An online petition advocating the removal of New York governor Andrew Cuomo has been signed by almost 200,000 people.
The Change.org petition cites “multiple reasons” for the governor’s removal.
Organisers list them as: “Sexual Harassment [of] Employees. Not being Honest about Nursing Home deaths and the passing [of] the ‘New Bail Law’ which releases convicted criminals that should be serving life sentences back into [the] general population.”
Started a year ago, the petition sat stalled at 10,000 signatures for some time before a surge in signatures as more information came to light regarding deaths in care homes for the elderly and the beginnings of sexual harassment allegations.
A month ago it hit 150,000 signatures and has since climbed past 185,500.
Mr Cuomo and his administration are under scrutiny after an investigation by the state’s attorney general found that the actual number of deaths in nursing homes during the pandemic was 50 per cent higher than previously reported.
The new bail law, perhaps the original reason for the posting of the petition a year ago, refers to a reform intended to decrease the number of pretrial detainees by more than 40 per cent by stopping the practice of setting cash bail for most misdemeanours and nonviolent felonies.
The practice has been successful in neighbouring New Jersey, but was seized upon by New York Republicans as the reason behind a spike in crime.
Most recently, Governor Cuomo is facing detailed accusations from six women that he sexually harassed them. A seventh incident involving an unnamed victim has been referred to Albany police.
New York attorney general Letitia James has been authorised by Mr Cuomo to launch an independent investigation into the allegations and has said she will make her findings public.
A number of prominent Democrats have called for his resignation including members of New York’s congressional delegation — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerrold Nadler, and Jamaal Bowman.
Mr Cuomo hit out at the politicians who have called for him to resign over the allegations and urged people to let the review into his behaviour conclude.
“People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture, and the truth. Let the review proceed. I’m not going to resign,” he added.
