Andrew Cuomo Files to Receive Large Lifetime Pension Funded by Taxpayers
Resigning New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has reportedly filed state retirement paperwork that would provide him with $50,000 per year for life in taxpayer funds.
“The governor just filed his application for service retirement. The date of retirement is Sept. 1, 2021,” a New York state comptroller’s office spokesperson said on Tuesday, according to the New York Post.
Despite Cuomo’s resignation, he remains legally eligible for pension benefits as a former governor. The report noted, “Cuomo, who is 63, can cumulatively receive more than $1 million in pension benefits if he lives another 20 years.”
The Daily Caller reported, “While New York lawmakers suspended the impeachment proceedings after Cuomo announced his resignation, Republicans in the legislature are still calling for impeachment investigations to proceed. However, it is not yet clear whether the impeachment investigation will continue following Cuomo’s resignation.”
The New York state’s Assembly speaker previously announced the Legislature would drop its impeachment probe against Cuomo. However, an outcry from leaders of both parties has led to a reversal of the decision.
Under criticism, Heastie says, “The Assembly Judiciary Committee will continue to review evidence and issue a final report on its investigation of Governor Cuomo” pic.twitter.com/z8VbR95vUF
— Joseph Spector (@GannettAlbany) August 16, 2021
Cuomo resigned earlier this month over a barrage of sexual harassment allegations after he was widely hailed nationally for his detailed daily briefings and leadership during the darkest days of COVID-19.
The three-term governor’s decision was announced as momentum built in the Legislature to remove him by impeachment.
The decision came after New York’s attorney general released the results of an investigation that found Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women.
Investigators said he subjected women to unwanted kisses; groped their breasts or buttocks or otherwise touched them inappropriately; made insinuating remarks about their looks and their sex lives; and created a work environment “rife with fear and intimidation.”
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a 62-year-old Democrat and former member of Congress from the Buffalo area, will become the state’s 57th governor and the first woman to hold the post.
Cuomo still faces the possibility of criminal charges, with a number of prosecutors around the state moving to investigate him.
The string of accusations that spelled the governor’s downfall began to unfold in news reports last December and went on for months.
Cuomo called some of the allegations fabricated, forcefully denying he touched anyone inappropriately. But he acknowledged making some aides uncomfortable with comments he said he intended as playful, and he apologized for some of his behavior.
He portrayed some of the encounters as misunderstandings attributable to “generational or cultural” differences, a reference in part to his upbringing in an affectionate Italian-American family.
As a defiant Cuomo clung to office, state lawmakers launched an impeachment investigation, and nearly the entire Democratic establishment in New York deserted him — not only over the accusations but also because of the discovery that his administration had concealed thousands of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home patients.
The harassment investigation ordered up by the attorney general and conducted by outside lawyers corroborated the women’s accounts and added lurid new ones. The release of the report left the governor more isolated than ever, with some of his most loyal supporters abandoning him and President Joe Biden joining those calling on him to resign.
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