Jones: 'No way out' for Cuomo

Aug. 10—PLATTSBURGH — For State Assemblyman D. Billy Jones, the resignation of top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa Sunday was a sign that the governor has no way out of the allegations against him.

"This isn't going to end well for him and she knows that," the Chateaugay Lake Democrat told the Press-Republican. "I think everyone knows that but the governor right now."

'SEVERAL WEEKS'

On Monday, following an hours long executive session meeting of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Committee Chair Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove) held a joint press conference during which Lavine laid out the timeline his committee will follow as it works to conclude its impeachment investigation into Cuomo.

The committee plans to hold additional executive sessions on Aug. 16 and 23 so that Davis Polk & Wardwell, the law firm the Assembly hired to conduct the probe, can continue to brief the members.

Those will be followed by public hearings and, once a review is complete, the committee will make a recommendation to the full Assembly on whether to proceed with impeachment.

Lavine said he anticipates the process will wrap up in "several weeks."

MULTIPLE ELEMENTS

Jones said he understands that people want to get things moving more quickly, admitting he himself would take a vote on impeachment this week, but contended there was an important takeaway from the press conference.

In addition to the sexual misconduct allegations detailed in state Attorney General Letitia James' report from last week, the committee is exploring three other elements: whether the governor arranged preferential COVID testing for his friends and family, if he used state resources in his $5.1 million book deal and the alleged cover-up of the true total of nursing home COVID deaths.

"This investigation covers all those aspects. So when people say they want to move forward with the process, I hear you 100%, but there still is a process that has to happen and that investigation is happening."

The Press-Republican reached out to Assemblyman Matt Simpson's office, who said the Horicon Republican stands by his statement from last week that called on the governor to resign immediately.

MOVE FORWARD

The timeline affords the governor due process, but moves things forward and is not a way of "buying time" for Cuomo, Jones posited.

He said his biggest issue is that, as Heastie has said, the majority conference has lost confidence in the governor at a time when the state has many issues to address including COVID-19, rental relief and school guidance.

"We can talk about all this stuff that we need to handle and, right now, we're not doing it because we're either one embroiled in ... these impeachment proceedings and/or there's so much that runs through the governor's agencies and the governor's top level staff where ... they're not conducting the people's business right now.

"I want to see us move forward and that's why I want to see this process done as expeditiously as possible."

DAMNING EVIDENCE

Jones believes the evidence from the committee's investigation would have come out anyway, but that the AG's "bombshell report" expedited the process.

He recalled how, when the attorney general first initiated the investigation and for months afterward, Cuomo urged everyone to wait for the report. Then last month, his aides started decrying the probe as "political."

"There's very damning evidence in there ..., so I would only say, what changed along the process?" Jones said. "Now the report's no good in his eyes? I mean, I don't know, it's hard to buy both sides of that argument."

NOT POLITICAL

Jones said he will look at the evidence presented but, based on what he has seen so far, would more than likely vote yes on impeaching the governor once the Judiciary Committee's investigation wraps up.

He views this impeachment process as a lot less political than the two against former President Donald Trump, a Republican who was impeached by a Democratic-led House.

Both sides of the aisle have loudly called for Cuomo, a Democrat, to resign, he said, noting prominent Democrats like U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Joe Biden who have done so.

"So I don't think this is political. This is trying to get our state moving in the right direction and also saying that sexual harassment in the workplace will not be ... permitted anywhere in New York State, let alone the top levels of state government."

SHOULD BE BARRED

Should impeachment move forward, Jones believes Cuomo should be barred from holding public office in New York state in addition to being removed as governor.

He feels the state would be in good hands if Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul takes over.

Noting that he was not trying to make light of the serious matters the Assembly Judiciary Committee is investigating, Jones referenced a comment one of his colleagues has made about the governor, who has made no indication that he intends to step down.

"The governor is like Bruce Willis in 'The Sixth Sense': He's the only one that doesn't know he's dead."

Email Cara Chapman:

cchapman@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: @PPR_carachapman