there's no practical difference between a record of 2-9 or 3 -8 and a record of 0-11.

[Sarcastr0]

Cuomo should be outta there, and those few arguing otherwise are looking pretty bad.

Separately, this is a lot like Kavanaugh, and look at the different reactions. An investigation, a party not circling wagons. Zounds!

[Bob from Ohio]

"this is a lot like Kavanaugh"

No its not. That was a single decades old allegation without collaborating evidence of any sort.

Here, an ongoing pattern with many, many witnesses.

Calling on him to resign is cheap, let's see if anyone does anything.

[Sarcastr0]

Amazing what actually doing an investigation will get you, eh?

[Ridgeway]

This would be just like Kavanaugh if Kavanaugh had been accused by several of his clerks and other court employees of inappropriate behavior in the last 10 years or so. You have to be willfully blind not to see that distinction.

Kavanaugh's accusers all had political axes to grind. Most of Cuomo's accusers volunteered to work with him, so you would assume they were predisposed to view him favorably.

[Brett Bellmore]

How exactly do you investigate an allegation that something happened decades ago at an unspecified time and place, beyond noting that everybody the person making the allegation says was there denies remembering anything of the sort, and that there are no contemporaneous records?

Quite different from the allegations here, which actually were capable of being investigated, not having been carefully crafted to be unfalsifiable.

[Sarcastr0]

Investigations like that happen all the time.

Plus, did you see how they investigates Cuomo? They looked into his background generally, because that kind of behavior often occurs in patterns.

[Brett Bellmore]

"Investigations like that happen all the time."

Yeah, they talk to the people named, and when the people say they don't recall anything like that, they drop it.

Because investigating isn't magical. If you claim something happened 30 years ago, plus or minus 2 years, within a 30 mile radius, and you just happened to have not told anybody, there's nothing to investigate. If you name witnesses, and they all say you're full of it, that's your investigation, and it says, no, it didn't happen.

[Sarcastr0]

We can't know how would have turned out with Kav, on accounta it didn't happen.

[M L]

Sarcastro,

So what you're saying is, instead of concealing and sitting on wholly unsubstantiated allegations in order to spring them on a target at a moment for maximum political leverage, we ought to treat the matter and the parties involved with a little more resect and seriousness?

[Sarcastr0]

That isn't what happened, but you are M L after all.

[M L]

It's exactly what happened, I think you know that.

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Separately, this is a lot like Kavanaugh,"

Kavanaugh was a decades-old allegation for the purpose of derailing a SCOTUS nomination. Bloomberg wasn't nominated for anything.

[Sarcastr0]

Well yeah, begging the question can sure make for some easy distinctions!

[TwelveInchPianist]

What begging the question?

AFAIK nobody disputes that the allegation was for the purpose of derailing the nomination. Do you think it was coincidence that she happened to contact the Senate with her allegation while Kavanaugh's nomination was pending?

You should learn to use that phrase correctly, Sarcastro.

[Sarcastr0]

Don't exclude the middle. There's plenty of investigation that can happen between 'doing nothing' and 'knee-jerk ending the nomination.'

[TwelveInchPianist]

Yeah. And that's what happened at the Kav confirmation. Your point?

[Sarcastr0]

No, they actually did nothing. Did you not see the recent FBI admission?

[TwelveInchPianist]

"Cuomo should be outta there, and those few arguing otherwise are looking pretty bad."

Cuomo denies the charges. He should answer them at an impeachment trial, and if convicted, he should be outta there. That's how it works, Sarcastro.

[Sarcastr0]

We should treat allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, you say?

[TwelveInchPianist]

I'm saying we shouldn't act on allegations of sexual misconduct without due process. How is that so hard to understand.

[Sarcastr0]

If you think what happened with Cuomo was due process, how was a similar process not fair for Kavanaugh?

[TwelveInchPianist]

?? Cuomo hasn't had any due process. That would happen at an impeachment hearing, which you apparently feel is unnecessary.

Kavanaugh's accuser got to testify, and the Senate made its decision. Kavanaugh was confirmed, and the Dem's conduct at the hearings arguably cost them the Senate for two years, until Trump's conduct lost it for the Republicans.

You guys are the ones who think that's unfair, right?

[Leo Marvin]

"Cuomo denies the charges. He should answer them at an impeachment trial, and if convicted, he should be outta there. That’s how it works, Sarcastro."

No, that's not how it works. He's outta there as soon as the NY State Assembly files impeachment charges. Only if and when he's acquitted in the NY State Senate is he restored to office.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Fair enough. But he's not outta there yet.

[Commenter_XY]

Sarcastr0....The Kavenaugh analogy is inapt.

[Don Nico]

S_0,
I find it a lot different to Kavanaugh.
His accuser was caught in 2 demonstrated lies in her testimony.
Cuomo has multiple charges against him and he used his political position as leverage against the women.

[Sarcastr0]

Check you timeline - these charges happened after an investigation was opened.

The GOP to a one insisted an investigation against Kav not occur.

Dems have been and continue to act differently than that.

[Don Nico]

No S_0,
The items of perjury happen in the little girl's voice testimony.
1) Fear of flying despite official passenger records of the air carrier.
2) The double front door, despite official city records of building permits.
Those were clearly falsified lies under oath. The voice was fake theatrics as you'd know if you listened to other recordings of her.

[Sarcastr0]

Little girl?

And neither of those are material to credibility.

The threshold question of 'this should be looked into' was absolutely met.

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

Separately, this is a lot like Kavanaugh

And a banana is a lot like a wooly mammoth.

[Dan Schiavetta]

If he was a Republican, and not only admitted to the gropings but boasted about them, he'd have nothing to worry about.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Cuomo sounds like a jerk and it appears to be time for him to go.

This gives the clingers something to cackle about as they lick their wounds and await replacement.

[Don Nico]

Not every R has gotten off as easily as the Orange Clown

[Dan Schiavetta]

True, but I simply can’t imagine a Republican governor dealing with such allegations to ask his same-party AG to conduct an independent investigation.

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

Not every R has gotten off as easily as the Orange Clown

True

So you realize that your "If he was a Republican" claim was a stupid one. That's a start, I suppose.

[Bored Lawyer]

Since my last attempt at poetry met with only a tepid response, here is my next attempt:

BALLAD OF ANDREW CUOMO*

Let me tell you all a story ‘bout the man Andrew,
His father was the governor, and he wanted to be too.
So he ran for office as soon as he could be,
Was elected and then he made it to Albany.
New York, that is.
State Capital.
Top Office.
Then along came a virus, they named it COVID;
Everyone got in a panic, Andrew surely did.
“The nursing homes must take them all, I do decide”
So grandma and grandpa, they all just died.
Infected, that is.
Deadly virus.
All alone.
Then a bunch of women said we were harassed,
That no good Andrew touched us in the a---,
So the AG said “into this we have to look,”
Then she issued a report, it’s as long as a book.
Damning that is.
“Toxic Workplace”
Retaliation.
Now Andrew truly panicked, he did not know what to do.
“I kiss everyone, man and woman, straight and LBGTQ.”
So his staff looked round and round, they even went to his garage,
And then they decided to release a photo montage.
Him kissing people, that is.
Clinton and Gore.
Al Sharpton!
Then the members of his party, they all piled on.
“You must resign, we want to see you gone.”
Even the old guy in the White House said, “leave ASAP.”
Before they start asking the same thing of me.
Resign that is.
Harrassed women.
Young girls, too.
Now everyone is waiting to see if he’ll go out,
But old Andrew just wants to ride it out.
“The governor of Virginia, he stayed in his place.
Even though they caught him wearing black face."
Yearbook photo, that is.
KKK robes, too.
Still there, you hear!

______________________
* Sung to the tune of the Ballad of Jed Clampett. Theme from the Beverly Hillbillies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7r2rxtkSMo

[M L]

Thank you.

[Commenter_XY]

Bored Lawyer....That was inspired. A much better effort! 🙂

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

*golf clap*

[TwelveInchPianist]

"“The governor of Virginia, he stayed in his place.
Even though they caught him wearing black face.”"

It's worth remembering why he's still there. It's because the guy who would replace him had a rape allegation. And the guy that was third in line had blackface pictures from college.

[Jimmy the Dane]

I was really wondering during the whole VA thing if every state politician there had some kind of photo in blackface which is why the controversy just died down with almost no fanfare.

[Bob from Ohio]

"And the guy that was third in line had blackface pictures from college."

And the guy that was fourth in line was Republican.

[Krychek_2]

Kalak, or, maybe your premise that Democrats circle the wagons is mistaken. Maybe Democrats really do have more integrity than you give us credit for.

[Ridgeway]

There is very little downside for the Democrats in forcing Cuomo out. The chances of a Republican taking the governorship in the next election are slim at best against pretty much any Democratic candidate.

Plus, not to put too fine a point on it, Cuomo is a mean a$$hole who has made a lot of enemies over the years.

[TwelveInchPianist]

Justin Fairfax is still lt governor of Virginia. Biden is President. Clinton has spoken at just about every Dem convention since his presidency.

Gloria Steinem wrote an op-ed in the NYT saying a boss groping and exposing himself to his employees didn't rise to the level of sexual harassment, to protect Clinton.

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

Maybe Democrats really do have more integrity than you give us credit for.

And maybe Pol Pot was really just a misunderstood benevolent ruler.

[Sarcastr0]

This case sure makes it look like no, Democrats are not just like Republicans.

Despite your unfalsifiable thesis, people aren't interest-maximizing devices; principles aren't nothing for everyone, even if they aren't much to you.

[Don Nico]

"they circle the wagons "
and just as often shoot inwards. ask Franken about that.

[Brett Bellmore]

That looked dodgy to me, and I don't particularly like Franken. Only thing I could figure is that somebody had the goods on him, and could prove it, and offered to keep quiet if he fell on his sword.

Because what they publicly had on him was a big nothingburger. He didn't grope her, he posed for silly photo pretending to grope her. It was sophomoric, but that's Franken for you.

[CJColucci]

Or maybe he really believes he's just an emotional, touchy-feely guy.

[Toranth]

All Pol Pot wanted to do was help his people appreciate nature, and maybe diet a little. Is that really so wrong?

[Krayt]

Getting Trump out at all costs meant ignoring Biden and Cuomo's foibles and, in the latter case, deaths.

That period of US history is over now.

[Krayt]

Tbh back then lawsuits over these things didn't buy yachts for lawyers. Times have changed.

That's why feminists from the 1970s complaining about cultures in some countries being insanely oppressive have been cast aside since buttering up those cultures instead is politically advantagrous...to winning.

It is a fascinating study of evolving memeplexes, groups of memes, and political party platforms and rationalizations are one of the biggest, evolving by dropping, modifying, and adding memes, to spread to more people. The one that spreads the most wins the election.

Hence the two-faced nature as we move down the timeline. The win is all that matters.