The Morning Times collected several recent editorials calling for increased transparency in New York onthe impact of the ousted Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive in contributing to excess COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents. We're featuring two of them below.
- Editorial Roundup: New York
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The first excerpt is from the Jamestown Post-Journal's 28 August 2021 editorial:
Hochul has said she will be more transparent than Cuomo — though that isn’t really setting a high bar. If transparency is truly a hallmark of her administration, then the new governor will direct the state Health Department and other state agencies to release the records — if they exist — that have been requested by the Empire Center and other watchdog groups.
If Hochul wants people to trust the state when it comes to pandemic guidance, then the state must be open and honest with the public about missteps over the past year.
The next excerpt is from the Albany Times Union's 31 August 2021 editorial:
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned from office in disgrace, but there are 18 million reasons to believe he will remain a force in state politics.
His campaign war chest, presumably amassed for an attempt to win a fourth term in office, is the largest among state politicians, and New York law gives Mr. Cuomo far too much leeway on how to use it.
In fact, a recent Politico report says Mr. Cuomo intends to use the $18 million “to mount a campaign of retribution against his perceived political enemies,” including the woman who replaced him — Gov. Kathy Hochul, his former lieutenant governor — and Democrats who called for him to resign after sexual harassment allegations. The money, in other words, will become a sort of vengeance fund....
Under state law, the former governor can use the money to back other candidates or run attack ads, allowing him to wield considerable political influence. Mr. Cuomo can also use the money to pay his legal bills, to rehabilitate his image or, as he has already done, to hire a spokesman. He can even use the money for travel and for other expenses that could be tied, however loosely, to his political past or future....
Politicians — including disgraced governors — shouldn’t be able to use campaign cash for personal purposes, including personal vengeance. Cleaning up this system should be part of Ms. Hochul’s stated goal of fixing an ethically compromised state government.
