26 March 2021: Who Will Investigate Cuomo's COVID Testing Scandal?

For Now, No Clear Investigation Emerges from COVID Testing Controversy

This report indicates the short answer to the question "who will investigate Governor Cuomo's testing scandal?" is "nobody knows".

It's not yet fully clear who would investigate the latest allegations against Cuomo, who is already plagued by controversies and investigations stemming from claims of sexual harassment and scrutiny over his handling of nursing home fatality data during the pandemic. In both of those instances, Cuomo's office has maintained he's never touched anyone inappropriately, nor did the state undercount resident deaths.

The official leading the state Assembly's impeachent probe suggests they're going to try to limit their focus on three of Governor Cuomo's scandals?

Assemblyman Charles Lavine, the top Democrat on the Assembly Judiciary Committee leading the impeachment investigation, said in an interview on Thursday the chamber's primary focus remained on the sexual harassment allegations, the handling of nursing homes and concerns over the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project.

Lavine offered up a lawyerly explanation of the impeachment investigations focus: “I don’t mean to suggest that the allegations involving preferential treatment will not be included in the probe, but the main focus is the three issues that I mentioned."

Meanwhile, the state's attorney general claims she doesn't have jurisdiction to investigate the Governor's alleged diversion of scarce resources to benefit his friends and family:

Attorney General Letitia James's office, which is investigating the sexual harassment reports through an appointed counsel, said through a spokesman it does not have jurisdiction to investigate the reports of preferential testing, but urged the Joint Commission on Public Ethics to take it up.

But the Joint Commission on Public Ethics may be compromised:

For good-government advocates, the agency is a flawed vehicle at best given its composition includes Cuomo appointees who lead it.

That's the situation of foxes guarding the henhouse. It also leads to the frustrating conclusion that nobody in New York will seriously investigate the Governor Cuomo's COVID testing for friends and family scandal:

"That's where this sort of gets dumped into the black hole," said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "How does it get resolved other than these other vehicles looking at harassment claims or impeachment? It gets dumped into that."