With Cuomo resigning, it made me think of other resignations in the past and makes me wonder what power do other politicians have to pressure someone to resign? Especially a governor of a state, who does the governor actually answer to?
The official party can withhold funding for senators and representatives, and it can deprive them of chairmanship roles. But a governor doesn’t seem like they’d answer to anyone.
I know carrots can be used, I think Ralph Nader said in 2004 that the democratic party offered him tons of funding for his pet projects if he dropped out, and threatened to bury him in lawsuits if he ran. But for people like Cuomo whose political careers are probably ending, what pressure can you use on someone like that? You can’t really threaten to take away funding, the guy is probably not going to run for anything again. You can’t threaten his power as governor as you have no control over that the way the speaker or senate majority leader can threaten the power of a rep or senator.
From the other thread, I think it was to save himself the embarrassment of being impeached and having the public trial. Other politicians would just lean into what sorts of things might happen at trial.
Even aside of elective politics, quitting on relatively good terms with the party leaves open lucrative opportunities as a consultant, speaker, lobbyist, talking head, etc.
And who’s to say that Cuomo’s political career is over? Memories are short in politics. He’s only 63 years old. America loves second chances. Maybe he goes through a couple years in the wilderness and makes some sort of public amends for his behavior. Maybe four years from now New York is in much worse shape than today, and people are looking back in longing on the Cuomo years. Resigning (rather than being impeached and barred from future office) at least give him options should the stars align.
The threat of impeachment trials and embarrassing public hearings is pretty big. It’s not just the governor who has to endure the process; his family does as well. The gig was up for Cuomo and he was forced to acknowledge that reality once it was clear that his party was going to turn on him. Now he has to face a criminal complaint.
It varies by state (or federal office), but impeachment + conviction can remove any pension benefits for that term in office, any Secret Service/State Police protection for them & their family, any funding for transition offices, move-out expenses, etc.
Those can add up to quite a sizeable amount of funding.
Well, impeachment is the big one, if there’s the numbers in the legislature to pull it off.
But the other big one is just political isolation - tell the governor that if he doesn’t resign, he’ll lose the support of a lot of the members in the legislature, such that it becomes much harder, and maybe impossible, to carry out any sort of government agenda. Pass no laws, fund no projects, appoint no judges, nothing. When you’re the sort of person who has the ambition to make it to that level in politics, being told that you’re gong to spend the last few years of your term just sitting at your desk getting nothing done can be pretty persuasive. Governors tend not to be people who like just sitting around.