Cuomo has only himself to blame – Saratogian

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May this be a lesson for everyone.

What happened to Andrew Cuomo can happen to anyone at some point in his life. You never know when a good life can really turn sour in a split second.

Andrew was desperate for a fourth term. In the case of the governor in New York, there is no law against fourth terms. We really don’t know why it was so important to him. Maybe he was competing with his father, who was denied his chance to set this record. Maybe he honored his father. Maybe a bit of both.

My problems with Andrew started early when he decided he would deprive then comptroller Carl McCall of his chance to run for governor. If McCall had won, he would have been New York’s first black governor. Frankly, I was furious. I said it and, as I wrote before here, it got between me and Mario and practically killed our longtime relationship. This was just one example of how many people had dysfunctional relationships with the man in hot water.

I can’t help but think of the number of people who have harshly criticized Cuomo – virtually every politician on the New York list called him out for the various sins he was accused of committing. We are talking about US senators, members of Congress and district attorneys. Members of the state legislature did not wait to pass before beginning the impeachment process.

The object of the game was to get him to quit and the only way to do it was to tell him that if he didn’t come out he would be kicked out.

Of course, Andrew took care of it.

We all know someone who has no friends. Plus, the so-called friends he has aren’t the kind your mom would want you to play with. When he really needed someone to come to his aid, there was no one there. There must be a children’s book on this topic. We have heard from many people who have worked for him now or in the past. They were downright brutal, showing all the marks of people who thought he had mistreated them but now had an opportunity, maybe even an obligation, to fight him back. This is the way it is with a tyrant.

If he had learned more from Papa Mario about making and keeping friends, things might have been different.

If he had stayed with his wife and children, if he had stayed with one of his girlfriends, he might not be where he is now. Things turned out badly for him and there was no one to speak for him or to help him. His lieutenant governor who had carried the Cuomo flag for so long did not have a word to help him. We understand this. Cuomo had asked her to step aside and she refused.

My bet is that she will never get over it.

Now the betting has started. Will Kathy Hochul seize the golden ring? Or will Attorney General Letitia James get the chance to be the state’s first female governor? Hochul comes from a part of New York City that typically doesn’t produce statewide Democratic governors, but if she’s incumbent she may be able to stay.

The point is, Andrew Cuomo can only blame himself. What he did was just plain wrong. But what’s amazing here is that the entire political establishment has come together to oust him. Republicans have little chance of taking over the governorship. Andrew Cuomo is going to have a hard time looking at himself in the mirror.

He’ll have all that pocket money and he’ll keep moving and shaking, but the point is, he’s really done.

Alan Chartock is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York, Publisher of the Legislative Gazette, and Chairman and CEO of the WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network. Readers can email him at [email protected].

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