Aug 9, 2021 4 min read

At 63, Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is old enough to remember what happens when a politician begs to be investigated. Hubris always hovers over the powerful, and few can survive a boast that they have nothing to hide.

In May of 1987, then-Colorado senator and presidential hopeful Gary Hart provided Exhibit A when he dared reporters to follow him around, in the false hope that rumors of an affair would be disproved. Hart even teased reporters that they’d be very bored.

NBC anchor John Chancellor said on air a few days later: “We did. We weren’t.”

As Cuomo surely recalls, Hart removed himself from the presidential contest five days after challenging the press to this game of hide and go seek. His bright political career – he was a leading contender for the 1988 Democratic nomination at the time – was finished.

What was Hart thinking? Even now, it’s hard to know. But he certainly wasn’t trying to be careful as he carried on with Donna Rice, who famously appeared in a photograph seated upon Hart’s lap on the delightfully named pleasure boat “Monkey Business.”

Obviously, Hart wasn’t thinking at all, at least not in the cognitive sense.

Now, 34 years later, we must ask what Cuomo was thinking when he invited New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the many sexual harassment claims against him. My hunch: He was either just buying time or was so blinded by his own tough-guy myth that he thought he could get away with what he had done. Or both.

In any case, James accepted his challenge. In a blistering 165-page report released a few days ago, she confirmed 11 separate allegations of sexual harassment. Cuomo touched, verbally harassed and groped. James also concluded that the governor’s office was the kind of workplace where Cuomo yelled at staff, intimidation was commonplace, and where loyal outsiders were recruited to control and defuse the women who complained, often by attacking the accusers.

In her conclusion, James wrote that “the use of fear, intimidation and retribution, the acceptance of everyday flirtation and gender-based comments by the Governor as just ‘old fashioned,’ the overriding focus on loyalty and protecting the Governor and attacking any detractors, and the reliance on loyal confidantes regardless of their official role in State government (or lack thereof) – contributed to creating an environment where the Governor’s sexually harassing conduct was allowed to flourish and persist.”

There isn’t much room for doubt in that encapsulation.

It’s entirely possible that Cuomo thought his behavior was normal and fell under the heading of quaint or “old-fashioned.” It certainly was all that. Why, men used to think it was perfectly fine to have their way with underlings at work. But here’s a bulletin for men, and especially male bosses: It’s 2021. Women deserve to work without fear of being manhandled or pressed about their personal lives by colleagues or higher-ups – much less the Chief Jerk, for lack of a far better word that can’t be used here.

I’m at an utter loss, however, for the right word to describe what Cuomo did in the aftermath of James’ report. Almost immediately, he released a video that could have been titled “Kiss me, I’m Italian!” The video was a montage of clips showing Cuomo touching all sorts of people – men, women, the elderly, children, Blacks, whites. He grabbed faces, he grabbed shoulders, he kissed cheeks and rubbed noses. Oy, he was so busy touching people! Rather than show himself to be harmlessly demonstrative, he cemented the impression that he’s a predator.

To think that just a year ago, Cuomo was the man of the hour. His daily coronavirus briefings provided needed relief from the clown-show news conferences staged by then-President Donald Trump. While Trump prattled on about nonsense, Cuomo delivered facts and expressed the sort of empathy Americans longed to hear.

But hubris is indiscriminate, and the mighty are quick to topple.

Cuomo now has been asked by nearly everyone to step down. Thus far, he’s refusing. Said one close ally, “He is not resigning. It is just not in his nature to ever do that.”

At least we know now what is in Cuomo’s nature, according to the attorney general. And it will likely get him canned. Pending a review by the New York State Assembly and possible impeachment, Cuomo’s days seem numbered.

Preposterous as it might sound, Hart seems almost gentlemanly by comparison. His indiscretion was at least by mutual consent, his repentant resignation a tribute to humility and class. So rare these days.

Kathleen Parker is a columnist for The Washington Post. Her email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.