Good question:
“It is of great concern that sexual assault cases have not been pursued with full vigor by our criminal justice system,” Cuomo said Monday in a statement.
While Vance’s office is set to complete its own investigation of the Weinstein case within 45 days, Cuomo said he requested a separate probe to answer any lingering questions.
“It is critical not only that these cases are given the utmost attention but also that there is public confidence in the handling of these cases,” he said.
Cuomo’s announcement came on the heels of an open letter from the Time’s Up organization demanding that he launch an independent investigation of the DA over Weinstein.
“We are concerned that what appears to be the negative relationship between the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Special Victims Unit of the NYPD makes it even less likely that victims who have been assaulted by rich or powerful men will be willing to come forward and that their assailants will be prosecuted and convicted,” according to the letter, published Sunday in New York Magazine.
While it’s good that Cuomo is looking into it, one has to be a little skeptical about the timing of this. In other news, Cuomo has attracted a big name in a primary challenge:
Rebecca Katz, a political operative who worked on Bill de Blasio’s 2013 campaign for mayor of New York, was traveling with Nixon and shared a photo of her getting off the stopped train.
“That thing when you’re headed to talk about fixing the subways and your train goes out of service #CuomosMTA,” Katz wrote.
When she reached the event at Bethesda Healing Center in Brooklyn, she told the audience she had made it “just in the nick of time,” due to delays on “Cuomo’s MTA.”
Nixon accused Cuomo of creating inequality via tax cuts that favor corporations and wealthy New Yorkers, and said the state should focus on issues like fully funding public schools, reforming campaign finance rules and — with the topic fresh on her mind — getting the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which oversees the subway, to fix the system.
Stay tuned.