New Andrew Cuomo ad is aimed at clearing his name
NEW YORK — An unrepentant former Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched an advertisement aimed at clearing his name on Monday, more than six months after a torrent of sexual harassment allegations drove him out of office.
The 30-second spot, which highlights decisions by New York district attorneys not to press criminal charges against him, closes with a picture of the beleaguered former governor behind an overlay of the words: “Political attacks won. And New Yorkers lost a proven leader.”
Five criminal probes of Cuomo, 64, closed without charges, although some prosecutors said they found accusations against him credible. Oswego County District Attorney Gregory Oakes coupled his decision with a plea to lawmakers to tighten sexual harassment laws.
Cuomo, a three-term Democrat, has mostly kept a low profile since resigning, but has begun to poke his head out recently. He told Bloomberg News in an interview this month that he had been “vindicated” by the decisions of the prosecutors.
In August, state Attorney General Letitia James released a bombshell report that found Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women. The probe met swift outrage and Cuomo quit after its release rather than face possible impeachment.
—New York Daily News
Florida Rep. Ted Deutch resigning from Congress
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, who has represented parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties since 2010, is resigning from the House of Representatives, he said Monday.
A close associate of the congressman said Deutch will become CEO of the American Jewish Committee.
The exact timing of Deutch’s departure wasn’t immediately clear. Besides saying he wouldn’t seek reelection, he said in a statement that he would serve “until Congress recesses for the next election.”
Deutch has focused much of his attention in office on Israel and the Middle East, and in combating antisemitism, which is the prime mission of AJC.
Currently he’s chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Global Counterterrorism. He was long active in the Jewish community in South Florida before he first ran for public office.
Serving in Congress “has been the greatest honor of my life,” Deutch said in a statement Monday afternoon.
His decision not to seek reelection is a further indication that Democrats expect major losses in the 2022 election. He is the 31st House Democrat who has decided not to seek reelection.
The majority party has complete control of the House, and many representatives don’t want to move to minority-party status after serving in the majority. Besides his leadership of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee, Deutch is chairman of the Ethics Committee. He’d lose the chairmanships if Democrats are in the minority party.
—South Florida Sun Sentinel
No longer on State of the Union guest list: mandatory masks
WASHINGTON — Mask wearing is no longer required on the House side of the Capitol, and won’t be mandatory at Tuesday’s State of the Union address, the Office of the Attending Physician announced.
“Individuals may choose to mask at any time, but it is no longer a requirement,” a letter sent to House staff Sunday night said.
The OAP move mirrors a Friday announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that said masks could come off in most areas of the country. The Washington area is currently at a low risk level for COVID-19, according to a new metric unveiled by the CDC.
If people have symptoms, a positive test or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, a mask should still be worn at the Capitol, the OAP said. People should take other precautions, such as continuing to screen daily for symptoms before coming in to work and getting vaccinated.
Moving to make masks optional seemed far-off in January, during the height of the wave where the omicron variant of the coronavirus sent caseloads skyrocketing. The OAP said in January that “dozens” in the congressional community were testing positive for COVID-19 each day as the rate of infection jumped from 1% to 13%.
Among those who tested positive, 89% were vaccinated and 63% were symptomatic. The omicron variants, both BA.1 and BA.2, are still responsible for most cases at the Capitol.
—CQ-Roll Call
Supreme Court declines to hear Ga. death-penalty appeal
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider Georgia’s standard that lawyers contend makes it all but impossible for intellectually disabled capital defendants to prove they are intellectually disabled.
Georgia is the nation’s only state with the death penalty that requires defendants to clear the highest legal threshold — beyond a reasonable doubt — to prove their intellectual disability claims.
The high court’s decision lets stand the death sentence imposed in 2012 by a Newton County jury against Rodney Young for killing his ex-fiancée’s 28-year-old son. Young’s lawyers had tried unsuccessfully to convince jurors Young was intellectually disabled and thus ineligible for capital punishment.
Young was convicted of the murder of Gary Jones, a former corrections officer, in March 2008. Jones was found in his home, bound to a chair. He had multiple skull fractures, and a bloody butcher knife and hammer was found next to his body.
In their appeal, Young’s lawyers said their client was consistently identified as intellectually disabled at school.
In 1988, Georgia became the first state in the country to ban the execution of the intellectually disabled. Yet since then only one of the 379 capital defendants tried before a jury has been found guilty but intellectually disabled, according to academic research.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
