Thursday, May 27, 2021

27 May 2021: Cuomo, Heastie Teamed Up to Silence COVID Nursing Home Policy Critic

Cuomo used Speaker Heastie in bid to silence critic as Post exposed COVID coverup

Governor Cuomo is the most powerful politician in the state of New York. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is the most powerful lawmaker in New York.

According to this report, the two teamed up to use their power to try to silence critics of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive after Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa revealed to lawmakers the administration had covered up the full extent of COVID nursing home deaths in a teleconference on 10 February 2021, the news of which became public the following day.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie tried to help silence one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s most outspoken critics after The Post exclusively revealed the state’s cover-up of nursing home deaths from COVID-19, a smoking-gun text message shows.

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) said he got the message from an aide to Heastie in response to comments he made about The Post’s reporting that top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa had admitted in a meeting with Albany Democrats that administration officials withheld the total death toll from both lawmakers and the public.

The speaker’s aide told Kim that Heastie (D-The Bronx) was “relaying the message” — in which Cuomo provided a statement for Kim to walk back his remarks — on behalf of the governor, the assemblyman said....

Kim said he was “stunned” when he saw the message, adding, “I came to the conclusion that if I put out this statement, that I would be complicit in the cover-up.”

“Beyond that, the thousands of families I told I would protect — I would have thrown them under the bus,” he added.

Here's the full text of the statement that Governor Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Heastie attempted to get Assemblyman Kim to put out in his name to mislead the public about the nature of the information that was revealed at the 10 February 2021 teleconference:

“The Post article did not put into proper context my comments concerning the meeting, so I think it is important to provide more perspective. The purpose of the meeting was to get overdue responses to questions we had, and I believe it was productive. Administration officals at the meeting contended the Trump Administration had initiated a politically motivated effort to blame democratic states for COVID deats and that the State received a document request from the Department of Justice which had to be fulfilled on a priority basis and therefore state legislative responses were delayed. At the meeting, Melissa DeRosa assured us that the legislative responses will now be prioritized. I look forward to receiving this information.”

Shortly after this message was conveyed to Kim, he refused to retract his remarks, which resulted in a belligerent call from Governor Cuomo attempting to bully him into complying with his strategy.

If Governor Cuomo and Speaker Heastie's attempt to draft and convey a statement for a state lawmaker to give to the press sounds unusual, it is.

Cameron Macdonald of the nonprofit Government Justice Center and also an adjunct at the conservative Empire Center for Public Policy called Cuomo’s request to Heastie “problematic” and said “it was inappropriate for the Speaker to act on it.”

“They placed party politics and loyalty over accountability,” Macdonald said.

“Such coordination between the Governor and the Speaker casts doubt on the Speaker’s desire to lead the Legislature’s oversight role.”

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-The Bronx) said, “We need to be concerned... because we are an independent branch of government and we should operate independently from the executive.”

Here are related entries from the timeline:

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