Early within the day, as Ms. Hochul weighed Mr. Benjamin’s future, the Republican leaders within the State Legislature, in addition to some Democratic state lawmakers, had known as on her to demand his resignation.
“Kathy Hochul and Senate Democrats would possibly tolerate this corruption, however New Yorkers don’t and neither do I,” stated Rob Ortt, the Republican chief within the State Senate.
What to Know About Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin
Who’s Brian Benjamin? A Democratic state senator from Harlem, he was chosen by Gov. Kathy Hochul final August to be her lieutenant governor in a transfer extensively seen as an try by Ms. Hochul to diversify her ticket earlier than her first marketing campaign for governor. Mr. Benjamin resigned from the place on April 12 following an indictment in reference to a marketing campaign finance scheme.
Ms. Hochul’s dealing with of Mr. Benjamin’s arrest would appear to check the pledge she made upon taking workplace to extend authorities accountability in Albany, which has been plagued for years by corruption, arrests and scandals, together with, notably, the resignation of her predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, amid a sequence of sexual harassment allegations.
Rumors have swirled about whether or not Mr. Cuomo would possibly try a political comeback by operating for his outdated job as an unbiased candidate, one thing that will most definitely be a steep climb for him.
As governor, Mr. Cuomo largely confined Ms. Hochul to a ceremonial function. In deciding on Mr. Benjamin, Ms. Hochul, a former congresswoman from the Buffalo space, stated she meant to entrust him with a broad coverage portfolio and deal with him as a governing companion — a special relationship than the one she had with Mr. Cuomo.
However Mr. Benjamin appeared considerably of an imperfect alternative.
In January 2021, a report by the native information outlet The Metropolis questioned the authenticity of quite a few contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s comptroller marketing campaign, prompting the marketing campaign to return practically two dozen donations.
Two months later, The Each day Information reported that Mr. Benjamin had spent practically $7,000 from his marketing campaign account on “constituent companies” to apparently pay for his wedding ceremony celebration at a Harlem jazz membership in 2018, an expense that his marketing campaign defended on the time.