NEW YORK — Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin resigned from office Tuesday, hours after he was arrested and charged with five counts of bribery and fraud in a federal corruption probe, bowing to a ballooning scandal and adding a baffling wrinkle into the spring Democratic primary.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has pledged to bring an era of transparency to government since taking office last summer, issued a statement late in the afternoon Tuesday saying that she had accepted Benjamin’s “resignation effective immediately.”
Even though he stepped down, due to complicated election rules and antiquated New York laws, Benjamin will remain on the ballot for the June 28 primary, and that could prove to be a headache for Hochul.
“There are only three ways to get off the ballot: death, declination or disqualification,” said John Conklin, a state Board of Elections spokesman.
But in a statement shortly after Benjamin’s resignation, Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic Party chairman, said he would “explore every option available to seek a replacement for Brian on the ticket.”
Hochul, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lieutenant, quickly selected Benjamin in August as her second in command after she rose to the top of the state government following Cuomo’s resignation.
Court papers filed Tuesday said Benjamin submitted vetting forms with false information before Hochul selected him, and he admitted last week that he did not tell her that he was aware his 2021 comptroller campaign had been subpoenaed before his appointment to his current post.
In February, Benjamin was designated the Democrats’ preferred candidate for lieutenant governor during the party’s nominating convention. The window to decline has now closed.
It was not clear if Hochul might consider supporting the running mate of a rival candidate in the Democratic primary. Nor was it clear how Benjamin would approach his name remaining on the ballot.
“I haven’t been briefed on that,” Angelene Superable, a spokeswoman for Benjamin, said when asked by phone about the ballot conundrum.
Activist Ana Maria Archila, who is challenging Benjamin in the Democratic primary, painted her former opponent as part of a long history of political corruption in the state capital.
“Today is a dark day, with Albany at its worst on display for all New Yorkers to see,” she said. “For too long, we’ve seen politicians trading favors for money from the wealthy and the powerful. New Yorkers demand accountability and change.”
After he was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lawyers representing Benjamin claimed there was “nothing inappropriate” about the grant that the complaint focused on.
Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., one of Hochul’s primary rivals, said the charges against Benjamin reflect the governor herself.
“Today’s bombshell is an indictment on Kathy Hochul’s lack of experience and poor judgment,” he said in a joint statement with Diana Reyna, his lieutenant governor running mate.
Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, a Lockport Republican, added that “New Yorkers should be concerned with the judgment of Governor Kathy Hochul, who expressed the ‘utmost confidence’ in her hand-picked number two just a few days ago.”
“She either ignored a betrayal of public trust or failed to do the most basic vetting available in public media reports,” he said in a statement. “Either way, her administration is casting yet another shadow of corruption over our state government.”
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