7 October 2021: Cuomo's COVID Vaccine Czar to Resign as Hochul Cleans House

Cuomo loyalist Schwartz to step down from MTA board as Hochul cleans house

45 days into replacement Governor Kathy Hochul is following through on removing Cuomo appointees whose names were associated with misconduct in the attorney general's report on Andrew M. Cuomo's alleged incidents of sexual harassment.

This report focuses on Larry Schwartz, the onetime COVID vaccine czar for the Cuomo administration, who used his position to "sound out" support for Cuomo among county level Democratic Party executives after news of the sexual harassment allegations broke. We put the words "sound out" in quotes because many interpreted his solicitation as a veiled threat to limit access to COVID vaccines if their support was not forthcoming at a time when the vaccines were in very short supply:

Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member Larry Schwartz, a staunch ally of disgraced ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo, will resign from his position at the MTA, Governor Kathy Hochul’s office announced Thursday, Oct. 7.

Schwartz will step down from the board when the State Senate confirms a replacement for him, likely when legislators return to Albany in January.

“Larry Schwartz will be resigning, effective when the Senate confirms his replacement, and the Governor is grateful for his public service,” Hochul spokesperson Hazel Crampton-Hays said in a statement....

At an unrelated press conference Thursday, Hochul claimed Schwartz offered to resign himself, rather than her asking him to leave.

“He offered to resign, he offered from the very beginning that if I wanted to bring in a new team, and we’ve been focused on cabinet positions and other positions, I’m shifting my attention to board positions now,” the governor said. “I thank him for his service he continues to be a voice of someone who knows the positions of New York State.”

In other words, he knew from the outset that he was going to be shown the door and co-operated enough with Hochul so that he was allowed to resign rather than be fired.