The Story:
On Tuesday, August 10, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he is resigning his office, amidst credible reports that he had turned his administration into a hostile workplace for women. His resignation was phrased as a mixture of regret and self-justification.
“In my mind I’ve never crossed the line with anyone,” he said, “but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate.”
Background:
There is a bridge over the Hudson River, near Nyack, named the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge. It has that name in honor of Andrew’s father Mario, who was Governor from the first day of 1983 to the last day of 1994.
The Cuomo family is often compared to the Kennedy family of Massachusetts. In both cases, a wealthy ethnic family worked to force itself into an uninviting political establishment. Indeed the two families were related for 15 years, the length of Andrew Cuomo’s marriage to Kerry Kennedy (who was one of he 11 children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy). She divorced him in 2005.
The Thing to Know:
If the dynasty is to make a comeback, that will occur at the hands of the three young women born to that Cuomo-Kennedy marriage: Mariah, Cara, and Michaela, all now in their 20s. The rise in politics of one or more of that sisterhood would be a delightful spectacle for a dramatist.
