Well good morning! God is good! 

How great was that opening wasn’t that opening great? 

Let’s give em’ a round of applause. 

To BOFFO God bless you for what. you. do. 

Thank you for having me here today.

Thank you for understanding. 

Thank you for understanding that a beach is more than just sand and water 

And reaching out to the community with 

Art and alcohol and performance 

God bless you for what you’re doing let’s give em’ a round of applause. 

We have been socially distanced but we are always socially connected.

And we are spiritually and socially connected here today. 

And I wanna thank you for having me here today as we celebrate 

The second Saturday of August. 

As you probably know I’ve gone through a difficult period the past few months. 

I resigned as governor the press roasted me my colleagues were ridiculed 

My brother was fired.

It was ugly. 

It was probably the toughest time of my life. 

And it was the first time

That I was glad that my father wasn’t here with us anymore

So he didn’t have to see it. 

Now I haven’t spoke about it in public yet. 

Because I wanted to talk about it here with you

Because God’s guidance is helping me through.

Let go! Let go, let God! 

I believe in life, God sends us challenges

Life will knock us down at some point. 

And then the question is what do we do in that moment? 

Do we get angry

Do we feel sorry for ourselves

Or do we learn from it and get up from the mat 

But it is hard! It is very hard. 

It’s a struggle!

It’s a bridge that we needs to cross 

And it’s a long bridge 

But the bridge goes from anger to acceptance 

From resentment to reconciliation

I am now.. Working to cross that bridge

And i believe that god has a reason for our path. 

I pray on it. 

And the good book has offered me guidance. 

Psalm 46 tells us god is our refuge and therefore 

We will not fear though the earth gives way. 

The lord tells us that suffering is part of life and that suffering actually teaches us compassion. 

And the crossing of the bridge

Starts with telling the truth.

That is the toll that one must pay. 

Even when the truth is hard!

Because in life you will never solve a problem you are unwilling to admit. 

So let me tell you my truth. 

And let me get it off my chest so we can talk about important issues that we face today.

My father, God rest his soul used to say 

Government is an honorable profession but that

Politics can be a dirty business. 

Now that is especially true today when this 

Politics out there is so mean and so extreme. 

When even the democratic party chooses to cancel people

That they have a disagreement with. 

Last February, several women raised issues about my behavior. 

As I said then and as I say to you in this holy hole today 

my behavior has been the same for 40 years in public life. 

You have seen me many many times and that has been my behavior. 

But. That was actually the problem. 

Because for some people especially younger people there’s a new sensitivity. 

No one ever told me I made them feel uncomfortable. 

I never sensed that I caused anyone discomfort. 

I was trying to do the exact opposite. 

But. I’ve been called old-fashioned out of touch 

And I’ve been told that my behavior was not politically correct or appropriate. 

I accept that… I accept that. 

Social norms evolve. And they evolve quickly. 

And we are and we’re proud of the evolution it is progress

But I didn’t appreciate how fast their perspective changed. 

And I should have! No excuses. 

I am truly truly sorry. 

I’ve apologized many times. 

And I’ve learned a powerful lesson and I paid a very high price for learning that lesson. 

God isn’t finished with me yet. 

And everyday, I ask him for his guidance to help me grow and to help me learn. 

However the truth is also, that contrary to what my political opponents would have had you believe, nothing I did violated the law or the regulation. 

I said from the start that I would defend any allegation that anyone wanted to bring. 

But the political sharks in Albany smelled blood. 

And when the sharks smell blood, then they come. 

And they exploited the situation for their political purpose. 

Now. They did a report that said there were 11 cases against me. 

Since then, since last august, five district attorneys have investigated the report of the much publicized eleven violations of law. And do you how many cases of the eleven they found to bring. How many of the eleven? What’s your guess? TEN. NINE. EIGHT SEVEN SIX FIVE

ZERO. ZERO. ZERO cases. Why because there is a difference between an individual’s opinion as to what they believe is offensive behavior, and a legal violation. 

You can have an opinion about what is right and wrong. 

But that doesn’t make your opinion the law. 

State assembly and Charles Levine did a fraudulent unethical report looking at state nursing homes in my management of state nursing homes during covid. And they were critical. 

The manhattan district attorney investigated those claims and those policies and said no laws were broken. So what does it mean. That six district attorneys from all across the state democrats and republicans male and female black and white tens of millions of dollars spent in investigations YOUR MONEY not theirs. And they didn’t find a single case. 

So eleven months later. 

The truth is known. 

But it’s too late. 

Justice too long delayed is justice denied. 

The report did the damage it was designed to do my father was right. 

Politics can be a dirty business.