14 October 2021: Column - Hochul Claims Change, But Malatras Stays On

Churchill: Hochul claims change, but Malatras stays on

Although replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul has apologized to the families of Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals victims, she has failed to address one very visible problem hanging on from the Cuomo administration: James Malatras. Albany Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill describes why that's a problem that demands the replacement governor's attention:

The State University of New York system chancellor is a longtime Cuomo insider closely linked to several of the former governor's scandals, including the cover-up of nursing home deaths. In fact, Malatras has acknowledged he helped edit a report that the Cuomo administration scrubbed of truthful nursing home fatality data.

The report, which blamed nursing home deaths on employees, used numbers that didn't include residents who were transferred to hospitals before they died. Obviously, a Cuomo confidante had no business editing a Health Department report, but Malatras says his role didn't involve changing data.

Even if that's true, he had to have known the report was dishonest, more about polishing the former governor's image than providing a truthful account of the tragedy that hit New York nursing homes.

To the point: Malatras claimed in a July 2020 interview with ProPublica that the report should silence the administration’s many critics on the nursing home issue, leading the news outlet to later conclude he "had not told the full story."

Malatras also spent dozens of hours working on Cuomo's book about the coronavirus pandemic, according to a government source with knowledge of the matter. That book, for which the governor was paid $5.1 million, also distorted data about nursing home deaths, again in an apparent attempt to burnish Cuomo's reputation.

(In a statement Wednesday, Malatras said he "volunteered over a couple of weekends in the summer of 2020, including taking documented time off on a couple of Fridays out of an abundance of caution, to review and edit portions of the Governor’s book.”)

So, in summary, we have a man who participated in a disinformation campaign now installed at the helm of a state university system that is supposed to be about truth, honesty and education.

Isn't that terrific?

Obviously, it isn't, which is why Assemblyman Ron Kim, a Queens Democrat who attended the Tuesday meeting with Hochul, and New York Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy are among the bipartisan group who have demanded that Malatras leave state government.

That's a pretty good description of why Malatras should be expelled from his position in the State University of New York. Unfortunately, Hochul doesn't have the direct authority to fire Malatras, who enjoys the protection of the State University board whose members are Cuomo loyalists, appointed to their positions by Andrew M. Cuomo. So what could Hochul do?

Churchill lays out an option:

Hochul isn't entirely powerless, though, if she again wants to demonstrate a break from the prior administration — and intolerance of its deceptions about nursing homes. If Hochul demanded the chancellor's resignation, and explained why she wanted him to go, it would not be easy for Malatras to stay on.

Hochul could also use the power of her office to demand administrative reforms at SUNY to compel the board to act to remove Malatras, including limiting funding to the organization until it complies. That would be a heavy-handed action, which we think Hochul wants to avoid.

That may change based on the findings of various criminal investigations that are underway involving Andrew M. Cuomo's cover-up of the full extent of COVID deaths at New York nursing homes and his pandemic "leadership" book deal. Based on her track record to date, we think Hochul may be waiting to have those in hand to justify her applying political leverage to remove the embedded Cuomo loyalist from SUNY.

We'll find out soon enough.