“Cuomo for Mayor of New York City? Women of NYC! It’s the same guy who is killing us in DC only with a different head of hair!” - Christine Merser
I know most of my readers aren’t from New York City, so this column might not affect you personally. But in the end, it really does. It’s a change in how we approach men in power.
The more we reflect on where we are politically in this country, and as a society globally, part of the destruction of our world is based on something very simple. Right versus wrong. Good versus evil. Who someone is inside will always be reflected in the way they handle power. Always.
There are some very interesting people running. M-A-M-D-A-N-I
If we put evil people who show us who they are over and over again in positions of power, then it is never about doing good and will always be about narcissistic self-service and corruption. And then no, they do not get second chance. Maybe they can go live a quiet life somewhere else. But they no longer get the chance to run our lives.
The fact that Andrew Cuomo is running for mayor, and might actually be in the lead for the Democratic nomination, stuns me. Perhaps more than anything since Trump was re-elected, it shocks me.
I have to start with the women. Thirteen of them came forward with credible stories about how they were assaulted or coerced by him when he was in a position of power over them. One of them was a New York state trooper. Her story is especially powerful because she was surrounded by other male troopers who, let’s just say, weren’t exactly supportive.
He had to step down from office. But unlike Harvey Weinstein, he never served time. He lawyered up using money from his campaign coffers. That means money that you and I gave him when he was a popular governor was used to attack the women who came forward. He subpoenaed their gynecological records. He put them through the kind of public exposure none of us should ever have to face, especially when we’ve had the courage to expose someone in power.
Is this really what we’ve come to? After everything we’ve already ignored from the man who now holds the highest office in the land, are we really going to turn over the largest city in the country to another man with a similar record?
Mike Bloomberg came out in support of Cuomo. Why is no one demanding answers? Why is there no public pressure campaign against Bloomberg’s endorsement? Why would anyone support a man who assaulted women, not once, but over and over again? A man we could have stopped, and didn’t. And now he might walk proudly through the streets of my beloved New York City as its mayor.
The mayor, by the way, oversees the police department. The NYPD is not exactly known for housing the finest humans or male specimens in the land. I’m not saying all of them. But let’s just say the odds are not always in our favor.
I beg the women of New York City. Do not vote for this man. He belongs in jail, not at City Hall.
Please tell me that after everything we are going through, everything we are enduring, and everything we still stand to lose, we are finally learning to take power away from men like this. Not to keep handing it back to them.
CM
P.S. Oh, I almost forgot to list a few other reasons you might not want to vote for him. He’s also corrupt and ego-maniacal. Ring any bells?
He was behind slashing Medicaid in New York during a health crisis. He was sued for undercounting COVID nursing home deaths. He placed COVID-positive patients into nursing homes, directly contributing to thousands of deaths, then covered it up. He published a self-congratulatory book on pandemic leadership while the pandemic was still killing New Yorkers.
And let’s not forget the bridge. Cuomo rushed the opening of the Tappan Zee replacement, now named after his father, before it was safe. Concrete reports were falsified. Safety was compromised. All for a photo op.
Leadership? No. This is not leadership. This is ego, danger, and destruction wrapped in a nice suit and a smirk.
Not this time. Not again.
"This is not leadership. This is ego, danger, and destruction wrapped in a nice suit and a smirk." This, however, is America. I do not see it changing anytime soon. It is the one consistent bar we have held to since the Revolution.
I agree. Also stunned. Also not stunned - history has shown that when there is a choice between a white man and people of color, the white man comes out on top. Will this change now after #47? I'm cautiously pessimistic but I want to be hopeful. Thank you for writing and even though I don't live in NYC, I think what happens in places like NY and California (i.e. Senator Padilla being arrested for asking questions) signals what the climate is like across the nation. Now is not the time to be complacent.