How Cuomo became King of New York
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers was slapped down by the State Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court when he attempted to postpone his state's primary election and extend the mailing deadline for absentee ballots.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly was arguing her authority in state Supreme Court today after Kansas' legislative leaders quashed her executive order to limit attendance at church services.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is being sued by a private attorney who argues she violated her authority when she relaxed requirements for the government to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests during the worldwide pandemic.
But in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has pretty much done all of that, and more, with little organized opposition.
He unilaterally postponed New York's primary election, encouraged all voters to cast absentee ballots despite the state's rules for voting absentee, waived some open meetings requirements, postponed village elections, closed schools, bars, bowling alleys, non-essential businesses and "encouraged" religious leaders to hold virtual services as he banned social gatherings.
Just today Cuomo overruled New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who announced all city schools would be closed for the rest of the academic year.
But Cuomo is different from most other governors because the Democratic majority in the state legislature in early March gave Democratic Cuomo the right to do pretty much whatever he deems necessary to combat the coronavirus in New York, which is the world's hot spot right now.
The legislature voted in the middle of the night to amend the state law that allows the governor to act by executive order during an emergency. The changes expanded the definition of disaster to include "disease outbreak" and broadened the governo'rs powers to cover "impending or urgent" threats.
The legislation added the words "if necessary to assist or aid in coping with such disaster, the governor by executive order may issue any directive" to deal with the emergency.
Such directives must be renewed every 30 days and the additional powers to end in a year, according to the legislation.
Gothamist.com reported that state lawmakers first learned during the afternoon of March 2 that new disaster legislation would be coming to the floor from the governor’s office. With little debate, the Assembly and Senate passed the legislation after midnight.
The Senate approved expanding the governor's powers by a 53-4 vote while the Assembly voted 120 to 12 in favor.
“What it does do is give the governor very extensive, and almost unlimited, affirmative legislative power to not only waive existing laws and provisions of existing laws,” longtime Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) told the New York Post, “but it also empowers him to essentially issue new legislation.”
“I’ve never seen any governor or health commissioner ask for this kind of expansion of power,” Gottfried said.
A Republican elections lawyer said the law would allow Cuomo to say "Let's do away with the election and I'll appoint the winner."
But Cuomo, at his news briefing today, termed his decisions as " the most important in my lifetime."
"Our actions will literally determine life and death," Cuomo said.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly was arguing her authority in state Supreme Court today after Kansas' legislative leaders quashed her executive order to limit attendance at church services.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is being sued by a private attorney who argues she violated her authority when she relaxed requirements for the government to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests during the worldwide pandemic.
But in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has pretty much done all of that, and more, with little organized opposition.
He unilaterally postponed New York's primary election, encouraged all voters to cast absentee ballots despite the state's rules for voting absentee, waived some open meetings requirements, postponed village elections, closed schools, bars, bowling alleys, non-essential businesses and "encouraged" religious leaders to hold virtual services as he banned social gatherings.
Just today Cuomo overruled New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who announced all city schools would be closed for the rest of the academic year.
But Cuomo is different from most other governors because the Democratic majority in the state legislature in early March gave Democratic Cuomo the right to do pretty much whatever he deems necessary to combat the coronavirus in New York, which is the world's hot spot right now.
The legislature voted in the middle of the night to amend the state law that allows the governor to act by executive order during an emergency. The changes expanded the definition of disaster to include "disease outbreak" and broadened the governo'rs powers to cover "impending or urgent" threats.
The legislation added the words "if necessary to assist or aid in coping with such disaster, the governor by executive order may issue any directive" to deal with the emergency.
Such directives must be renewed every 30 days and the additional powers to end in a year, according to the legislation.
Gothamist.com reported that state lawmakers first learned during the afternoon of March 2 that new disaster legislation would be coming to the floor from the governor’s office. With little debate, the Assembly and Senate passed the legislation after midnight.
The Senate approved expanding the governor's powers by a 53-4 vote while the Assembly voted 120 to 12 in favor.
“What it does do is give the governor very extensive, and almost unlimited, affirmative legislative power to not only waive existing laws and provisions of existing laws,” longtime Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) told the New York Post, “but it also empowers him to essentially issue new legislation.”
“I’ve never seen any governor or health commissioner ask for this kind of expansion of power,” Gottfried said.
A Republican elections lawyer said the law would allow Cuomo to say "Let's do away with the election and I'll appoint the winner."
But Cuomo, at his news briefing today, termed his decisions as " the most important in my lifetime."
"Our actions will literally determine life and death," Cuomo said.
Comments
Post a Comment