7 July 2020: Toxic Culture on Display as Cuomo Loyalist Attacks Critics

Top Cuomo aide in spat with Rep. Stefanik over nursing home deaths

This report highlights a social media interaction between U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Governor Cuomo's political aide Richard Azzopardi, but is really about the bipartisan criticism of the New York Department of Health's report absolving itself of all blame in the thousands of coronavirus-related deaths of nursing home residents that complied with its 25 March 2020 directive. Here's an example of that bipartisan criticism from New York Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens):

“What the Department of Health released is nothing more than an industry-backed, corporatist sham of a report designed to scapegoat workers — the front-line heroes of this crisis — for fatal policies created by this administration and its lobbyists,” Kim said.

“My office did not wait until thousands of people died to investigate the nursing home crisis. With only basic due diligence, we uncovered malfeasance and misconduct on a such a scale that an independent investigation by a global entity may be required. This faulty and flaw-ridden report cannot be taken seriously. We will soon be releasing a far more comprehensive, transparent, and honest look at what really happened.”

Cuomo aide Richard Azzopardi responded by attacking Assemblyman Kim:

“Once again, Ron Kim doesn’t know what he’s talking about and apparently doesn’t care about embarrassing himself. The DOH report was peer reviewed by experts at Mount Sinai and Northwell Health and it’s disturbing that this politician is refusing to believe facts, science and dates on a calendar.”

The article indicates that both Mount Sinai and Northwell Health have potential conflicts of interest that could affect their impartiality in the investigation, and thus, their findings, which is why a genuinely independent investigation is warranted.

At the same time, anyone who understands the science of deadly viral infections would never have forced coronavirus-infected patients to be placed in facilities, such as nursing homes known to have chronic problems in preventing the spread of infections among their highly vulnerable residents, in the first place. Regardless of how panicked they may have been from flawed coronavirus model forecasts to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed by a projected surge of patients that fortunately never materialized.

As a reminder, the Cuomo administration is having difficulty finding someone willing to accept a job that pays $195,000 per year to oversee nursing homes in the state of New York because of the toxic culture many perceive has been fostered by Governor Cuomo and members of his administration.