13 November 2021: Opinion - Cuomo's Song and Dance

Churchill: Cuomo transcripts reveal same old song and dance

Albany Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill has some fun describing some incredible inconsistencies in the transcripts of Andrew M. Cuomo's deposition of the state attorney general office's investigation his alleged sexual misconduct:

Andrew Cuomo, a man who was once governor of this state, does not know "Do You Love Me?" by The Contours. Or so he claimed in newly released testimony.

Given that there's a recorded tape of the former governor crooning the song in a phone call to Charlotte Bennett, one of the women who has accused him of sexual harassment, it's fair to believe he was, you know, lying. But that was Cuomo's story, and he was sticking to it.

"I don't even know that song," he said.

"You don’t know that — you don’t know the 'do you love me'?” asked an incredulous Joon Kim, the investigator conducting the interview.

"Do another verse," replied Cuomo, who also claimed not to know "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.

Churchill features a number of equally cringeworthy examples of Cuomo's testimony, which you should click through the link above to enjoy. At the end of the column though, he takes on a more serious tone involving Cuomo's deadlier scandals, related to the testimony of Dr. Elizabeth Dufort:

And though she wasn’t involved with nursing homes, the doctor knew colleagues who "had concerns about data that wasn’t being released" and considered "writing up a paper that they said would never see the light of day."

That almost certainly is a reference to Cuomo’s hiding of some COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, otherwise known as the damning scandal that preceded the one over sexual harassment allegations.

Not surprisingly, many of the doctor’s supervisors resigned in frustration, she said, as she herself eventually did late last year. The work environment was "toxic" and "unprofessional," she said, echoing words heard again and again during Cuomo’s time in office.

All and all, her testimony is a reminder, lest anyone has forgotten, that Andrew Cuomo was just bad at being governor, regardless of whether he lied about a song.

Though Cuomo's lies about something as trivial as whether he knew the lyrics to a song he was recorded singing says quite a bit about his character.