NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Long Island assemblyman introduced a bill this week that he hopes would prevent former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s portrait from being in Albany’s Hall of Governors, The New York Post reported.
Republican Doug Smith introduced the “Predator Portrait Prevention Act” in the Assembly which would “prevent any governor who does not complete any term for which they are elected to be displayed in the state capitol building without the approval of the legislature.” The bill excludes governors who die while in office.
The corridor, which is on the second floor of the state capitol building, displays paintings of New York’s past governors, going all the way back two centuries to the state’s very first governor George Clinton.
“Andrew Cuomo’s picture could very well be hanging on the wall in the Hall Of Governors despite the fact that he resigned in disgrace and his predatory behavior toward women,” the Post reported Smith said.
Smith also said he hopes the bill would be bipartisan.
“I am imagining my daughter in three to four years. I don’t want her seeing Andrew Cuomo’s portrait there. Kids come by with field trips,” Smith said.
Despite its long history dating back to 1813, there are currently no laws that govern the portrait hall or mandating governors' paintings hang in the gallery. The paintings are privately funded and have gone for as much as $50,000 in the past.
The process by which the portraits are added are informal decisions made between the current and former governors and the decision to add Cuomo comes down to his successor and former deputy Gov. Hochul, John McEneny, a former Albany assemblyman and local historian, told the Post.
“The focus should be on rebuilding New York’s post-pandemic economy and this cheap and cynical press ploy by a Republican backbencher illustrates exactly the climate and attitudes in Albany that forced a Governor out of office with lies, suppressed evidence and witness intimidation," said Rich Azzopardi, spokesperson for Cuomo, in a statement to WCBS 880.
There are only two former governors not included in the gallery—Nathaniel Pitcher and Eliot Spitzer. For Pitcher, who was the state’s eighth governor, no suitable painting exists but for Spitzer, his absence is due to his 2008 resignation for getting caught sleeping with prostitutes.
The issue of a portrait for the disgraced governor never came up for Spitzer’s successor, David Paterson.
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