Governor Cuomo Announces to New York That He Doesn’t Trust Experts Anymore #Cuomocide *UPDATE - Cuomo RESIGNS*

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

On 2/3/2021 at 7:37 AM, DKW 86 said:

My own prediction? Chappaquiddick all over again.
Cuomo is a DNC Favorite Son.
He will be VOCIFEROUSLY DEFENDED by the DNC. 
Nothing is going to change.
Nothing is going to happen to him.

Like Rangel, Kennedy, Menendez, et al, The Governor will be re-elected over and over and no one in the press is going to really embarrass him nor call him out to his face. 

For the Record: 
Cuomo has a best selling book.
Cuomo won an Emmy-A ******* EMMY, for his BS Press Conferences
Hell the only thing he hasnt won so far is a Nobel Peace Prize for killing old people. 

 

On 3/8/2021 at 4:49 PM, DKW 86 said:

I never said he would win election. Not once. He will be left in office to try and win a fourth term, something that rarely happens in America. Him losing his fourth term wont mean anything. Almost no one does that.

When you're too lazy to know what you typed on the same thread, this happens.  Stay hot DKW.

[DKW 86 7,440]

7 hours ago, Brad_ATX said:

 

When you're too lazy to know what you typed on the same thread, this happens.  Stay hot DKW.

Stay wrong Brad.... 

[TitanTiger 20,510]

New details emerge about latest allegation.  Aide claims Cuomo reached under her blouse and groped her.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/nyregion/andrew-cuomo-sexual-harassment.html

[DKW 86 7,440]

3 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

New details emerge about latest allegation.  Aide claims Cuomo reached under her blouse and groped her.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/nyregion/andrew-cuomo-sexual-harassment.html

if she is credible, that could be a game changer. 

[TitanTiger 20,510]

More Than 55 NY Democrats in State Legislature Call on Cuomo to Resign
(there are 106 Democrats in the legislature total)

https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/more-than-55-ny-democrats-call-on-andrew-cuomo-to-resign/

 

Groping Allegation Against Cuomo Referred to Albany Police

https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/andrew-cuomo-groping-allegation-referred-to-albany-police-report/

 

 

[TexasTiger 13,006]

On 3/11/2021 at 2:02 PM, TitanTiger said:

More Than 55 NY Democrats in State Legislature Call on Cuomo to Resign
(there are 106 Democrats in the legislature total)

https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/more-than-55-ny-democrats-call-on-andrew-cuomo-to-resign/

 

Groping Allegation Against Cuomo Referred to Albany Police

https://nypost.com/2021/03/11/andrew-cuomo-groping-allegation-referred-to-albany-police-report/

 

 

Problem solved.

[DKW 86 7,440]

On 3/6/2021 at 12:29 PM, AU9377 said:

Did you listen to the interview of the third "accuser?"  CBS should be embarrassed for even airing that nonsense.  In a nutshell, Cuomo did nothing to the woman.  She spent the interview talking about what she thought he was probably thinking.

As for the nursing home saga..... the entire controversy is really over where the deaths were counted.  The numbers weren't fudged.  The thing boils down to counting a death at a hospital or as a nursing home resident.  I fail to see why it matters, other than for political dagger throwing.  Someone treated at a hospital and then released being admitted then to a nursing home should likewise not the the biggest of story lines.  Many of those patients were nursing home residents before being transferred to hospitals.  For those that weren't, according to CDC guidelines, they should not have been contagious at that point, regardless of whether or not they were still testing positive.

Are you a doppelganger? there are sssooo many that sound just like you on this forum.

[DKW 86 7,440]

On 3/10/2021 at 7:53 AM, Brad_ATX said:

 

When you're too lazy to know what you typed on the same thread, this happens.  Stay hot DKW.

Show me where i said he would be easily re-elected. Come on brad, you are better than a homeyism here.

[DKW 86 7,440]

On 3/9/2021 at 10:57 AM, TitanTiger said:

Note to self:  DKW said you're wrong about something, meaning you're probably on the right track.  Stay the course for now.

Well, hell, we just had four plus years of people whining every single day on this forum about s*** that was never going to happen. I mean 1460+ days of s*** that was as delusional as it gets. I get it right for the same period of time AND I am the one that others should avoid? No, lets have another 1500 posts about RUSSIANS!!!!!! that those with a brain and scintilla of self awareness knew was BS from day one and was going nowhere; just like it did. Or lets have another 1500 totally delusional driveby-pop-psych-analytical BS articles from people that have never been in the same zip code as the subject matter, let alone ever placed them on a psycho-analytic couch. Lets hand out another 3000-5000 thumbdowns and facepalms to the people that are actually getting it right. 

Or we could just keep posting myopic BS over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over....

Or we could stop, open our eyes, and quit the two-bit partisan gotchas and try and make the world better...

Nope, cant do that. M4A, A living wage, even ACA that ******* works, schools that work, not starting a war for profit, etc. "Come on Dave, We dont need to discuss any of that. It might offend the brainless sycophantic partisan rim-job-boys around here." 

 

[DKW 86 7,440]

Cuomo flatly denies any sexual harassment allegations, Restates that he will not resign for any reason.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/03/12/gov_cuomo_refuses_to_resign_people_know_the_difference_between_bowing_to_cancel_culture_and_the_truth.html

[AU9377 5,035]

5 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Are you a doppelganger? there are sssooo many that sound just like you on this forum.

If I have a doppelganger, send him over so that he can do some chores.  Seriously though, people can like or dislike Cuomo, but I don't care if he hugged someone 20 years ago and they thought that he held them a little too close.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

13 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Show me where i said he would be easily re-elected. Come on brad, you are better than a homeyism here.

I've literally already copied your post and bolded where you said he would be re-elected "over and over".  Stop being dense.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Brad_ATX

[DKW 86 7,440]

1 hour ago, Brad_ATX said:

I've literally already copied your post and bolded where you said he would be re-elected "over and over".  Stop being dense.

Brain Cramp.I had forgotten he was shooting for his 4th Term....

Apologies.

[TitanTiger 20,510]

How Cuomo’s Team Tried to Tarnish One of His Accusers

Maggie Haberman, Jesse McKinley

 

---

People tied to Gov. Andrew Cuomo sought to damage the credibility of Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to accuse Mr. Cuomo of sexual harassment.

 

Days after Lindsey Boylan became the first woman to accuse Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of sexual harassment in a series of Twitter posts in December, people tied to the governor started circulating an open letter that they hoped former staff members would sign.

The letter was a full-on attack on Ms. Boylan’s credibility, suggesting that her accusation was premeditated and politically motivated. It disclosed personnel complaints filed against her and attempted to link her to supporters of former President Donald J. Trump.

“Weaponizing a claim of sexual harassment for personal political gain or to achieve notoriety cannot be tolerated,” the letter concluded. “False claims demean the veracity of credible claims.”

The initial idea, according to three people with direct knowledge of the events, was to have former Cuomo aides — especially women — sign their names to the letter and circulate it fairly widely.

Multiple drafts were created, and Mr. Cuomo was involved in creating the letter, one of the people said. Current aides to the governor emailed at least one draft to a group of former advisers. From there, it circulated to current and former top aides to the governor.

It is not clear how many people were asked to sign the letter, but two former officials — speaking on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to anger Mr. Cuomo, New York’s Democratic governor — decided that they did not want their names on it.

The letter, which was reviewed by The New York Times, was never released. Ms. Boylan did not immediately elaborate or follow up on her Twitter posts in December, allowing her accusations to fade, along with the urgency of the effort to discredit her. Still, the letter shows that the Cuomo administration was poised to quickly and aggressively undercut Ms. Boylan, a Democrat who is running for Manhattan borough president.

At the time, officials in the governor’s office were aware of another sexual harassment issue involving Mr. Cuomo that had not yet become public.

Six months earlier, Charlotte Bennett, an executive assistant and senior briefer, had told two senior officials in the governor’s office that he had harassed her, asking her probing personal questions including whether she was monogamous and whether she slept with older men.

Ms. Bennett went public with her allegations in The New York Times last month, saying in an interview how she “understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me,” adding that she “felt horribly uncomfortable and scared.”

Ms. Bennett came forward just days after Ms. Boylan had written an essay on Medium, detailing the allegations that she initially made on Twitter on Dec. 13. Ms. Boylan wrote that the governor would repeatedly try to touch her on her arms, legs and lower back, and that he once suggested they “play strip poker.”

Since then, several other women have accused Mr. Cuomo of inappropriate conduct, from unwanted sexual advances to unsolicited kisses and groping.

The governor has denied ever touching anyone inappropriately and has pleaded with New Yorkers to await the outcome of two separate investigations: one overseen by the state attorney general, Letitia James, and another by the State Assembly. While Mr. Cuomo has suggested that some of his actions or statements may have been misinterpreted, his rejection of Ms. Boylan’s claims has been far more strenuous.

“I believe a woman has the right to come forward and express her opinion and express issues and concerns that she has,” Mr. Cuomo said on Dec. 14. “But it’s just not true.”

The allegations and resultant political firestorm have left the governor at the lowest political ebb in his decade-long tenure, defiantly resisting calls from most of the New York’s prominent elected officials to resign.

In an ABC News interview broadcast on Tuesday evening, President Biden said that he believed Mr. Cuomo should resign if investigators confirmed the accusers’ claims. The president’s remarks represented a slight shift — and increased stakes for Mr. Cuomo — from comments Mr. Biden had made on Sunday, when he noted only that “the investigation is underway and we should see what it brings us.”

Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, said on Tuesday that the administration had no comment on the letter about Ms. Boylan, citing the ongoing investigations.

At least one version of the letter included Ms. Boylan’s text exchanges with some of Mr. Cuomo’s senior advisers last year, in an effort to suggest that she was malicious. The Times is not quoting extensively from the letter, to avoid publishing character attacks that were not made publicly.

The draft extensively disparaged Ms. Boylan and accused her of using her claims for “political retribution.”

The letter pointed out that Ms. Boylan’s campaign consultant also represented a political adversary of the governor’s, and that Ms. Boylan was “supported by lawyers and financial backers of Donald Trump: an active opponent of the governor.”

The initial plan for a letter about Ms. Boylan illustrated how the Cuomo administration was prepared to launch a broader effort to damage her credibility.

The approach appeared consistent with a culture of intimidation from the governor’s office that former aides have described, and Ms. Boylan was clearly a target.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that aides to Mr. Cuomo called at least six former aides shortly after Ms. Boylan’s Twitter posts, which accused the governor of harassing her in front of others. The calls were to ask whether the former aides had heard from the accuser, or to learn things about her. Some of those contacted felt as though the calls were meant to intimidate them from speaking out.

Another of Mr. Cuomo’s accusers and another former aide, Ana Liss, said that she had received a call from a top adviser to the governor shortly after Ms. Boylan tweeted about the governor in December.

“I thought, why would he do that?” Ms. Liss, who now works for Monroe County, said in an interview. “He was trying to confirm how broad Lindsey’s network was.”

On Tuesday, Ms. Boylan’s lawyer, Jill Basinger, said the letter was another attempt to smear her client.

“Once again, a victim of sexual harassment who has the courage to tell her story is put in the position of not only having to relive the trauma of a toxic work environment but defend herself against the malicious leaking of supposed personnel files, character assassinations and a whisper campaign of retaliation,” Ms. Basinger said. “This page needs to be ripped out of the governor’s harassment handbook.”

The use of such tactics in harassment claims is so commonplace that it has its own acronym: DARVO, which stands for “deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.”

“It is incredibly common for individuals who experience sexual harassment to also experience retaliation,” said Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center, which runs the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. “We’ve heard from thousands of individuals who are seeking help to address workplace harassment, and more than 70 percent of them say they have also experienced retaliation.”

Shortly after Ms. Boylan had first accused Mr. Cuomo, several media organizations published details of her personnel records that were released by the Cuomo administration, outlining unflattering accounts of Ms. Boylan’s past actions as a boss and recommendations of disciplinary action against her.

For supporters of Mr. Cuomo, who has denied any wrongdoing, the documents were exculpatory, painting a picture of a disgruntled employee with an ax to grind.

Beth Garvey, the acting counsel to Mr. Cuomo, defended the release of Ms. Boylan’s records, saying on Tuesday that, with certain exceptions, “it is within a government entity’s discretion to share redacted employment records, including in instances when members of the media ask for such public information and when it is for the purpose of correcting inaccurate or misleading statements.”

She, too, cited the attorney general’s investigation and refrained from additional comment.

The speed at which the documents were provided was exceptional, particularly considering that statehouse reporters in Albany and elsewhere are accustomed to waiting for months, if not years, for access to public records through the state’s Freedom of Information Law.

“The administration has a well-documented record to being pretty closed on FOIL,” said Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, noting efforts to stymie reporters looking into Joseph Percoco, a close aide of Mr. Cuomo’s who was convicted of federal corruption charges in 2018. “There’s considerable and consistent examples of them making it extremely difficult to get records.”

Lawyers who work on sexual harassment said that an employee’s work history was immaterial to whether or not they can claim harassment.

“There’s not a defense to harassment that the person was a bad employee,” said Elizabeth Kristen, a senior staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work in San Francisco, adding, “It’s not even relevant. Maybe she was the worst employee in the world, but she could still be harassed.”

Luis Ferré-Sadurní contributed reporting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/nyregion/cuomo-lindsey-boylan.html

 

 

[DKW 86 7,440]

1 hour ago, TitanTiger said:

How Cuomo’s Team Tried to Tarnish One of His Accusers

Maggie Haberman, Jesse McKinley

 

---

People tied to Gov. Andrew Cuomo sought to damage the credibility of Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to accuse Mr. Cuomo of sexual harassment.

 

Days after Lindsey Boylan became the first woman to accuse Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of sexual harassment in a series of Twitter posts in December, people tied to the governor started circulating an open letter that they hoped former staff members would sign.

The letter was a full-on attack on Ms. Boylan’s credibility, suggesting that her accusation was premeditated and politically motivated. It disclosed personnel complaints filed against her and attempted to link her to supporters of former President Donald J. Trump.

“Weaponizing a claim of sexual harassment for personal political gain or to achieve notoriety cannot be tolerated,” the letter concluded. “False claims demean the veracity of credible claims.”

The initial idea, according to three people with direct knowledge of the events, was to have former Cuomo aides — especially women — sign their names to the letter and circulate it fairly widely.

Multiple drafts were created, and Mr. Cuomo was involved in creating the letter, one of the people said. Current aides to the governor emailed at least one draft to a group of former advisers. From there, it circulated to current and former top aides to the governor.

It is not clear how many people were asked to sign the letter, but two former officials — speaking on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to anger Mr. Cuomo, New York’s Democratic governor — decided that they did not want their names on it.

The letter, which was reviewed by The New York Times, was never released. Ms. Boylan did not immediately elaborate or follow up on her Twitter posts in December, allowing her accusations to fade, along with the urgency of the effort to discredit her. Still, the letter shows that the Cuomo administration was poised to quickly and aggressively undercut Ms. Boylan, a Democrat who is running for Manhattan borough president.

At the time, officials in the governor’s office were aware of another sexual harassment issue involving Mr. Cuomo that had not yet become public.

Six months earlier, Charlotte Bennett, an executive assistant and senior briefer, had told two senior officials in the governor’s office that he had harassed her, asking her probing personal questions including whether she was monogamous and whether she slept with older men.

Ms. Bennett went public with her allegations in The New York Times last month, saying in an interview how she “understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me,” adding that she “felt horribly uncomfortable and scared.”

Ms. Bennett came forward just days after Ms. Boylan had written an essay on Medium, detailing the allegations that she initially made on Twitter on Dec. 13. Ms. Boylan wrote that the governor would repeatedly try to touch her on her arms, legs and lower back, and that he once suggested they “play strip poker.”

Since then, several other women have accused Mr. Cuomo of inappropriate conduct, from unwanted sexual advances to unsolicited kisses and groping.

The governor has denied ever touching anyone inappropriately and has pleaded with New Yorkers to await the outcome of two separate investigations: one overseen by the state attorney general, Letitia James, and another by the State Assembly. While Mr. Cuomo has suggested that some of his actions or statements may have been misinterpreted, his rejection of Ms. Boylan’s claims has been far more strenuous.

“I believe a woman has the right to come forward and express her opinion and express issues and concerns that she has,” Mr. Cuomo said on Dec. 14. “But it’s just not true.”

The allegations and resultant political firestorm have left the governor at the lowest political ebb in his decade-long tenure, defiantly resisting calls from most of the New York’s prominent elected officials to resign.

In an ABC News interview broadcast on Tuesday evening, President Biden said that he believed Mr. Cuomo should resign if investigators confirmed the accusers’ claims. The president’s remarks represented a slight shift — and increased stakes for Mr. Cuomo — from comments Mr. Biden had made on Sunday, when he noted only that “the investigation is underway and we should see what it brings us.”

Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, said on Tuesday that the administration had no comment on the letter about Ms. Boylan, citing the ongoing investigations.

At least one version of the letter included Ms. Boylan’s text exchanges with some of Mr. Cuomo’s senior advisers last year, in an effort to suggest that she was malicious. The Times is not quoting extensively from the letter, to avoid publishing character attacks that were not made publicly.

The draft extensively disparaged Ms. Boylan and accused her of using her claims for “political retribution.”

The letter pointed out that Ms. Boylan’s campaign consultant also represented a political adversary of the governor’s, and that Ms. Boylan was “supported by lawyers and financial backers of Donald Trump: an active opponent of the governor.”

The initial plan for a letter about Ms. Boylan illustrated how the Cuomo administration was prepared to launch a broader effort to damage her credibility.

The approach appeared consistent with a culture of intimidation from the governor’s office that former aides have described, and Ms. Boylan was clearly a target.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that aides to Mr. Cuomo called at least six former aides shortly after Ms. Boylan’s Twitter posts, which accused the governor of harassing her in front of others. The calls were to ask whether the former aides had heard from the accuser, or to learn things about her. Some of those contacted felt as though the calls were meant to intimidate them from speaking out.

Another of Mr. Cuomo’s accusers and another former aide, Ana Liss, said that she had received a call from a top adviser to the governor shortly after Ms. Boylan tweeted about the governor in December.

“I thought, why would he do that?” Ms. Liss, who now works for Monroe County, said in an interview. “He was trying to confirm how broad Lindsey’s network was.”

On Tuesday, Ms. Boylan’s lawyer, Jill Basinger, said the letter was another attempt to smear her client.

“Once again, a victim of sexual harassment who has the courage to tell her story is put in the position of not only having to relive the trauma of a toxic work environment but defend herself against the malicious leaking of supposed personnel files, character assassinations and a whisper campaign of retaliation,” Ms. Basinger said. “This page needs to be ripped out of the governor’s harassment handbook.”

The use of such tactics in harassment claims is so commonplace that it has its own acronym: DARVO, which stands for “deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.”

“It is incredibly common for individuals who experience sexual harassment to also experience retaliation,” said Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center, which runs the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund. “We’ve heard from thousands of individuals who are seeking help to address workplace harassment, and more than 70 percent of them say they have also experienced retaliation.”

Shortly after Ms. Boylan had first accused Mr. Cuomo, several media organizations published details of her personnel records that were released by the Cuomo administration, outlining unflattering accounts of Ms. Boylan’s past actions as a boss and recommendations of disciplinary action against her.

For supporters of Mr. Cuomo, who has denied any wrongdoing, the documents were exculpatory, painting a picture of a disgruntled employee with an ax to grind.

Beth Garvey, the acting counsel to Mr. Cuomo, defended the release of Ms. Boylan’s records, saying on Tuesday that, with certain exceptions, “it is within a government entity’s discretion to share redacted employment records, including in instances when members of the media ask for such public information and when it is for the purpose of correcting inaccurate or misleading statements.”

She, too, cited the attorney general’s investigation and refrained from additional comment.

The speed at which the documents were provided was exceptional, particularly considering that statehouse reporters in Albany and elsewhere are accustomed to waiting for months, if not years, for access to public records through the state’s Freedom of Information Law.

“The administration has a well-documented record to being pretty closed on FOIL,” said Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, noting efforts to stymie reporters looking into Joseph Percoco, a close aide of Mr. Cuomo’s who was convicted of federal corruption charges in 2018. “There’s considerable and consistent examples of them making it extremely difficult to get records.”

Lawyers who work on sexual harassment said that an employee’s work history was immaterial to whether or not they can claim harassment.

“There’s not a defense to harassment that the person was a bad employee,” said Elizabeth Kristen, a senior staff attorney with Legal Aid at Work in San Francisco, adding, “It’s not even relevant. Maybe she was the worst employee in the world, but she could still be harassed.”

Luis Ferré-Sadurní contributed reporting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/nyregion/cuomo-lindsey-boylan.html

 

 

Just like i said. Cuomo just had a poll where: 

50%+ of voters still think he is doing a good job. 

60%+ of Dems think he is doung a great job 

69% of blacks think he is doing a great job. 

He hasnt even started roughing up the women good yet and he could be poised for a run at his 4th term. 4th Terms are in redibly hard. Not even his Dad did that. 

[autigeremt 6,683]

31 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

Just like i said. Cuomo just had a poll where: 

50%+ of voters still think he is doing a good job. 

60%+ of Dems think he is doung a great job 

69% of blacks think he is doing a great job. 

He hasnt even started roughing up the women good yet and he could be poised for a run at his 4th term. 4th Terms are in redibly hard. Not even his Dad did that. 

Must be a New York thing to have such people in positions of power. Trump/Cuomo 2024 🤣

[AU9377 5,035]

On 3/6/2021 at 4:41 PM, TitanTiger said:

Thanks, Chris.

The last "accuser" says that he was just always so nice to her that she knows he must have wanted more.  For the love of all living... wth does that mean?

[DKW 86 7,440]

Cuomo's Infrastructure politics are coming apart

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/03/20/why-is-andrew-cuomo-holding-on-blame-new-yorks-politics-of-masochism-477220

The bolts are giving way for New York governor Andrew Cuomo — literally. “Large numbers of bolts” pinning together the girders of the MARIO CUOMO Bridge across the Hudson River — the longest bridge in New York State — have “been breaking due to either improper installation techniques, manufacturing defects, or both,” according to a recent investigation by the Albany Times Union, which revealed potential fraud by contractors, abetted by less-than-vigorous state investigations.

The bridge, which was just completed in 2017 at a cost of almost $4 billion, was supposed to be the crown jewel of an infrastructure record the governor extols at every opportunity. It was Cuomo who named it after his late father, and even drove the ceremonial first car across it — a 1932 Packard once used by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Now, every other bolt could be in danger of snapping, which could make the whole span so unsafe that it needs to be rebuilt.

For mere mortals, the case of the bolting bolts could seriously threaten a political career — particularly coming, as it does, hard on the heels of accusations of sexual harassment made against Cuomo by multiple women, and charges that his administration covered up thousands of Covid-19 nursing home deaths. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing, but nearly every major elected politician in New York — Democratic as well as Republican — has called for him to 

And yet, it is far from clear that any of this will bring down Unaccountable Andy. Recent polls show that Cuomo’s constituents largely still have his back: Half of New York’s voters want him to stay in office, while smaller shares say it’s time for him to go. Democrats are even more supportive, with roughly two-thirds saying he shouldn’t resign.

FROM THE CITED POLL:

As elected officials turn up the pressure on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to resign over multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriately touching women, nearly half of voters (49 percent) in New York say that he should not resign while 43 percent say he should resign, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh- pea-ack) University poll of registered voters in New York State. The poll was conducted from March 16th - 17th. In a March 4th survey, voters said 55 - 40 percent he should not resign.

Today, Democrats say 67 - 23 percent he should not resign, 49 percent of independents say Cuomo should not resign with 42 percent saying he should resign, and Republicans say 72 - 26 percent he should resign.

In a separate question, voters were asked about the positions elected officials have taken about whether or not Governor Cuomo should step down. Just over 1 in 5 voters (22 percent) say they agree more with elected officials calling on Governor Cuomo to resign immediately. About three-quarters of voters (74 percent) say they agree more with elected officials saying they will wait until the New York Attorney General's independent investigation is completed before they decide whether or not to call for Governor Cuomo to resign.

"Though some of his fellow Democrats are clearly ready to usher him out the door of the Executive Mansion and point him toward the Thruway, the vast majority of the party sees a next step as necessary. They want a full investigation before deciding whether Cuomo should resign," said Quinnipiac Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.

A majority of voters (54 - 36 percent) say that Cuomo should not be impeached and removed from office. Ten percent did not offer an opinion.

Voters are split 47 - 46 percent on whether Cuomo has lost his ability to be an effective leader, compared to March 4th when 43 percent said he had lost his ability to be an effective leader and 53 percent said he had not.

Edited March 21, 2021 by DKW 86

[TitanTiger 20,510]

Rochester-area woman alleges Cuomo kissed her in front of her family

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is facing new sexual harassment allegations from a Rochester-area woman who says the governor held her hand, grabbed her face and kissed her on the cheek twice without her permission while visiting her family's residence following a flooding incident in 2017 in central New York.

Sherry Vill, 55, and her attorney Gloria Allred detailed the allegations during a virtual news conference Monday and provided a photo — taken from a screenshot of a video shot by Vill's son — that showed the governor kissing the married mother on the cheek during the storm-response visit. Allred said the allegations make Vill the 10th woman to accuse Cuomo of "inappropriate sexual conduct."

Vill and Allred said the unwanted advances by the governor was followed up by a letter he sent to Vill personally — without mentioning her husband or children who were also at the residence. An unidentified staff member of the governor also subsequently called Vill to invite her to attend an event with the governor, without mentioning her husband or other family members.

Allred said her client, who is a mother, grandmother and businesswoman, was “a victim of the governor’s unwelcome and unconsented-to physical contact with her.”...

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/New-accuser-alleges-Cuomo-kissed-her-in-front-of-16060895.php

[TitanTiger 20,510]

Assembly has enough Cuomo scandals to impeach the governor now (Editorial)

The Assembly Judiciary Committee conducted its first hearing Tuesday into the impeachment of Gov. Andrew Cuomo over allegations of sexual harassment and the cover-up of nursing home deaths. The hearing confirmed our worst fears.

The investigation is going to last months, not weeks, buying time for Cuomo to downplay his burgeoning scandals and for lawmakers to lose their nerve.

The Assembly could have — should have — drafted articles of impeachment weeks ago with the considerable evidence it has at hand. By choosing to throw the investigation to the Judiciary Committee, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie squandered considerable momentum in Albany for holding the governor accountable for his alleged abuses of power.

That included calls for Cuomo’s resignation from powerful Democrats in both houses of the Legislature an in Congress, up to Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

With the governor politically wounded and support in his own party evaporating, it was now or never. Heastie chose … some unspecified time in the future.

The fact-finding process by the Judiciary Committee’s hired-gun Albany law firm is an unnecessary delaying tactic. The Assembly could start impeachment proceedings today with the public admissions from the governor’s staff that they obscured the number of nursing home deaths from Covid-19, including an episode where they scrubbed a report of numbers that made their boss look bad. Then, Cuomo’s “vaccine czar” called county executives to gauge their political support, walking right up to the ethical line of trading vaccine allocations for loyalty. Now, the Albany Times-Union reports that Cuomo’s family and associates got special access to state Covid testing at a time such tests weren’t available to the general public.

As for the sexual harassment allegations, eight women inside and outside the administration are on the record with their complaints against Cuomo involving inappropriate touching, groping, questioning about sex and other lecherous behavior. The governor denies making physical advances but offered a weak “if I offended anyone” apology. Attorney General Letitia James has appointed two independent investigators to look into the incidents. There already are complaints that the administration is interfering with the probe.

Heastie and Judiciary Chairman Charles Lavine both argue the Assembly investigation is necessary to protect Cuomo’s right to due process. Yes, the governor is entitled to due process. He would get plenty of it during a public impeachment trial in the Senate, where he could face his accusers and make his case for retaining office.

And what about a fair hearing for the women who allege they were sexually harassed by the governor? Why should they trust this opaque and secretive investigation? Lindsey Boylan, a former Empire State Development executive who accused Cuomo of an unwanted kiss and inviting her to play strip poker, vowed not to cooperate with the Assembly’s “sham” investigation.

There are other problems with Judiciary’s probe. It will not be transparent. Meetings and testimony will happen behind closed doors. There is no deadline for completion, though Lavine said to expect it to take months, not weeks. Outside counsel Davis, Polk & Wardwell is under fire for a perceived conflict of interest; a former partner is married to Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, whom Cuomo appointed. The Judiciary Committee is stacked with lawyers, yet they outsource the investigation to insulate themselves from the governor’s wrath.

We praised Cuomo’s initial handling of the pandemic but were under no illusions about the governor’s long and well-earned reputation for bullying, controlling and sometimes corrupt behavior (see Moreland Commission, Joe Percoco, the Buffalo Billion). The editorial board endorsed his Republican opponent, Marc Molinaro, two years ago, citing corruption under the governor’s nose.

Calling for Cuomo to resign is a hollow gesture. He has no intention of quitting and no one can make him – except through a swift and transparent impeachment process.

If the Assembly has the guts to do it.

https://www.syracuse.com/opinion/2021/03/assembly-has-enough-cuomo-scandals-to-impeach-the-governor-now-editorial.html

[DKW 86 7,440]

Well I told you so...

The Dems have put the delay apparatus in place and will now just grab their ankles when whatever comes out. There was never going to be a resignation and now we pretty much know there will never be an impeachment. 

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Cuomo admin buried scientific paper on nursing home COVID deaths: report

Cliff Notes: Cuomo ordered the burying of the paper and coverup of the data as early as Spring of 2020. They buried two fact filled scientific reports. The administration, at Cuomo's order, knowingly lied to the media for months. There is no question of the truth here. Cuomo ordered the media blackout before he even signed the book deal. The book now looks more and more like CYA than good leadership. 

CNN, for their part, has buried whatever shards of credibility they once had. 

I think my eyes just rolled out of my head....

Edited April 30, 2021 by DKW 86

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More details emerged Wednesday about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s alleged cover-up of COVID-19 fatalities in nursing homes — including how his top aides muzzled state health officials for at least five months, according to a report.

The Cuomo administration was apparently aware of the true death toll in nursing homes since last spring, The New York Times reported.

But senior staffers buried a scientific paper that reported the number, blocked health officials from releasing the accurate tally and didn’t publicize an audit of the data until months after it was completed, the report alleges.

An email sent by top aide Melissa DeRosa to health officials on June 18 indicated the admin was “anxious” about a DOH report on nursing home coronavirus fatalities, the Times reported.

DeRosa apparently wanted the report to downplay the idea that the state’s controversial directive that required nursing homes to readmit infected COVID-19 patients was problematic.

The admin had faced criticism that the later-rescinded March 25 policy directive fueled outbreaks in hard-hit nursing homes.

They initially put the nursing home death toll at around 6,000 — though they were not counting residents who died in hospitals.

The draft report, which was obtained by the Times, put the number of residents with coronavirus killed through the end of May at 9,739 — far higher than what the admin was saying at the time.

The Cuomo administration initially estimated 6,000 nursing home residents had died from COVID-19, but the Department of Health’s draft report tallied 9,739 deaths by the end of May.

Timothy A. Clary/Pool via REUTERS

It found that “approximately 35 percent” of all deaths in the state were among nursing home residents.

But the report was never published. Instead, a version that was reportedly rewritten by senior Cuomo aides several times was released in July, claiming that only 21 percent of all New York COVID-19 deaths were in nursing homes.

The conclusions from the state’s own health experts were buried even as Cuomo publicly urged people to “Look at the data. Follow the science. Listen to the experts” when it came to the pandemic.

During an August hearing with the NY Legislature, Dr. Howard Zucker, the state’s health commissioner, said officials were worried about “double counting” or other issues with the data.

“When the data comes in,” he testified, “then I will be happy to provide that data to you.”

After those hearings, DeRosa instructed Gareth Rhodes, a former member of the COVID-19 task force, to go over the DOH numbers. He flagged 600 additional deaths, the Times reported.

A COVID-19 patient is wheeled into Cobble Hill Health Center by emergency medical workers in Brooklyn on April 17, 2020.

AP Photo/John Minchillo, File

However, that audit, reportedly sent to the governor’s office in early September, didn’t see the light of day either.

That month, the justice department sought documents and data from the Cuomo administration pertaining to COVID-19 related deaths in New York-run nursing homes, as The Post exclusively reported at the time.

In October, Cuomo reportedly acknowledged in a call with DeRosa, Zucker and other health officials that the figures would have to come out eventually. But he then asked for further analysis of the data, according to the Times.

The analysis didn’t change the figures. Still, two letters drafted by DOH officials that would have shared the number of nursing home deaths with state lawmakers were never sent, the Times reported.

The true toll wouldn’t be revealed until January– when State Attorney General Letitia James issued a stinging report that found Cuomo officials undercounted the COVID-linked deaths in nursing homes by 50 percent.

The Cuomo administration concealed nursing home death tallies from the state’s own health experts as Gov. Andrew Cuomo insisted on following “the science” and listening “to the experts”.

Spencer Platt/Pool via REUTERS

Within hours, Zucker added thousands to the death toll. More than 15,000 nursing home deaths have been reported.

Federal authorities are now investigating claims that the Cuomo administration intentionally undercounted or lied about the number of nursing home residents killed by the coronavirus.

The investigation was initiated after The Post exclusively revealed in February that DeRosa privately admitted to state Democratic lawmakers that his administration “froze” and withheld the total nursing home death toll from COVID-19 from them due to a then-pending probe by the Justice Department under the Trump administration.

Top Cuomo officials have since been subpoenaed for documents pertaining to the federal probe, and the governor himself hired lawyer Elkan Abramowitz to represent him in the nursing home scandal.

Funeral director Tom Cheeseman collects a body from a nursing home in Brooklyn on April 3, 2020.

AP Photo/John Minchillo, File

Abramowitz told the Times that the administration was reluctant to release numbers it did not believe were reliable.

“The whole brouhaha here is overblown to the point where there are cynical suggestions offered for the plain and simple truth that the chamber wanted only to release accurate information that they believed was totally unassailable,” he said.

“The chamber was never satisfied that the numbers that they were getting from DOH were accurate.”

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NYT: As Cuomo Sought $4 Million Book Deal, Aides Hid Damaging Death Toll

Gov. Andrew Cuomo boasted, “I am not a superhero,” in early versions of his book, drafted as his aides scrubbed a politically damaging Health Department report.

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An unpublished draft of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s book contained a three-page-long broadside against Mayor Bill de Blasio, the governor’s fellow Democrat and frequent political foe.Credit...Jeenah Moon/Getty Images

By Jesse McKinley, Danny Hakim and Alexandra Alter

Published March 31, 2021Updated April 28, 2021

ALBANY, N.Y. — As the coronavirus subsided in New York last year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had begun pitching a book proposal that would center on his image as a hero of the pandemic. But by early last summer, both his book and image had hit a critical juncture.

Mr. Cuomo leaned on his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, for assistance. She attended video meetings with publishers, and helped him edit early drafts of the book. But there was also another, more pressing edit underway at the same time.

An impending Health Department report threatened to disclose a far higher number of nursing home deaths related to the coronavirus than the Cuomo administration had previously made public. Ms. DeRosa and other top aides expressed concern about the higher death toll, and, after their intervention, the number — which had appeared in the second sentence of the report — was removed from the final version.

The revisions occurred as the governor was on the brink of a huge payoff: a book deal that ended with a high offer of more than $4 million, according to people with knowledge of the book’s bidding process.

 

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A New York Times examination of the development of Mr. Cuomo’s lucrative book deal revealed how it overlapped with the move by his most senior aides to reshape a report about nursing home deaths in a way that insulated the governor from criticism and burnished his image.

 

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Mr. Cuomo also utilized the resources of his office — from his inner circle to far more junior personnel — to help with the manuscript. In late June and early July, for example, a top aide to the governor, Stephanie Benton, twice asked assistants to print portions of the draft of the book, and deliver them to Mr. Cuomo at the Executive Mansion in Albany, where he lives.

One of Ms. Benton’s directives came on June 27, the same day that Ms. DeRosa convened an impromptu teleconference with several other top advisers to discuss the Health Department draft report.

On Wednesday, Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, rejected any link between Mr. Cuomo’s book and the Health Department report.

“There is no connection between the report and this outside project, period,” Mr. Azzopardi said. “And any suggestion otherwise is just wrong.”

 

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The book, “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic,” was a dramatic retelling of the battle against the virus in a state where nearly 50,000 people have died. It would garner Mr. Cuomo a fleeting spot on the best-seller list.

Emails and an early draft of Mr. Cuomo’s book obtained by The New York Times indicate that the governor was writing it as early as mid-June, relying on a cadre of trusted aides and junior staffers for everything from full-scale edits to minor clerical work, potentially running afoul of state laws prohibiting use of public resources for personal gain.

 

 

 

 

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Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to the governor, assisted Mr. Cuomo in editing his book and pitching it to publishers.Credit...Justin Lane/EPA, via Shutterstock

One aide to the governor, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said that she and others were also asked to assist in typing or transferring notes for Mr. Cuomo’s book, which he composed in part by dictating into a cellphone.

“Sorry lady can u print this too and put in a binder,” Ms. Benton wrote to another female staffer on July 5, a Sunday. “And drop at mansion.”

Ms. DeRosa, the highest nonelected official in Mr. Cuomo’s office, was particularly involved with the development of the book, and was present during some online pitch meetings with Mr. Cuomo. The July 5 request, in fact, was to print a 224-page draft entitled “MDR edits” — a reference to Ms. DeRosa, who had sent the draft to Ms. Benton on July 4, according to the emails. The staffers communicated via personal Gmail accounts, not official governmental email addresses.

Mr. Azzopardi said that Ms. DeRosa and Ms. Benton had “volunteered on this project” during their free time, something he added was “permissible and consistent with ethical requirements” of the state.

 

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As for the junior aides’ participation in tasks related to the book, he said, “Every effort was made to ensure that no state resources were used in connection with this project.”

“To the extent an aide printed out a document,” he said, “it appears incidental.”

Ms. DeRosa also had significant input on the July 6 report issued by the Department of Health, which basically cleared Mr. Cuomo’s administration of fault in its handling of nursing homes — discounting the impact of a March 2020 state memo that had asked such facilities to take in or readmit residents who had tested positive for the disease.

Critical changes had been made to the final version of the Health Department report, after concerns were raised about the data by Ms. DeRosa and a second Cuomo aide, Linda Lacewell, according to interviews and documents.

In two earlier drafts of the report, which were both reviewed by The Times, the second sentence said that “from March 1, 2020, through June 10, 2020, there were 9,844 fatalities among NYS nursing home residents with confirmed or suspected COVID-19.”

The earlier drafts were written by Eleanor Adams, a top state epidemiologist, and Jim Malatras, a former Cuomo aide who now serves as chancellor of the State University of New York system. The 9,844 death total was far higher than the 6,432 nursing home deaths used in the state’s final report, which continued the state’s practices of omitting the deaths of nursing home residents who died at the hospital.

Mr. Azzopardi said the July 6 report was intended to examine whether the administration’s policies “contributed to increased deaths, and not be a full accounting” of all nursing home residents who died. He added that the report had since been updated to include most “out of facility” deaths. It did not change the overall conclusions of the report, he said.

Mr. Cuomo, 63, has declined to confirm exactly how much he was paid for “American Crisis,” which was published by Crown Publishing Group in mid-October, just as a second wave of the coronavirus began to swell in New York.

 

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Crown declined to comment on the sale price or confirm that it slightly exceeded $4 million, a large sum for an author whose previous memoir, “All Things Possible,” from 2014, sold fewer than 4,000 hardcover copies.

The governor’s office said he would donate a “significant portion” of the book’s proceeds to a Covid-related charity, though he has not indicated how much; on Wednesday, Mr. Azzopardi reiterated that the governor’s book payment and charitable contributions would be released with his tax returns and state-mandated financial disclosures, both of which are due in mid-May.

Since the book’s publication, Mr. Cuomo has seen his carefully crafted public image badly tarnished as the revelations about obfuscation of the scope of nursing home deaths have resulted in a federal investigation.

At the same time, the governor has also been battling a series of sexual harassment accusations, including some from former employees like Charlotte Bennett and Lindsey Boylan, and a current aide, Alyssa McGrath. Those allegations have been the subject of an investigation overseen by the state attorney general, Letitia James, as well as one led by the State Assembly. The conclusions of those investigations are likely months away.

Mr. Cuomo’s draft of the book did contain some acknowledgment of problems with the nursing homes, including a suggestion — also included in “American Crisis” — that new facilities should be built to handle “infected people who do not require the acute care of a hospital but should not be sent to a nursing home or a rehabilitation center because they may not be prepared to provide the level of care and isolation a contagious person requires.”

The draft Ms. DeRosa worked on did not have any mention of the Health Department report, its data or its conclusions.

The draft also contains a three-page-long broadside against Mayor Bill de Blasio, the governor’s fellow Democrat and frequent political foe, which was cut from the final manuscript. He characterized the mayor as a political opportunist having “very little interest or aptitude for government policy or governmental operations.”

 

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Mr. Cuomo also compared his popularity rating to that of the mayor — “My popular rating in New York City has always been higher than his,” he wrote — and denigrated Mr. de Blasio as being “viewed as one of the worst mayors in modern history,” who suffers from “obvious ego driven narcissism.”

“De Blasio’s standing is somewhere between negative and irrelevant,” Mr. Cuomo wrote in the early July draft, before comparing him, unfavorably, to President Trump. “He is just annoying and counterproductive. Trump is a serious threat.”

Mr. Cuomo’s self-assessment, however, was often less critical.

“I have experience and a skill set that qualifies me as a good governor,” Mr. Cuomo wrote in his draft. “I have accomplished by any objective standard more than any governor in modern history. But I am not a superhero.”

Bill Neidhardt, the spokesman for Mr. de Blasio, said that “Andrew Cuomo writing about ego-driven narcissism sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.”

“It’s more of the same from a bully facing impeachment after covering up deaths at nursing homes and numerous credible accusations of sexual assault,” Mr. Neidhardt said.

The disclosure that Mr. Cuomo apparently used staff to assist with his book comes after revelations that his administration gave members of the governor’s family and other influential people special access to government-run coronavirus testing last March when such tests were difficult for most residents to obtain.

The list of those receiving preferred access included the governor’s mother, Matilda Cuomo; his younger brother, Chris Cuomo, the CNN anchor; and at least one of his sisters. On Thursday, The Times also reported that a pharmaceutical executive with longstanding ties to the state was able to secure testing in March for his family.

 

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Mr. Cuomo’s book has sold around 48,000 hardcover copies, according to NPD BookScan, but has seen its sales staggered by scandals surrounding his administration. In early March, Crown said that it would stop promoting “American Crisis,” because of a federal investigation into the withholding of data. The imprint also canceled plans for a paperback edition.

Mr. Cuomo’s draft of “American Crisis” contained some nuggets of self-reflection, including a take on his televised briefings last year, which led to him being one of the most popular political figures in the nation for a time.

“People are smart,” the governor wrote. “And after a while if they can watch you long enough, they can figure out who you are.”