On Cuomo’s Past Words and a Lesson from Passover

It’s important to watch our words, especially when they’re preachy and self-righteous. We never know when they may come back to bite us.

Take the case of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has come under growing pressure to resign over sexual misconduct accusations leveled against him. So far, he has repeatedly refused to step down.

But not too long ago, as reported in the New York Post, he was “quick to call for the resignations of powerful Albany lawmakers accused of sexually harassing aides — including known harassers Vito Lopez, Micah Kellner and Dennis Gabryszak.”

In 2012, for example, Cuomo demanded that Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez resign from his post after two female aides accused him of groping, kissing and verbally abusing them, the Post reported. The Post cites several other examples.

I wonder if his refusal to follow his own advice is haunting the conscience of Gov. Cuomo at the moment. It’s not as if he can deny his own words.

My hunch is that the pressure has become so strong that he may have no choice but to step down, lest he be impeached. As of Friday morning, several Democratic members of New York’s congressional delegation, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and veteran Rep. Jerry Nadler, joined the call for him to resign.

“This week, the second sexual assault allegation and the sixth harassment allegation was leveled against Governor Cuomo,” said Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx/Queens) in a joint statement with Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-Bronx/Westchester), a fellow member of the progressive “Squad.”

“As members of the New York delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, we believe these women, we believe the reporting, we believe the Attorney General, and we believe the fifty-five members of the New York State legislature, including the State Senate Majority Leader, who have concluded that Governor Cuomo can no longer effectively lead in the face of so many challenges.”

Perhaps the most powerful argument in favor of resigning is when a leader loses the trust of the lawmakers he serves with. In Cuomo’s case, this clearly seems to be happening. His words have come back to haunt him. 

The Jewish holiday of Passover offers us a cautionary lesson in lashing out at others: we can easily overlook our own faults. When we prepare for the eight days, we are commanded to clean out the chametz from our homes, not the homes of our neighbors.

May we spend more time working on our faults and less on the faults of others.

Shabbat shalom.