1 October 2021: Hochul Seeks Ouster of Cuomo Appointee Michael Green

Hochul seeks DCJS commissioner's resignation

Another high-ranking Cuomo appointee has been asked to resign by NY replacement Governor Kathy Hochul. This report is tangental to the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home deaths scandals, in that it describes another cover-up of alleged misconduct by state government officials:

Michael C. Green, who has been executive deputy commissioner of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services since 2012, has been asked by Gov. Kathy Hochul to step aside as her administration continues to replace appointees of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, according to two people with knowledge of the matter....

Green won accolades for his work at the helm of the 400-member agency, which handles an array of criminal justice initiatives ranging from law enforcement training and accreditation to administering the state’s Sex Offender Registry and DNA Databank. The agency also oversees forensic crime laboratories statewide and has developed programs to help curb gun violence.

But Green's tenure at DCJS was tarnished by his handling of a sexual harassment case in which a former director of the agency's Office of Forensic Science, Brian J. Gestring, was found by the state inspector general's to have threatened female employees with physical violence and engaged in years of sexual harassment. Gestring, a former New York Police Department scientist, was later fired in 2018 for an unrelated incident — after the Times Union published a story chronicling his case. He had been director of the state forensic unit since 2012.

The investigation of Gestring revealed a history of offensive and inappropriate behavior that began shortly after he started working for DCJS. Records indicate that about four months after Gestring was hired, he received two counseling memos for misbehavior. Gestring signed the memos certifying that had read them, but added handwritten notes claiming he disagreed with the findings, had been forced to sign them, and that staff at DCJS had "agendas," according to details of the inspector general's investigation shared with the Times Union three years ago.

"Significantly, no action was taken (by DCJS) to address this defiant response and mitigate further misconduct in the future," the inspector general's office concluded in a confidential summary of its investigation.

Where this story overlaps with Andrew M. Cuomo's various scandals is the tolerance displayed by Cuomo administration officials for a toxic work environment. The environment Andrew M. Cuomo and his loyalists fostered would later enable them to engage in actions that directly led to their COVID nursing home deaths scandals, and for that matter, the sexual harassment allegations that compelled Cuomo to resign from power rather than face impeachment.