The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House
H-232 The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Dear President Trump, Speaker Ryan, and Majority Leader
McConnell:
I appeal to you to investigate
whether New York State under Governor Andrew Cuomo has abandoned a republican
form of government. According to the
Heritage Foundation, the cases of Pacific States Telephone & Telegraph Co.
v. Oregon (1912) and Baker v Carr (1962)
have held that citizens may petition Congress to hold such an investigation under
Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution. There is no reason that the
president cannot hold an investigation as well.
The recent contretemps between Mr.
Cuomo and the National Rifle Association is an example of such abandonment. (See Seth Lipsky's New York Post op-ed.) The National Rifle
Association alleges that that the Cuomo administration has pressured
administrative agencies to harass it because it is his political opponent.
Such pressure may not be unique.
Mr. Cuomo may be routinely involved in quid pro quo with respect to campaign
contributions. His quashing of the Preet
Bharara investigation; the conviction of Sheldon Silver; the Kaloyeros case,
which may well reach to Cuomo's office; and Mr. Cuomo's insistence that the
state does not welcome conservatives, likely all whose political beliefs
deviate from his, intimate a state that has abandoned the rule of law, a key
element of republican government.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
