Andrew Cuomo just can’t seem to keep himself out of hot water these days. After being praised for his COVID response, New York’s Democratic governor received an Emmy award, but now the state’s lawmakers are calling for his head on a political platter. And what is the governor’s response? It’s someone else’s fault, and the damning reports are nothing but hogwash and conspiracy theories.
Liberty Nation has been reporting on the events (which you can read here and here) that have folks on both sides of the aisle not only asking for an investigation into the withholding of COVID death data in nursing homes but also demanding that Cuomo’s emergency powers be revoked. Others want to find a way to get him recalled (New York does not have a recall procedure in place). As LN’s Editor-in-Chief Leesa K. Donner wrote:
“Cuomo has been reaping negative ‘killing off grandma’ headlines for some time now, but a 76-page report by the New York attorney general claiming that he underreported the death toll ‘by more than 50%’ has generated a political lynch mob.”
On Feb. 15, the governor insisted that he did not cover up the deaths while allowing that he should have provided information in a more timely manner. “All the deaths in the nursing homes and hospitals were always fully, publicly and accurately reported,” he said. “We gave precedence to the DOJ. We told the assembly that, we told the Senate that and that’s what we did.”
State Senator Jessica Ramos (D) called Cuomo on the carpet on Twitter, posting: “Trash. No one Believes you.” She added, “At no point did the Administration notify the legislature about a DOJ investigation. People died and Cuomo lied then he had the gall to write a book.”
Another Democrat state senator, Alessandra Biaggi, said: “To NY’ers watching Cuomo’s press conference – it is riddled with lies, theatre, & deflection.”
Cuomo said the problem lies in “categorization” that provided a “void” for the media to misconstrue. The state, he implied, was counting deaths where they occurred while others were seeking total deaths of nursing home residents, “regardless of the location,” the Daily Mail wrote. The governor explained:
“We should not have created the void [of information]. We should have done a better job of providing information and knocking down conspiracy theories. We did not take enough action and the pain is it created confusion, cynicism and pain for the families of a loved one.”
The Emmy award winner explained that the state responded slower than expected because other requests from the Justice Department were prioritized and officials were busy with pandemic work. “It’s not like people were in the South of France,” he said, then added:
“When we didn’t provide information, it allowed press, people, cynics, politicians, to fill the void. [I]t created confusion and cynicism and pain for the families.”
The bombshell exploded after Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa let it slip that the administration “froze” and didn’t provide information right away because they were concerned the nursing home deaths could be “used against us” and even blamed the Trump administration as part of their decision as well.
Cuomo’s rapid fall from grace slides faster with his seeming lack of compassion and desire to deflect blame to conspiracy theories and the media. Several families have come forward to express their disgust and hurt and to demand that severe action should be taken against the governor.
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Read more from Kelli Ballard.
