30 September 2021: NY Assembly Judiciary Committee Still Planning to Release Cuomo Impeachment Probe Report

Judiciary Committee continuing with plan to release impeachment inquiry report on Cuomo

This report is not really news, because the NY Assembly Judiciary Committee hasn't yet released the findings from its impeachment probe of Andrew M. Cuomo's alleged misconduct in office or indicated exactly when it will. So let's call it what it is: a status update:

The New York Assembly Judiciary Committee is still moving forward with its plan to release a report following an impeachment inquiry into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

It’s still unclear when the report will be completed or made public.

Members of the Judiciary Committee were able to look at evidence related to the investigation about a month ago, but committee member Phil Steck said members have not met since reviewing the evidence.

Sounds pretty typical for the Judiciary Committee. We look forward to their next status update.

30 September 2021: Howard Zucker's Pending Retirement a Step Closer

Hochul announces new health commissioner to succeed Zucker

The ethically compromised doctor heading New York's Department of Health, Howard Zucker, was moved a step closer to his pending retirement. Replacement Governor Kathy Hochul announced she has found a replacement Health Commissioner for the state:

Dr. Mary T. Bassett, a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, has been appointed state health commissioner by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Bassett, who was the New York City health commissioner from 2014 to 2018, will succeed Dr. Howard Zucker, who resigned last week but had agreed to stay on until a successor was named.

According to the governor's office, Bassett brings decades of experience to the position, most recently serving as the director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University as well as the FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Bassett is taking over leadership of a health department that has staffing shortages at key positions. Earlier this month, its second-in-command, Lisa J. Pino, departed after a little more than a year in the job. She was replaced by Kristin M. Proud, now the acting executive deputy commissioner....

The health department has been on the front line of the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and became embroiled in controversies during the crisis, mostly involving issues related to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and top members of his administration. There are pending investigations of some of those matters, including allegations that Cuomo, with Zucker's assistance, had directed priority coronavirus testing for members of Cuomo's family and people with connections to the governor.

By "some of those matters", the author of this report means the matter of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive, which forced New York nursing homes to blindly admit COVID patients being dumped out of hospitals under a policy developed, implemented, and enforced by the NYDOH under Howard Zucker. And then there's also the matter of Zucker's participation and complicity in the Cuomo administration's attempted cover-up of the full extent of the deaths that resulted among New York's nursing home residents.

30 September 2021: Pressure on Hochul to Oust Cuomo Loyalist Heading State's Open Government Committee

Coalition urges Gov. Hochul to overhaul Open Government Committee

Pressure is being put on replacement Governor Kathy Hochul to remove the Andrew M. Cuomo-appointee heading New York's Committee on Open Government, Shoshanah Bewlay.

A good government group charged Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday to change the head of the state Committee on Open Government — an appointee of disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s — and reconstruct the agency’s structure to keep her promise of running a transparent administration.

The state Coalition for Open Government sent a letter to Hochul urging her to make significant changes within the agency as she has vowed to operate a more open and trustworthy state government since she became the state’s 57th governor Aug. 24.

“In order for you to achieve a new era of transparency, you must rid yourself of appointees selected through Cuomo’s flawed way of doing public business,” Coalition for Open Government President Paul Wolf wrote in Wednesday’s letter. “Several Cuomo appointees have recently resigned from their positions. The same house cleaning needs to occur at the Committee on Open Government.”

Committee on Open Government Executive Director Shoshanah Bewlay assumed the role in 2020 after longtime director Bob Freeman resigned in June 2019 over accusations of sexual misconduct involving female reporters.

Wolf sharply criticized Bewlay’s appointment, which took place behind closed doors, and highlighted her past record of denying each of 10 appeals of FOIL requests denied to the Albany Times Union when she worked as an attorney.

The same housecleaning needs to be applied through every department of New York's state government.

30 September 2021: NY Lawmakers Want $4B Fund to Compensate COVID Nursing Home Victims

NY lawmakers seek to create $4B nursing home victims compensation fund

How much are the lives of the residents who died after being exposed to COVID as a result of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive during the period it was in effect? This report indicates New York legislators are setting up a $4 billion fund to compensate the victims' families for their deaths.

State lawmakers want to set up a massive $4 billion nursing home victims compensation fund aimed at providing fiscal relief for the thousands of families whose relatives died after contracting COVID-19 in nursing homes.

The legislation — sponsored by state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-The Bronx) and Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) — will allow families to submit applications to a nursing home victims compensation board and receive payments from the state.

The bill is modeled after the Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund to provide aid to victims of the terror attacks, including those with medical conditions from breathing the toxic stew from the collapsing World Trade Center towers.

Families will be eligible for a minimum payout of $250,000 for every loved one who died of the virus, and spouses and dependents will each be able to receive a minimum payment of $100,000, Kim said.

“The Justice for Nursing Home Victims Act will make it very expensive for our state and the nursing home industry to commit eldercide. At the peak of the pandemic, it is abundantly clear that our state government’s only motivating factor was protecting industry profits over people’s lives,” said Kim.

Setting up this fund is all but saying the policies of the Cuomo administration are responsible for contributing to the COVID deaths of nursing home residents. Their actions to force nursing homes to admit COVID patients being dumped out of hospitals to free up hospital beds and to block nursing homes from testing those patients to see if their coronavirus infections were still contagious bear responsibility for excess COVID deaths among New York's elderly population. Meanwhile, Andrew M. Cuomo's gift of legal immunity to hospital and nursing home operators for COVID deaths constitutes what Kim describes as "protecting industry profits".

We think it was inevitable given the nature of Andrew M Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals that the state government would be held liable for COVID deaths attributable to the Cuomo administration's policies. The proposal discussed in this report is an opening bid for setting a monetary value on the lives that were lost.

29 September 2021: Editorial - New York Needs Someone to Clean Up Cuomo and Zucker's Mess

Editorial: New York needs a trusted voice

This editorial describes what kind of characteristics replacement NY Governor Hochul needs for her as yet unnamed replacement NY Health Commissioner to have. But more importantly, it describes why trustworthiness is at the top of the list.

The damage Andrew Cuomo and Dr. Howard Zucker did to the state Department of Health is immeasurable. Time and time again, the former governor and his health commissioner subsumed the department’s integrity to the burnishing of Mr. Cuomo’s reputation — and to their everlasting shame, the men did so even as New York was confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perhaps the most egregious example is the intentional underreporting of nursing home deaths after the controversial mandate requiring that the facilities accept COVID-positive patients. In an effort apparently aimed at limiting any negative impact to the velocity of what was then Mr. Cuomo’s rising star, the administration and Dr. Zucker’s department manipulated COVID-19 data reported to the public, cleansed an official report of accurate numbers and stonewalled state legislators and reporters seeking an honest death count.

That scandal was enough to warrant Mr. Cuomo and Dr. Zucker losing their jobs, but, alas, it wasn’t the end. Those misdeeds were accompanied by the VIP COVID-19 testing afforded to the former governor’s friends and family — a wholly inappropriate and perhaps illegal program that used public resources, including top Health Department officials and state troopers, to hurry samples to and through the Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany.

We could point to additional failures by Dr. Zucker, including his laissez-faire approach to the water contamination crisis faced by Hoosick Falls beginning in 2014, and it will always be confounding that he allowed his own reputation and that of the Health Department to be so sullied. Why didn’t Dr. Zucker take a stand for integrity? Why didn’t he stand up to Mr. Cuomo?

Answers to those questions may never come, although state and federal investigations are ongoing. What has been clear since the day of Mr. Cuomo’s August resignation is the need for New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul, to replace Dr. Zucker with a health commissioner who can restore confidence and repair damaged trust.

New Yorkers, and Hochul, would benefit from following a two track approach. First, she needs to pursue criminal cases against Andrew M. Cuomo, his inner circle, and the members of his administration who participated in its COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

Second, she needs to ensure enough information becomes available to the families of the victims of that scandal to allow them to relentlessly pursue justice through civil litigation. Making the public data the state has collected available to all the public is a small step she could take to advance that second track along.

29 September 2021: Tish James Speaks About Cuomo Abuses of Power

29 September 2021: Tish James Speaks About Cuomo Abuses of Power

Campaign speech? Attorney General Letitia James goes on offensive against Cuomo

New York State Attorney General Letitia "Tish" James spoke about Andrew M. Cuomo's misconduct in office today, while playing coy over whether she might run for NY governor in 2022. The following excerpt focuses on James' comments made while speaking to the Association for a Better New York (ABNY):

"The former governor has spent a lot of energy criticizing it and me," James said. "Until now, I've chosen to take the high road. I've chosen not to respond in detail. That changes today."...

"Mr. Cuomo broke the laws he championed," James said. "He has never taken responsibility for his own conduct. He has never held himself accountable for how his behavior affected our state government."...

"Mr. Cuomo broke the laws he championed," James said. "He has never taken responsibility for his own conduct. He has never held himself accountable for how his behavior affected our state government."

On Wednesday, James demurred when asked whether she is running for governor.

She also made a clear distinction between her conduct and Andrew M. Cuomo's conduct when he launched his own investigation of a New York governor involved in scandals:

James noted that her investigation began based on a referral from Cuomo himself. She said Cuomo did not wait for such a referral when he, as attorney general of the state, investigated former Governor Eliot Spitzer.

"My office appointed outside, independent investigators," she said. "By contrast, Mr. Cuomo used his own staff."

Cuomo's allies have called James' investigation politically motivated and suggested it was meant to remove him from office so she could ascend to the governor's office.

Note that last sentence. Isn't that how Andrew M. Cuomo got himself into the Executive Mansion in Albany?

29 September 2021: Coalition of Groups Seek Public Data Team Cuomo Kept Hidden

Advocates and Journalists Push Hochul to Release Troves of Covid Data

A range of good government groups and journalists representing interests across the political spectrum are pushing replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul to make the public data the Cuomo administration kept secret from the public available to the public.

A coalition of advocacy groups is pushing Governor Kathy Hochul to release over 100 datasets related to the coronavirus pandemic in New York that they believe the state is keeping. The groups say that information can be used by scientists, journalists, and advocates to better understand the virus, its impact on public health, and the state's response.

In a letter to Hochul, the coalition identified 123 datasets it said should be made available "without delay," of which only 14 have been published on the state's open data portal in a way that is easy to read and analyze. Another 64 sets have been published across various portals and websites in formats, like graphs, that cannot be broken down into more granular detail....

"Publishing COVID data in a tabular, downloadable, machine-readable format would help restore trust in state government and help researchers, journalists and the public to better understand the dire pandemic that has cost us loved ones and continues to upend everyday life," reads the letter, dated September 7 and signed by ten organizations “from across the political spectrum.” The advocates include good government groups like Reinvent Albany, Citizens Union, Common Cause NY, and the Empire Center, journalist associations like the New York News Publishers Association, national organizations like the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and civic data group BetaNYC.

The information being sought by the groups includes data that would have better informed the public and better directed the efforts of public health officials had the Cuomo administration made it available to capable data analysts outside its control. More importantly, the data belongs to the public, whose taxes paid for it to be collected in the first place.

But officials like Howard Zucker, Melissa DeRosa, and Andrew M. Cuomo chose to keep the public in the dark. In doing so, they made New York's experience during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 worse than it would have been had they not been seeking to cover-up the bad policy decisions they made, such as the tragedy that resulted from their deadly 25 March 2020 directive.

There's a reason why the timeline has featured a photo representing these three individuals at the top of the site since its launch, which we cropped to symbolically illustrate their roles in orchestrating Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. The two you see are already out of power, with the third (of whom you only see part) soon to join them.

29 September 2021: NY Taxpayers Will Pay At Least $9.5M of Cuomo Legal Bills

Cuomo legal woes continue, could cost public at least $9.5M

Although he resigned from office, Andrew M. Cuomo will continue milking New York taxpayers for all their worth. This report indicates the taxpayers of New York will pay up to $9.5 million of his accumulating legal bills.

Resigning from office probably didn’t end former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s legal problems, and no matter what happens next, taxpayers are likely to wind up with a hefty bill.

The state has already agreed to pay up to $9.5 million to lawyers representing and investigating Cuomo and his administration over sexual harassment allegations and other matters, according to The Associated Press’ review of available contracts.

That figure — which represents the maximum amount that could be spent, not actual bills submitted so far — includes up to $5 million for lawyers who have represented Cuomo’s office, up to $3.5 million for lawyers hired by the state attorney general to investigate sexual harassment allegations against the Democrat, and at least $1 million in bills for lawyers hired by the legislature as part of an impeachment investigation. It doesn’t include the legal fees of Cuomo’s private attorney, Rita Glavin, whose bills are being paid by his campaign committee.

It also doesn't include the cost of any legal settlements or adverse judgments in favor of any of the many parties that will file civil suits seeking damages against the disgraced former governor.

27 September 2021: Chris Cuomo's Sexual Harassment Accuser Not Impressed with His Response

Shelley Ross, Chris Cuomo's former boss who alleges he sexually harassed her 16 years ago, says the CNN anchor is 'no more enlightened today than he was then'

We're back to covering the bottom stories of the day, which by definition, involve the ethically-crippled Chris Cuomo, the primetime face of discredited CNN. In this interview with Business Insider, Cuomo's former boss at ABC News is not impressed with his response to her essay detailing his sexual harassment of her in 2006.

Ross, who was the executive producer of an ABC entertainment special at the time and previously worked as Cuomo's executive producer at "Primetime Live," told Insider she believed Cuomo hadn't done the work to better himself since the incident.

"I was hoping that in 15, 16 years that he had changed, but he's no more enlightened today than he was then, as demonstrated by his response," she said.

In response to Ross' op-ed Cuomo told The Times: "As Shelley acknowledges, our interaction was not sexual in nature. It happened 16 years ago in a public setting when she was a top executive at ABC. I apologized to her then, and I meant it."

Cuomo did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Ross said his response "demonstrated" that he had not grown from the incident.

"I don't acknowledge that there's anything that was 'our interaction.' I was not a participant," she said. "I was groped. And so to say that I acknowledge interaction, no. That shows a lack of enlightenment."

That's a Cuomo characteristic. Always trying to spin things to put themselves in a good light. Shame it never holds up under any close scrutiny.

In the meantime, there are indications that people within CNN would like Cuomo to be shown the door.

Chris Cuomo’s female exec producer begged to leave, felt ‘threatened’ by him

This report doesn't deal with Chris Cuomo's sexual harassment incident at his previous employer, it instead deals with the toxic work environment he has established on his current job.

The female producer of Chris Cuomo’s show “Cuomo Prime Time” begged to leave his show after the pair clashed over “significant differences” — with multiple TV sources saying she found the hot-headed host’s behavior threatening.

Melanie Buck was executive producer of “Cuomo Prime Time” from April 2018 but was suddenly replaced by Izzy Povich in March 2020 — shortly before Cuomo melodramatically returned to the world from his basement in the Hamptons following weeks of COVID-19 quarantine.

A CNN insider confirmed Buck went to CNN boss Jeff Zucker and asked to be taken off Cuomo’s show and moved to another department, which he agreed to. The insider denied rumors that Buck was given a significant pay-off to stay silent over her spat with the agitable anchor.

More than one source told us of Buck, “She felt threatened”

The key words in the excerpt above are "more than one source". With a growing number of CNN staff willing to come forward to talk to outside media reporters, it's almost a sure bet there will be more negative stories featuring Chris Cuomo. It looks like they've had enough and want him gone, so it's a question now of how CNN's leadership will deal with a brewing staff rebellion.

27 September 2021: Janice Dean Says Howard Zucker Should Go To Jail

Fox News Meteorologist who lost relatives in nursing homes says Zucker should "go to jail"

Since the news stream for Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals has slowed to follow the pace of legal developments and official press briefings, we're taking the opportunity to play catch up with a recent story the timeline originally skipped over. This report is from 23 September 2021:

Fox News Senior Meteorologist Janice Dean lost both her mother-in-law and father-in-law from COVID-19 in nursing homes downstate in 2020. Soon after, Dean went on a mission to get accountability, attending several rallies in Albany and around the state, demanding to know why Commissioner Zucker and then-Governor Andrew Cuomo created a policy that required nursing homes to take in patients who were known to be COVID-19 positive. That policy, implemented March 25th, 2020, is believed to have helped cause the spread that led to more than 15,000 deaths in nursing homes.

“Howard Zucker is just as guilty maybe even more guilty than Andrew Cuomo. He was the one who also allowed the friends and family COVID tests to happen. Essentially taking away all of these resources that could have gone to good use to help the nursing homes,” Dean said. “I would have liked it to be a firing just like I would have liked Cuomo to be impeached, I think Howard Zucker should be fired and he should probably go to jail too,” she continued.

With a federal investigation still active into Cuomo over what the New York State Attorney General found was an undercount of reported nursing home deaths during the pandemic, and an Assembly Judiciary Committee report into that data still pending, Dean believes that there will be more bombshells to come.

“I wonder if this resignation is preemptive to the investigation and to the impeachment report that is supposed to come out in the next couple of weeks,” Dean said.

It's not a bad speculation. When the sexual harassment allegations arose, it provided the majority Democratic Party in New York with a tool they could use to remove Andrew M. Cuomo from power while limiting political damage to members of their party within the state government that would have occurred had the COVID nursing home deaths scandal been the primary focus of the assembly's impeachment probe. That's because the COVID nursing home deaths scandal involved the active participation of many more members of the party than have so far been ousted following Cuomo's resignation in disgrace.

We have our doubts as to whether the NY Assembly's report on what it found during its impeachment probe will come out as soon as Dean anticipates, but that event when it does arrive will indicate how deeply the assembly's investigators pursued it. Our guess is "not very".

We anticipate a slow news period until the report is released. That may mean less-than-daily updates to the timeline.

25 September 2021: Editorial - Zucker Owes Explanation to Grieving Families

Editorial: Zucker owes grieving families an explanation

This editorial from HudsonValley360 explains why the disgraced, retiring New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has a lot of explaining to do:

State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker's blind loyalty to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo undermined his tenure as much as allegations of sexual misconduct did to Cuomo's reputation and political career....

Under direct questioning from state lawmakers last August, Zucker refused to provide an updated count of the number of coronavirus-positive nursing home patients who died in New York hospitals and circumvented other inquiries about the state's handling of COVID-19 in congregate facilities.

Zucker's eagerness to avoid direct answers helped cement the Cuomo administration's reputation as a governmentthat made big noises about transparency and failed to demonstrate it. His lack of empathy toward the families of nursing home residents who died of COVID was a shameless bureaucratic exhibition.

Hochul clearly planned to clean house and replace Cuomo's legions with her own staffmembers, so Zucker's resgnation may look to some as an anticlimax. As he departs, though, Zucker needs to give those still-grieving families closure by coming clean and speaking the truth about what happened last summer.

Indeed. Zucker has much to answer for. Here are examples of what he needs to account for from the timeline:

• 25 March 2020: A Deadly Directive Is Issued
• 8 April 2020: New York DOH Won't Release COVID Nursing Home Death Data
• 18 April 2020: NY DOH's Initiates Systematic Collection of COVID Death Data for Nursing Home Residents
• 27 May 2020: Cuomo Polls Poorly for Nursing Home Policy, What Laws May Cuomo Have Broken?
• 5 July 2020: Top Cuomo Staffer Edits His Pandemic "Leadership" Book, NY DOH Nursing Home Report
• 3 August 2020: Hearings Into Cuomo Nursing Home Policies Begin in NY Legislature
• 12 August 2020: NY Health Commissioner Stonewalls Legislators, Denies PPE Shortages at Nursing Homes
• 12 November 2020: 100 Days of Cuomo Administration NY DOH Stonewalling
• 23 December 2020: Where Is The NY DOH's Data?
• 25 January 2021: NY Lawmakers Getting Tired of Being Jerked Around by Team Cuomo
• 28 January 2021: NY AG Confirms Team Cuomo Hiding Extent of COVID Deaths in Nursing Homes
• 2 February 2021: Dem NY Lawmakers Call NY DOH Commissioner Zucker a Liar
• 11 February 2021: NY DOH Sneakily Established COVID-Only Nursing Homes Months After Most Needed
• 19 February 2021: NY DOH Commissioner Zucker Confirms Deadly Directive Originated in Panic
• 25 February 2021: NY Lawmakers Want to Know How Many Cuomo's Deadly Directive Killed
• 18 March 2021: NY Nursing Homes "More Petrified" of NY DOH Than COVID
• 25 March 2021: Looking Out for Número Cuomo
• 29 March 2021: NY DOH Director Howard Zucker and Cuomo Defender Beth Garvey Get Nasty on Call with Nursing Homes
• 7 April 2021: Cuomo Excuses for COVID Nursing Home Death Data Stonewalling Confirmed False
• 9 April 2021: NY Nursing Home Coverup "Even Worse Than We Knew"
• 16 April 2021: An Ongoing Exodus of NY DOH Officials
• 28 April 2021: Confirmed - Team Cuomo Cover-up of NY Nursing Home COVID Deaths Began in April 2020
• 5 May 2021: Cuomo Claims Deadly Directive Was "Smart"
• 8 May 2021: Cuomo Heavily Relied on NY DOH Commissioner Zucker at Peak of Pandemic
• 18 May 2021: "Looking Out for Número Cuomo" COVID Test Doctor Resigns State Government Job
• 18 August 2021: Empire Center Releases Report "Like Fire Through Dry Grass"
• 23 August 2021: Cuomo Leaving NY DOH Staffing Mess Behind
• 23 September 2021: Howard Zucker Announces Resignation

25 September 2021: Opinion - Howard Zucker's Legacy of Cover-Ups

Churchill: Howard Zucker should have been fired after Hoosick Falls

Albany Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill reviews Howard Zucker's career and finds a legacy of failure and disturbing dishonesty. It's well worth clicking through to read the whole thing, but here's a short excerpt:

It was his Health Department that issued that controversial March 2020 order forcing New York nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients. The nursing homes, as you may remember, weren't even allowed to test incoming patients for the virus.

The mandate, which sent 9,000 virus patients into nursing homes, was foolish and ultimately reversed, but what Cuomo and Zucker did over the months that followed was arguably more egregious. They refused to tell New Yorkers how many nursing home residents had died of COVID-19.

Here's how Bill Hammond of the Empire Center for Public Policy put it: "When (the order) was blamed for worsening the death toll in nursing homes, Zucker played a central role in the Cuomo administration’s efforts to obscure what happened — by misstating how the directive worked, withholding data, publishing falsified research under the health department’s name and stonewalling inquiries from the Legislature."

The nursing home scandal was an echo of Hoosick Falls. In both cases, a vulnerable population with little political power was left exposed by Zucker's department. In both cases, mistakes were followed by deflection and shocking dishonesty.

Again, do click through to read the whole thing. Although we focused on the COVID nursing homes scandals in the featured excerpt, Zucker's role in the Hoosick Falls poisoned water scandal was his on-the-job training for learning how to cover up a health care scandal on his watch.

25 September 2021: COVID Victim's Son Calls Howard Zucker an "Enabler", "Complicit"

Son of COVID Victim: Zucker is complicit

Dan Mathias' mother died in an upstate New York nursing home after having been exposed to COVID-19 during the period the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect. He holds Howard Zucker, New York's Health Commissioner, accountable for his role in developing and implementing that policy for contributing to her death:

Doris Mathias was 102 years young when she passed away of COVID-19 in a Buffalo-area nursing home in May 2020.

Her son, Dan Mathias of Clifton Park, says his mother would have wanted him to speak out about the circumstances of her death, including what he sees as a massive cover-up after the fact.

"She was a very honest person, and I'm sure she'd want me to be honest about what's going on and push to get to the bottom of something like this," he said.

Toward that end, Mathias, early on, urged local state lawmakers to investigate what he saw as a major inside manipulation of the nursing home numbers, accusing the then-Gov. Cuomo of obscuring health data for political gain, and suggesting that Dr. Howard Zucker, the New York State health commissioner, was complicit.

"It was his responsibility to provide actual data about what was going on, so the public had an understanding, and he didn't do that," Mathias stated....

"He was an enabler of what took place. He was complicit," Mathias continued. "For what ever reason, for what ever political or personal reason. To give someone an Emmy or to write a management book that you could sell, he was complicit in not being upfront and honest about the data."

Mathias indicates he has low confidence that state lawmakers will pursue serious investigations of Zucker's role in developing and implementing the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive forcing nursing homes to blindly admit COVID patients being dumped out of New York hospitals to free up their bed space or its subsequent cover-up of the full extent of COVID deaths among nursing home residents that resulted.

25 September 2021: Hochul Begins Purge of Cuomo Appointees

Hochul launching purge of Cuomo cronies from Albany: sources

Replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul has begun purging officials appointed to state government positions by Andrew M. Cuomo. This report indicates "at least nine bureaucrats" who have either resigned or will be removed from power "within the next few days":

At the top of the list of departures is Michael Hein, the former Ulster County Executive who was tapped by Cuomo in 2019 to oversee the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hein was put in charge of the regional control room for the Hudson Valley, monitoring key health metrics as the state tentatively reopened in the summer of 2020.

In recent months, Hein was supposed to oversee the distribution of $2.6 billion in federal funding to help tenants pay back rent and utility bills. He was criticized for failing to hand out the money fast enough.

On Aug. 10, the day Cuomo announced his resignation, Hein admitted to lawmakers at an Assembly hearing that he had never spoken to the then-governor about the program, which was created by Congress at the beginning of this year.

Other officials headed for the door, according to sources, include: Dr. Theodore Kastner, commissioner of the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities; Arlene González-Sánchez, head of the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services; Kenneth Theobalds, chair of the New York State Insurance Fund; Human Rights Division Commissioner Licha Nyiendo; Deputy Secretary for General Government and Technology Molly Reilly; Deputy Secretary for Civil Rights and Workforce Debra Alligood White; Director of Cannabis Program Norman Birenbaum and Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Jeremy Shockett.

The report also summarizes Howard Zucker's announcement of his pending resignation as New York Health Commissioner, recounting his role in the Cuomo nursing home deaths scandals.

24 September 2021: The Media's Knives Come Out for Chris Cuomo

By definition, any story involving the host of CNN's PrimeTime broadcast, Chris Cuomo, qualifies as the bottom story of the day. That said, the knives really came out for him today.

Chris Cuomo Sexually Harassed Me. I Hope He'll Use His Power to Make Change

Proving once again that the one type of scandal the New York Times cares enough about to cover more than any other is sexual harassment, the newspaper gave op-ed space to ABC News' Shelley Ross, who recounted a 2005 episode where Chris Cuomo sexually harassed her in front of her husband. It's remarkable in the sense that Ross had been Cuomo's boss and had chosen to keep quiet about the episode for so long. At least, until now.

I was at the party with my husband, who sat behind me on an ottoman sipping his Diet Coke as I spoke with work friends. When Mr. Cuomo entered the Upper West Side bar, he walked toward me and greeted me with a strong bear hug while lowering one hand to firmly grab and squeeze the cheek of my buttock.

"I can do this now that you’re no longer my boss," he said to me with a kind of cocky arrogance. "No you can’t," I said, pushing him off me at the chest while stepping back, revealing my husband, who had seen the entire episode at close range. We quickly left.

Chris Cuomo's continued prominence as the face of CNN's ethically troubled news coverage and his role in advising his brother, Andrew M. Cuomo, as he faced allegations of sexual harassment from multiple women ensured the story blew up across many media organizations.

Here's a selection of stories that did more than regurgitate the content of Ross' op-ed:

• Social media explodes after CNN’s Chris Cuomo accused of sexual harassment at former job
• Chris Cuomo apologized to the husband of the woman he's accused of sexually harassing before her, a leaked email claims
• Chris Cuomo Calls Alleged Harassment Incident With Ex-Boss at ABC 'Not Sexual in Nature'
• CNN stays silent on Chris Cuomo after Shelley Ross’ sexual harassment allegations

What do you suppose the over-under is for how long Chris Cuomo remains the face of CNN?

Late updates and reactions:

• Chris Cuomo Doesn’t Address Sexual Harassment Claim During CNN Show
• Chris Cuomo's Pathetic 'Apology' For Sexual Assault Was A Disgrace
• Lindsey Boylan torches Chris Cuomo, CNN over sexual harassment scandal: 'Will you hold yourself accountable?'

24 September 2021: NY Atty General Defends Findings in Cuomo Sexual Harassment Report

Attorney General Letitia James shrugs off Cuomo-ally criticisms

Andrew M. Cuomo and his loyalist dead-ender supporters have been attacking New York State Attorney General Letitia "Tish" James for months. With her office's blockbuster report on Cuomo's alleged sexual harassment of multiple women now well in the past, she has finally addressed their continuing claims. The following excerpt focuses on her comments:

“I think the report speaks for itself and these are nothing more than attempts to undermine the independence and legitimacy of the report,” James told reporters Thursday night in Albany at the New York State Museum, as allies of the ex-pol have redoubled attacks on the report, sharing a Cuomo-friendly opinion piece that likened the AG’s analysis to a political “coup.”

“It was done by two professionals who are widely respected, and unfortunately, the report indicates that the environment in the office of the former governor was toxic and hostile. And I believe women and women spoke the truth,” she noted.

She said that her report was also credible enough for five district attorneys to launch their own criminal investigations into allegations of the former governor as the “evidence was overwhelming.”

Plus, she added, Cuomo asked her to open an inquiry into his conduct back last spring when the first of several allegations were made public.

“All that I did was, again, it was a referral made to my office by the governor of the state of New York, former Governor Cuomo. I put my head down and I did my work, and for me to do anything otherwise would,again, undermine the trust of my office and the independence of my office. I was elected to serve the residents of the great state of New York. And that is exactly what I did.”

The "coup" article referenced in this report is an op-ed piece by David Pikus, which appeared in Newsday on 23 September 2021, which the timeline hasn't covered since it falls outside our main areas of focus. As we found no similar op-ed appearing in support of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign to avoid criminal prosecution by then New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo who was investigating charges of soliciting prostitution involving Spitzer, we lumped it into the "pure partisan politics with no redeeming qualities" category.

Speaking of politics, James also indicates in the report she's happy in the state attorney general role as she was asked about running for governor. While she doesn't close the door on running for governor in 2022, we would describe her response as similar to those of most politicians when asked about their future ambitions. It's more in line with her setting herself up to be considered as an emergency backup candidate if the electability prospects of the frontrunner (currently replacement Governor Kathy Hochul) were to flame out for some reason.

23 September 2021: Reaction to Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's Pending Resignation Announcement

Reaction to resignation by DOH Commissioner Zucker

This report provides the following excerpt from NY Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's letter announcing his pending resignation:

Zucker, in a letter he submitted to Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announcing his resignation, he said it was time to move on from his top position leading the state's health department after nearly 7 ½ years in which he served with with a "fierce dedication to the public's health."

"Perhaps in this era of social media and distrust in government, the countless unfounded criticisms have been met by conscientiousness and competence, tenacity and audacity," Zucker said in his letter to Hochul.

That comment is more than a little tone-deaf given the circumstances forcing his resignation.

This report mainly picks up on the reaction of Republican Party members of the NY Assembly and State Senate to NY Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's announced pending resignation, but since we have a second article that focuses on their responses, we've extracted remarks from a Democratic Party member for our featured excerpt:

Bronx Democrat Sen. Gustavo Rivera said Zucker's ability to serve was "hindered beyond repair" because he allowed the agency to "become a political tool for Cuomo and his allies."

"His resignation is warranted and another step toward ensuring we hold those who neglected their duties under the Cuomo administration accountable," Rivera said in a statement.

The report notes that most other Democratic Party members in the state legislature are remaining silent on Zucker's resignation announcement.

State, local leaders weigh in on Dr. Zucker’s resignation

This report captures the reactions of a number of upstate New York state senators and representatives, all of whom are Republican Party members, and also the statement of Democratic Party member and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. We're presenting NY State Senator Patrick Gallivan's comments as generally representative of the Republican Party members reaction:

I look forward to new leadership at the Department of Health to better serve the residents of our state. In the meantime, many questions remain about the department’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Investigations currently underway must continue and Dr. Zucker should be held accountable for decisions made on his watch.

Most the Republican party members of the NY Assembly and Senate emphasized they've been calling for Zucker's ouster from office for some time. By contrast, Democratic Party member Tish James' comments were more circumspect:

Dr. Zucker’s resignation marks the end of a difficult chapter for our state. While I thank him for his service, we need more transparency and accountability at the Department of Health as we continue to battle COVID-19. I look forward to working with the next health commissioner, who must safeguard the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable, and must do so with openness and great care.

Howard Zucker, NY health commissioner who oversaw Cuomo nursing home scandal, resigns

This report starts with replacement Governor Kathy Hochul's announcement of Howard Zucker's pending resignation as New York's state health commissioner, but quickly gets to NY Assemblyman Ron Kim's (D-Queens) reaction:

“I think it’s the first step; but, just like with Andrew Cuomo, a resignation does not equate to accountability and Howard Zucker and all of Cuomo’s enablers must be held accountable,” said Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), a progressive lawmaker who was among Cuomo’s most vociferous critics on the handling of nursing homes.

The report also captures the reaction of victims of the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home scandals:

“Zucker orchestrated the nursing home cover-up and my advice to him would be to retain a lawyer,” said Danielle Messina, whose dad, Samuel, died of COVID in a Staten Island nursing home last year.

Tracey Alvino, whose dad, Daniel, died after contracting COVID in a Long Island nursing home, told The Post that “Howard Zucker should have been fired the minute Kathy Hochul became Governor.”

“He needs to be prosecuted for his role in the Cuomo Crime Syndicate,” he added.

This final report also provides a good general overview of the COVID nursing home scandals, which describe the circumstances that are forcing Zucker's resignation.

23 September 2021: Howard Zucker Announces Resignation

Howard Zucker, NY health commissioner who oversaw Cuomo nursing home scandal, resigns

That didn't take long. Since it's so short, here's the full initial report of New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's announced resignation.

Embattled state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker will step down from his position as soon as a replacement can be found, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.

Zucker was a key figure in the administration of disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo, where critics charged he played a central role in its efforts to minimize and disguise the pandemic’s death toll across the state and in its nursing homes.

“He understands that, in this time, I’ve wanted to take the first 45 days to assemble a new team going forward,” Hochul said, announcing Zucker’s departure. “That process is ongoing, and he understands and he respects that.”

She added: “He also has an opportunity to move on to new ventures and I appreciate him his service.”

Note that he's not off the payroll yet, but replacment Governor Hochul will likely accelerate her appointment for his replacement, so his days in power are now numbered. Zucker bears direct responsibility for developing and implementing the deadly 25 March 2020 directive that forced nursing homes to blindly admit COVID patients being dumped out of New York hospitals to free up bed space during New York's first wave of coronavirus infections. He also bears direct responsibility for concealing the full extent of those deaths in reports produced by the NY Department of Health, including blocking the release of that information to state lawmakers and the public.

23 September 2021: Replacement NY Lt. Gov Draws Attention to NYDOH's Zucker's Continued Employment

Lt. Governor On New York Health Commissioner: “Stay Tuned”

Whether he intended to or not, replacement NY Lt. Governor Brian Benjamin drew attention to Andrew M. Cuomo's henchman heading the state's Department of Health, who remains employed despite his involvement in the implementation of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and its subsequent cover-up.

While he isn’t taking a position publicly, Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin said Wednesday that he and Gov. Kathy Hochul have spoken extensively about the future of State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker.

There have been calls for Zucker’s removal since Hochul took office over decisions he made during the COVID-19 pandemic, like decisions related to nursing homes.

“Listen, I share my opinions with the governor. You’re not going to get me in trouble out here, and we’ve talked about this extensively,” Benjamin said.

Calls for Zucker’s resignation gained traction in January when state Attorney General Letitia James released a report on the state’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic....

The AG’s report also said a directive from the administration, barring facilities from turning away residents based on a positive COVID diagnosis, may have contributed to the spread of the virus in nursing homes....

For the time being, Lt. Gov. Benjamin said, “I would stay tuned.”

If Zucker's continuing employment at New York's Department of Health wasn't an issue, there would be no need for the "extensive" talks between replacment NY Governor Hochul and replacement NY Lt. Governor Benjamin. The writing is pretty much on the wall for a firing or resignation announcement on this one.

23 September 2021: Cuomo Shielded $1 Million of His Book Advance

Cuomo Shielded $1 Million of His Book Advance

This report isn't news to regular timeline readers, but it is news to Political Wire's Taegan Goddard:

“More than $1 million that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) earned from a book trumpeting his response to the coronavirus pandemic will likely be protected from potential lawsuits brought by women whose allegations of sexual harassment pushed him to resign last month,” Law 360 reports.

“That’s because the disgraced Democrat put about a fifth of his $5.1 million book deal into a trust for his three daughters, likely shielding the money from future creditors.”

If you think about it, whether his daughters keep the money will say volumes about their personal ethics and integrity.

Here is additional background information from the timeline, where earned some bragging rights for our 18 May 2021 analysis, which was the first to explain what Cuomo was seeking to achieve by putting $1 million of his book deal proceeds into the trust for his three daughters:

• 18 May 2021: More Revelations on Cuomo's Pandemic Leadership Book Deal
• 21 May 2021: Cuomo VIP Priority Testing Continued Into April 2021
• 21 August 2021: New Misuse of Public Resources in Cuomo Move-Out?
• 8 September 2021: NY Atty General Subpoenas JCOPE to Produce Cuomo Book Deal Records

22 September 2021: NY Assembly's Report on Cuomo Ethics Misconduct Coming "Very Soon"

Assembly’s Report Into Cuomo’s Alleged Misdeeds Will Be Done “Very Soon”

The chair of the NY Assembly's Judiciary Committee, Charles Lavine, is committing to issuing the report on Andrew M. Cuomo's impeachable ethical misconduct in office "very soon". Which optimistically means "sometime in October 2021".

New York State Assembly’s report into former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s various alleged misdeeds will be done “very soon,” according to Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine.

“The New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee is making great progress preparing the report of its investigation of the former Governor,” Lavine said.

Lavine declined to give specifics, though one Judiciary Committee member, who declined to speak on the record because they were not authorized to do so, thought it could take several more weeks, and would be ready by November at the latest. The member expected another meeting of the judiciary committee before any report would be released to the public.

We'll see soon enough how serious the NY Assembly's impeachment probe of Cuomo was.

22 September 2021: Cuomo Attorney Sends Letter Attacking Cuomo Accusers to NY Assemblyman Leading Impeachment Probe

Cuomo lawyer goes on new attack against credibility of sexual harassment accusers, N.Y. Attorney General James

This report covers events that occurred on September 13, 2021, but which were not publicly reported until 22 September 2021.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s attorney has launched a new attack against the credibility of the state attorney general and some of the women whose sexual harassment allegations led to his resignation.

Cuomo lawyer Rita Glavin sent the broadside in a Sept. 13 letter to state Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine, the committee’s members and its lawyers.

In it, Glavin cautions the committee against taking at face value Attorney General Letitia James’ blockbuster report on Cuomo from August and doubles down on previous criticisms against James, who, Glavin claims, made “material omissions and errors” in the report, which ultimately led to Cuomo’s downfall.

Glavin’s 25-page missive, which has not yet been reported on, was sent in response to an Aug. 26 request from Lavine to submit “evidence or any written submission” to the judiciary committee. It comes as the committee prepares its own report on its probe of Cuomo, which was originally geared at impeaching him but shifted course after he resigned.

The report indicates Glavin gave significant attention to attacking the credibility of Charlotte Bennett, the second woman to come forward to allege she was sexually harassed by Andrew M. Cuomo. It also devotes attacks against Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment.

The article notes a strange omission for the sexual harassment charges levied against Cuomo in the NY AG's report, then offers what might be described as an admission against interest in the Governor's pandemic "leadership" book deal scandal:

But Glavin’s letter glaringly omits mention of the female state trooper who accused Cuomo of making unwanted advances, one of the most damning accusations included in James’ report. And it spends little time on Cuomo’s book, contending at one point that the disgraced ex-gov didn’t have an “understanding” that assistance from his staffers “was in any way unlawful.”

Glavin's letter also focused some attention on Cuomo's "friends and family" priority COVID testing scandal:

Notably, when it comes to preferential treatment regarding COVID tests, Glavin points the finger at members of the Assembly and Senate, “who received preferential COVID-19 testing for themselves and various staff members,” including members of the Judiciary Committee to whom she sent the letter.

It's quite a piece of work. We suspect it may have damaged her client's interests more than it helped them.

22 September 2021: NY Taxpayers Won't Pay Any More of Cuomo's Aides Legal Bills

Hochul cuts off money for Cuomo aides' legal bills, what this could mean for Assembly probe

This report covers events that occurred on 2 September 2021, but which were not reported until 20 September 2021.

Former staffers to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this month were told by the new top counsel in Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration their legal bills would no longer be covered by the state, according to an email reviewed by Spectrum News 1.

The email, sent by Hochul counsel Elizabeth Fine on Sept. 2 to law firms representing former aides to Cuomo, stated the governor's office is reviewing the legal basis for approving the payment of past attorney fees.

At the same time, the governor's office will not approve new legal bills after Sept. 2, Fine wrote.

The email was sent amid ongoing investigations, including a probe into the former Cuomo administration by the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

The report also indicates the NY Assembly's report on its impeachment investigation of Andrew M. Cuomo's alleged misconduct in office "could be released in early October".

21 September 2021: Editorial - New York's ethics façade

Editorial: New York's ethics façade

This editorial explores how Andrew M. Cuomo was able to get away with so much corruption by installing his allies throughout New York's ethical conduct enforcement agencies.

The staff of a district attorney with ties to then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo is accused of abusing power. The state Inspector General shrugs it off. The Inspector General’s office is accused of shirking its responsibility. The Joint Commission on Public Ethics shrugs it off.

If ever a series of events illustrated how corrupt New York’s ethics enforcement system is, this is, well, one of them.

It is not enough to say that Mr. Cuomo resigned in disgrace last month (for unrelated reasons), and that his last inspector general, Letizia Tagliafierro, also resigned Friday, just before the Times Union published accounts of these ethical failures. If one governor and his administration can so manipulate the state’s ethics systems, you can bet others will do it — until New York builds a better one....

Bear in mind what else Mr. Cuomo did knowing full well he had the state ethics watchdogs under his thumb. His administration, including the Inspector General’s Office, went after whistleblowers who testified about sexual harassment in the Division of Criminal Justice Services. The Health Department covered up thousands of deaths of nursing home residents and stonewalled the Legislature for months. The governor was accused of sexually harassing multiple women. He told JCOPE that he would not have state employees help with a memoir of his handling of the COVID-19 that earned him $5.1 million, but then used them anyway.

There must be a better way of keeping state government honest than a system that can be so easily compromised and corrupted by a governor simply by putting trusted allies in charge of it. As we have said over and over, the Legislature must create an independent ethics watchdog whose work can’t be quashed by the very people it oversees. What New York has now is a façade of good government. To anyone who hasn’t gone nose-blind from the stench of corruption, it reeks.

Andrew M. Cuomo attempted to get away with so much because he expected he could get away with it and he had good reason to expect that.

20 September 2021: Editorial - Hochul Stumbles with JCOPE Picks

Editorial: A JCOPE stumble

This is a multi-part editorial covering several different topics in New York. The following excerpt deals with replacement Governor Kathy Hochul's clear mistake with her first JCOPE appointments:

That Gov. Kathy Hochul first named James Dering to serve as acting chair of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, and then backpedaled in the face of public backlash, suggests she realizes that putting another Cuomo ally atop the panel was not a good look — for her or for the ethics watchdog.

It wasn’t.

The governor later said Commissioner Dering’s appointment as chair was just for last week’s meeting. A meeting in which, we’ll note, he cast a decisive vote to let ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo keep his profits from his $5.1 million “American Crisis” book deal. Questions remain on whether state employees improperly helped with the book.

If Gov. Hochul is serious about changing Albany culture — and we hope she is — one of the first steps is cleaning up JCOPE.

Make no mistake: The panel needs to be scrapped and replaced with a new ethics enforcement mechanism. But in the meantime, we’ve got what we’ve got. And Gov. Hochul must appoint commissioners with credibility.

She didn't, which is why she's backpedaling. Now the question is will she learn from her mistakes?

20 September 2021: Updated Profile of Lindsey Boylan

The woman who brought down Andrew Cuomo: ‘I dropped a nuclear bomb on my life’

This report provides an updated profile of Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to come forward to allege former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo sexually harassed her. It also describes the retaliation taken against her by senior Cuomo officials after she went public. Here's an excerpt describing when she decided to come forward:

On 13 December, she was in the car with her husband and six-year-old daughter.

“I kept seeing his name on twitter feeds floated as a possible candidate for AG and it had reached fever pitch. I instantly started typing my reaction.”

She wrote: “Yes, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years. Many saw it, and watched. I could never anticipate what to expect: would I be grilled on my work (which was very good) or harassed about my looks. Or would it be both in the same conversation? This was the way for years.”

The fallout from those tweets would extend far beyond Ms Boylan’s own world. After a second woman, Charlotte Bennett, came forward, New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James launched an enquiry into the allegations. Ms Boylan was interviewed multiple times and gave hours of under-oath testimony to both the Attorney General’s attorneys and the State Assembly investigators.

The 165-page report was released on 3 August. The investigation found: “The Governor sexually harassed a number of current and former New York State employees by, among other things, engaging in unwelcome and non-consensual touching, as well as making numerous offensive comments of a suggestive and sexual nature that created a hostile work environment for women.” It would ultimately lead to Mr Cuomo’s resignation, ending his 10-year run as governor, bringing down one of the most prominent Democrats in America, and devastating a family political legacy that stretched over almost 50 years.

The report concludes by updating what Boylan plans for pursuing accountability from the Cuomo administration officials who engaged in the unlawful retaliation:

“What I will focus future legal action on is the retaliation,” Ms Boylan says. “Because that is how I can affect the most change. I want to focus on accountability. There’s been some accountability, [but] not nearly enough, not for me and not nearly enough for too many women. The retaliation is what prevents women from coming forward because they’re going to remember that I was smeared.”

“Right now, I want to spend a little bit of time processing. When you have a traumatic experience, like the whole experience has been, it robs you of the presence of mind to be in wonderful experiences. So I will spend time just being present with my daughter in a way that she deserves. And then I’ll fight again because that’s what we have to do.”

The toxic environment she descibes is also one that allowed the fundamental inhumanity of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive to be implemented at the cost of hundreds, if not thousands, of excess COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents without being challenged.

19 September 2021: Hochul Sacks 20 Cuomo Appointees

Replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul has fired "about 20" people appointed by the disgraced Andrew M. Cuomo according to this report.

The fallout continues for allies of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

A number of former Cuomo aides have lost their jobs in the private sector after an investigation revealed they advised him on how to respond to allegations of sexual harassment.

Inside state government, Gov. Kathy Hochul, who replaced Cuomo on Aug. 24, recently terminated about 20 Cuomo appointees from various posts, sources said.

The report gives some idea of the strategy Hochul is following:

"She’s letting go enough people so it makes an impact," Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic consultant who worked on campaigns for and against Cuomo, said, referring to Hochul.

"After that, the ones likely to go are the ones who stand out as Cuomo loyalists," Sheinkopf said.

Then there are the Republicans hired by the former governor. "She won’t need the GOP people," Sheinkopf said. "They are likely to go eventually."

We've long theorized that the advancement of the sexual harassment allegations against Andrew M. Cuomo were motivated in part because they would be less damaging to the New York Democratic Party's hold on power within New York's state government. Sheinkopf's analysis is in line with that thinking. Had the disastrous outcome of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive forced Cuomo from power, as it should have, the number of party members who would need to be ousted from their appointed positions because of their participation in that corrupt scheme would be much, much larger.

The sexual harassment scandal however allows a more "surgical" method for limiting the damage to the party's interests. Sheinkopf also picked up on the likely ouster of Cuomo's appointees from the state's Republican Party, because it provides a means for members of the Democratic Party to gain positions within the state government.

This report only names longtime Cuomo loyalist Joe Rabito as among the 20 state government appointees who have been dismissed.

18 September 2021: Former Cuomo Aide Who Became State Inspector General Resigns

State inspector general resigns amid controversy

A former Cuomo aide who became the New York State Inspector General read the writing on the wall and has chosen to resign. This report describes the circumstances influencing her choice to resign now:

State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro, a longtime aide to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, has resigned from her post as the executive branch's top internal-affairs watchdog, according to her office.

Her resignation was effective Friday, according to spokesman Lee Park. The inspector general's office is empowered to investigate wrongdoing by state employees across the vast network of state agencies under the governor's control.

Tagliafierro's departure comes less than a month after Cuomo's resignation and two weeks after a majority of the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted to ask state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the conduct of the inspector general's office in its probe of an illegal leak of confidential information from JCOPE to Cuomo in January 2019.

Earlier this week, James rejected JCOPE's referral of that matter as well as the ethics panel's request to see the attorney general's office investigate the leak itself. James cited what she concluded was JCOPE's failure to follow rules that require gubernatorial appointees to approve investigations that involve the governor. On Tuesday, the commissioners voted again to approve the referral of the leak investigation — and mustered a sufficient number of gubernatorial appointees to support it — but failed to sustain the referral regarding the performance of Tagliafierro's office....

Former JCOPE Commissioner Julie Garcia, who first reported the leak, told a state Senate panel earlier this month that the inspector general’s office was either “incompetent or corrupt” in its 2019 investigation of the apparent disclosure.

When given a choice, many like Tagliafierro choose to resign rather than risk being fired in similar circumstances. Andrew M. Cuomo certainly did.

State inspector general resigns

Speaking of "writing on the wall", City and State NY's coverage of the story emphasizes the 'cause and effect' of the events preceding Tagliafierro's resignation:

State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro, a longtime ally of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has stepped down, according to an email from Tagliafierro to staff obtained by City & State. In her resignation email, Tagliafierro said she had a good experience as inspector general, but did not offer an explanation for her exit nor an indication of who may replace her. A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed she received Tagliafierro’s resignation letter and said that Chief Deputy Inspector General Robyn Adair will serve as acting inspector general until Hochul picks a replacement.

The resignation comes amid renewed criticism of Tagliafierro over an investigation into an alleged 2019 leak from the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics. At the time, Cuomo somehow learned how individual commissioners voted in a private executive session held around the time JCOPE was deciding whether to investigate the ex-governor’s top aide Joe Percoco. The inspector general’s office secretly looked into the alleged leak in early 2019, but could not substantiate the complaint. Tagliafierro, despite having recused herself since she was a former JCOPE executive director, came under scrutiny when details about the investigation emerged showing her office interviewed neither Cuomo nor Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, whom Cuomo allegedly contacted about the private vote.

The leak and subsequent inspector general probe may become the subject of a criminal investigation after JCOPE twice voted to refer the issue to the state attorney general.

JCOPE's second vote passed the threshold set by New York's state attorney's general for initiating a criminal investigation of the Inspector General's role in the 2019 leak probe. We think the action is likely what directly precipitated Tagliafierro's sudden departure from power.

17 September 2021: NY Atty General Tish James Starting to Think About Running for NY Governor

NY Attorney General Letitia James held private talks about running for governor in wake of Cuomo resignation

Letitia James, and frankly, everyone who criticized Andrew M. Cuomo, was often accused of secretly running for governor by Cuomo's chief PR flack, Rich Azzopardi. This report indicates that the current New York state attorney general didn't seriously begin investigating the possibility until after Andrew M. Cuomo had resigned.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has been talking with her advisors and supporters about potentially running for governor next year, according to people familiar with the matter.

In the weeks since James’ investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo ended early last month, she and her political advisors have been testing the waters to see whether she would have the backing of previous donors and supporters if she opts against running for reelection and instead runs for governor.

James’ name recognition within the state and beyond has skyrocketed in recent years. In addition to her investigation into Cuomo, the attorney general’s office has been probing the National Rifle Association and former President Donald Trump’s company, the Trump Organization.

James and her allies have been weighing the pros and cons of running in a Democratic primary for governor, some of these people added. One drawback would be giving up the powerful attorney general job.

Another potential hurdle is that the current governor, Kathy Hochul, has done fairly well in the polls and has several months to build popularity and donor support from a position of considerable power.

We think the likelihood of James running for NY governor will increase proportionally with the number of incidents where Hochul allows Andrew M. Cuomo's interests to be put ahead of the public interest. We don't think it's an accident this story came out so soon after Hochul's JCOPE pick voted to do just that.

17 September 2021: Did Cuomo Exploit State Government Resources for Defense Lawyer's Press Briefings?

Who paid for Cuomo's attorney briefings?

The reporting team at WNYT identifies a potential scandal hiding in plain sight, involving Andrew M. Cuomo's personal defense attorney Rita Glavin. Here's an extended excerpt from their report:

When Gov. Cuomo was defending himself against sexual harassment allegations, his outside counsel called two virtual briefings. The state seal was visible, and the American Sign Language interpreter that the governor used in his daily coronavirus updates was part of these briefings.

However, these were briefings by his outside counsel. So we wondered if the state was paying with your tax dollars and if that was appropriate.

We emailed the governor's office before he resigned to ask. We got no response.

So we filed a Freedom of Information request, and we got some records Thursday. It's an invoice that shows the total cost of the two virtual briefings in August is more than $33,000.

We also asked how the costs were or will be paid. We were told those records are not yet available.

WNYT's reporters will have to file another Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to obtain that additional information.

Here's a screenshot of Glavin's 10 August 2021 press briefing utilizing New York state government resources:

We've retroactively added an entry to the timeline to capture the 10 August 2021 press briefing in context. The briefing took place prior to Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation announcement later that day.

16 September 2021: Editorial - Hochul Is Either "Stupefyingly Naïve or Part of the Problem" on Corruption

‘Ethics’ panel clearing Cuomo exposes Hochul as part of Albany corruption problem

New York's official ethics watchdog for public officials, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE), has a track record of failure. That's by design by the politicians who created and appoint commissioners to it. This editorial describes JCOPE's latest preposterous actions in placing the interests of politicians ahead of the public:

It’s simply obscene that New York’s premier ethics panel just failed to demand that ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo fork over the $5 million he collected for his “leadership” book, produced with the illegal help of his staffers even as they were helping boost his payday by covering up the truth about how his orders raised the death toll in state care homes.

The same day, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics also killed a proper investigation into an illegal leak to Cuomo about JCOPE’s own proceedings in regard to an investigation of his corrupt former right-hand man.

And this is after Gov. Kathy Hochul filled two vacant JCOPE posts: Her new picks proceeded to side with Cuomo. So much for her pledge that ethics and transparency would be a “hallmark” of her administration.

The New York Post's editors conclude with a very harsh statement:

When it comes to Albany’s culture of corruption, Hochul is either stupefyingly naïve or part of the problem.

Hochul has been around New York politics for a very long time, so the possibility of her being "stupefyingly naïve" can be ruled out. We think any displayed naïveity on her part is almost certainly a put on. If however she was truly naïve, she has an easy solution before her - she can start the wholesale dismantling of Andrew M. Cuomo's embedded support network of loyalist dead-enders within Albany.

Hochul is quickly running out of time to prove she's not part of the problem.

15 September 2021: Hochul Didn't Know Her Pick for JCOPE

Hochul ‘literally’ doesn’t know appointee who let Cuomo keep $5.1M book deal

This report doesn't inspire confidence in replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul's and her staff's candidate selection process. We find it fascinating that she's claiming ignorance to explain why her pick to JCOPE voted to let Andrew M. Cuomo keep the $5.12 million for his pandemic "leadership" book deal, despite the use of state government resources and personnel to produce it at no cost to himself.

During a news conference in Albany, Hochul was asked by The Post about Monday’s ruling by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics regarding last year’s authorization for then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sell the lucrative rights to his coronavirus memoir.

An effort to rescind the permission — which was granted in secret by a JCOPE lawyer — failed when newly named Commissioner Randall Hinrichs, a former Suffolk County district administrative judge, sided with Cuomo immediately after Hochul announced his appointment.

“What happened yesterday was as a result of two resignations. In order for there to be any business going forward, I had to appoint somebody,” Hochul said Wednesday.

“I had to find an individual, an individual who is highly recommended, who has credentials, but literally is unknown to me.”

Hochul dug her hole deeper when she continued speaking:

Hochul added: “You know, I want to make sure that we are not stacking these bodies with our friends and with our allies, as had been in the past.”

When pressed by The Post to say where she stood on whether the state should claw back Cuomo’s earnings from last year’s “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Hochul declined to answer.

“What JCOPE does, I’m not going to comment on their investigation. That’s wildly inappropriate for me to do so,” she said.

“Now, if someone’s gonna infer from that, that I’m trying to cut a better deal for the governor, I think it’s well known that we’ve not been close… So, before people make certain assumptions that are highly erroneous: They are wrong.”

Hochul’s latter remarks appeared aimed at state Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), who on Tuesday told The Post that the JCOPE vote “conveys that Kathy Hochul is not concerned about holding Cuomo accountable or rooting out corruption in Albany.”

Hochul's statement makes the outcome of the JCOPE vote look like an own goal, originating in her incompetence in vetting her first appointee to JCOPE.