28 February 2022: Women's Groups Assail Cuomo After TV Ad Claiming Exoneration for Sexual Harassment

Cuomo posts TV ad to clear name as women's groups assail him

Andrew M. Cuomo is drawing fire from women's groups for what they say is a misleading television ad claiming Cuomo's vindication for sexual harassment allegations.

Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for Cuomo, said the television ads his team dubbed "Politics vs. the Law" will point out that "five separate district attorneys rejected the findings of the (attorney general's) bogus report."

But the district attorneys who declined to pursue criminal charges related to allegations that Cuomo had kissed, touched, groped or made inappropriate comments to women did not say they had "rejected the findings" of the Aug. 3 report by state Attorney General Letitia James' office. James released her report at a news conference during which she said that "multiple" state and federal laws had been violated.

The prosecutors said the alleged victims' accounts were credible but that they did not support criminal charges under New York law.

"We will continue to communicate the facts to New Yorkers: The (attorney general) knowingly and willfully ignored evidence of perjury, witness tampering and extortion, and hid exculpatory evidence when she misled the public last August," the statement issued by Azzopardi reads.

The women's groups fired back, casting Cuomo as a serial sexual harasser they say continues to deny responsibility and has been waging a months-long campaign to discredit the women who came forward.

"Multiple investigations have found the accounts of these women to be credible," the groups said in a statement. "The media should stop giving a platform to abusers like Cuomo. As evidenced by recent public polling, New Yorkers believe the women who bravely came forward about Cuomo’s abuse; they think Cuomo was right to leave office in disgrace. This attempt to claim exoneration won’t work."

The television ads and Cuomo's spokesman's statement confirm once again that Cuomo desperately needs better PR people and more legal help. If it's any consolation to the nine women's groups (which include #VoteProChoice, Amplify Her, Eleanor’s Legacy, The Feminist Institute, NY Birth Control Action Fund, NYC Black Women's Political Club, Vote Mama, WCLA - Choice Matters, and Women of Color for Progress), we think the ads aren't so much an attempt at a political comeback as they are a vehicle for trying to influence how future jurors in multiple civil lawsuits will decide those cases, which stand to cost Cuomo several million in legal bills and settlements.

26 February 2022: "People Familiar With the Matter" Discuss How Cuomo Influence Network Member Allison Gollust Compromised CNN's Coverage of Cuomo

CNN Probe Finds Allison Gollust Assisted Chris Cuomo in His Efforts to Help Andrew Cuomo

This report describes some of the details related to how Cuomo influence network member CNN Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust influenced CNN's news coverage of Andrew M. Cuomo's pandemic-related performance in office. We've pieced together the following excerpts from the article to highlight where she apparently compromised CNN's very low standards for practicing journalism:

CNN’s parent company determined that the network’s former marketing chief provided guidance to then-anchor Chris Cuomo as he tried to help then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo deal with allegations of sexual misconduct, in violation of CNN’s standards, according to people familiar with the matter....

People familiar with the matter say there were multiple factors that led to Ms. Gollust’s departure, including what they describe as her mischaracterizing the timing of the relationship with Mr. Zucker; not promptly handing over a device that contained some of her communications; and exchanging messages with Andrew and Chris Cuomo that the company deemed were in violation of the company’s standards....

Other text messages reviewed during the investigation showed Andrew Cuomo had mentioned to Ms. Gollust certain questions he wanted to be asked by CNN during an interview that aired on March 28, 2020, regarding the coronavirus pandemic, some of the people said.

Ms. Gollust relayed the questions to a CNN producer in an email and told the producer to tell the anchor to ask them, those people said. Mr. Zucker was copied on the email as well, they said....

While discussing general talking points with an interview subject ahead of the interview is permissible under CNN’s news standards and practices, providing actual questions to be asked usually isn’t, according to a Wall Street Journal review of the network’s news standards and practices policy guide. A person familiar with WarnerMedia said Ms. Gollust’s decision to relay questions suggested by Andrew Cuomo was a violation of CNN’s news standards and practices.

"People familiar with the matter" is a phrase often used by reporters who have multiple inside sources to corroborate a story when those individuals have reason to remain anonymous, such as avoiding legal repercussions or firing from their organization for revealing information they've been instructed to keep confidential. In this case, the phrase almost certainly refers to high ranking insiders at CNN or at WarnerMedia.

25 February 2022: Andrew Cuomo Attempts to Sway Public Opinion With TV Ad

Andrew Cuomo begins comeback attempt with new TV ad

After several days of quiet out of Cuomoland, we were hit by this report, which indicates Andrew M. Cuomo will be taking his strange claim he was vindicated of sexual harassment allegations to New York's televised airwaves. Here's the New York Post's coverage:

The former governor, who resigned in disgrace last summer, will begin an attempt at a political comeback with an ad claiming he’s been exonerated from charges he sexually harassed multiple women, The Post has learned.

Cuomo’s campaign confirmed it had commissioned “a number of ads” in response to questions from the paper after The Post independently obtained one of the commercials.

The 30-second spot reviewed by The Post selectively strings together snippets from TV reports about the outcomes in those cases to bolster Cuomo’s continued claims of exoneration.

It highlights recent decisions by five district attorneys to not bring charges against Cuomo for sexual harassment for technical reasons.

However, the spot viewed by The Post makes no mention of the fact that those officials also said their investigations affirmed the credibility of the women who brought the allegations – and one DA even said although there wasn’t sufficient “legal basis” to bring charges, dropping the case was “not an exoneration.”

We think the televised advertisement is really aimed at attempting to influence the potential members of future jury pools who will be deciding the outcome of civil lawsuits filed by the victims of Andrew M. Cuomo's alleged sexual harassment.

22 February 2022: Voters Reject Cuomo's Claim of Vindication in Sexual Harassment Cases

NYS voters say Cuomo is a sexual harasser, reject claims of vindication

In another sign that Andrew M. Cuomo desperately needs better PR people and more legal help, a new poll indicates New York state voters are rejecting Cuomo's claim to have been vindicated of sexually harassing multiple women while serving as New York's state governor. Here's a summary of the poll's results (emphasis ours):

A total of 58 percent of voters think Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women during his tenure in Albany, compared to just 21 percent of respondents who believed he was innocent. The remaining voters surveyed had no opinion, according to the Siena College survey.

The voters were given the following prompt:

“Cuomo presently faces no criminal charges for sexual harassment. He says that he ́s been vindicated and that the whole investigation was a political hit job. Local prosecutors who declined to bring criminal charges against Cuomo said that while they believed the credibility of the women, there was not enough evidence to prosecute.”

They were then asked: “Do you think Cuomo has or has not been vindicated?”

The verdict: 56 percent of voters said Cuomo has not been vindicated while 25 percent said he has — a better than two-to-one margin against Cuomo.

But wait, there's more:

Cuomo remains deeply unpopular with 60 percent of voters having an unfavorable view of him and 33 percent having a favorable view.

The bottom line: 80 percent of voters said Cuomo made the right decision to resign last August based on what they know today. Only 13 percent of respondents said he shouldn’t have resigned, with the rest undecided.

Polling numbers like these are why Andrew M. Cuomo won't seriously run again for public office in New York. If Cuomo actually ever does launch a new election campaign, we think it's real purpose will be to extract the $16+ million in previously donated funds sitting in his campaign organization's bank accounts, with as much as possible being directed to the wallets of Cuomo family members and close associates.

20 February 2022: "This Is a Legal Mess for CNN"

Stelter addresses past communication between Gollust, Gov. Cuomo, potential lawsuits: 'A legal mess for CNN'

This report covers the comments of CNN's Brian Stelter, Chief Media Correspondent and presenter of the network's "Reliable Sources" news media criticism show, in which he describes the impact to the network of the actions of resigned-in-disgrace CEO Jeff Zucker, resigned-in-disgrace Chief Marketing Officer Alison Gollust, and fired former "Primetime" presenter, the journalism ethics-challenged Chris Cuomo, to put resigned-in-disgrace former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's political interests ahead of those of the news network.

Here's an excerpt from the report, which features the analysis of both Stelter and the former CBS News vice president (but not resigned-in-disgrace) Joe Peyronnin:

Host of "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter said Sunday the situation involving the resignations of former CNN president Jeff Zucker and former CNN marketing chief Allison Gollust was "a legal mess for CNN."

"I was told by a source that Zucker can't comment further on the substance of why he left why he did and what happened," Stelter said. "Everybody is lawyer-ed up, Chris Cuomo might sue, Cuomo's lawyer apparently wants tens of millions of dollars out of this network, so this is now a legal mess for CNN."

Panelist Joe Peyronnin, a former vice president of CBS News, agreed with Stelter and argued that it could have been avoided.

"In terms of Allison and in terms of sharing questions and all that, we don't know everything that was shared. We don't know what was said, what Cuomo the governor said to her. To avoid that, why have her in the process, knowing that she was working with him," Peyronnin said.

He said that major news networks do have rules with regard to interviews. "They do not allow you to share questions, they do not allow you to take any questions from whoever the subject is," he said, noting that you can mention the subject area.

"You cannot provide questions. That is a rule because you don't want anything to damage potentially the quality of the interview," he said.

In other words, journalists and news network executives shouldn't be in the business of producing what are effectively political campaign ads that serve the political interests of the politicians whose official acts they cover. The more we learn about this situation, the more clear it becomes that CNN's choice to shred its journalistic reputation was an inside job, effected by members of Andrew M. Cuomo's influence network.

19 February 2022: CNN's Gollust Helped Cuomo Choose Questions He Would Be Asked by CNN "Journalists"

Former CNN exec Allison Gollust let Andrew Cuomo pick interview topics: report

When it comes to failures of journalism ethics, it doesn't get much bigger than the content of this story involving Cuomo influence network member Allison Gollust at CNN.

Ousted CNN executive Allison Gollust was found to have allowed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to dictate what he wanted to be asked during an on-air interview in the early days of the pandemic, a report said Friday.

Gollust, 49, who briefly worked for the disgraced ex-gov as his communications director, passed the suggested topics along to junior producers, and wrote “Done” in an e-mailed reply to Cuomo’s request before a 2020 interview, The New York Times reported.

The messages were uncovered during an internal investigation into alleged workplace misconduct by since-fired star anchor Chris Cuomo, the report said....

The Post previously reported on former CNN boss Jeff Zucker and his paramour Gollust’s inappropriately close friendship with Andrew Cuomo, including personally calling him to do news segments with his brother and even coaching him on what to say during his COVID briefings....

Zucker knew about many of the exchanges between Gollust and Cuomo, the paper reported.

Zucker was forced to resign, ostensibly for not disclosing his romantic relationship with Gollust. The real catalyst for his dismissal, however, was the cozy relationship that investigators uncovered between Zucker, Gollust and the Cuomos after sifting through thousands of e-mails and texts, according to the report.

What all this means is that CNN's journalistic integrity didn't get shredded by accident. It was an inside job, manipulated by a member of Andrew M. Cuomo's influence network who consistently put Cuomo's political interests ahead of CNN's interest in maintaining any semblance of impartiality or objectivity.

Similar examples can be found at activist organizations such as Times Up and the Human Rights Campaign and at media organizations like Facebook and Kivvit, where other Cuomo influence network members did the same. And that doesn't include Cuomo's operatives who were embedded in positions throughout New York's state government and institutions.

Connecticut COVID Nursing Home Deaths Remain Elevated, Raise New Questions

This timeline entry follows up Connecticut's COVID nursing home deaths data most recently updated in this 5 February 2022 timeline entry.

For this entry, we've reset the baseline data to correspond with Connecticut's COVID nursing home death data reported on 23 December 2021, covering the period from 8 December 2021 through 21 December 2021. We've done that because this period precedes the contribution of Omicron-variant related COVID cases, which began surging in late December 2021.

Here is Connecticut's data for nursing home residents in each report so far in 2022:

Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (8 December 2021 - 21 December 2021)

• Residents - Confirmed Cases: 136 | Baseline
• Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 13 | Baseline

Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (22 December 2021 - 4 January 2022)

• Residents - Confirmed Cases: 829 | 693 Above Baseline
• Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 13 | Same As Baseline

Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (5 January 2022 - 18 January 2022)

• Residents - Confirmed Cases: 1,616 | 1,480 Above Baseline
• Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 58 | 35 Above Baseline

Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (19 January 2022 - 1 February 2022)

• Residents - Confirmed Cases: 762 | 626 Above Baseline
• Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 40 | 22 Above Baseline

Nursing Homes with COVID-19 (2 February 2022 - 15 February 2022)

• Residents - Confirmed Cases: 363 | 227 Above Baseline
• Residents - COVID-Related Deaths: 18 | 5 Above Baseline

Connecticut Nursing Home Deaths Remain Elevated

The latest data continues to point to a reduced incidence of COVID cases and deaths during the most recently ended two week period. The number of deaths however is still elevated above the level that was established in the four weeks preceding the Lamont administration's change in policy.

That's significant because on 6 January 2022, the administration of Governor Ned Lamont issued guidance requesting nursing homes accept COVID-positive patients from Connecticut hospitals to free up their bed space. While similar to Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive, the Lamont adminstration's guidance differs in not forcing Connecticut's nursing homes to admit these potentially contagious patients into their facilities, which like New York, house those most at risk of death if exposed to the variants of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Connecticut's COVID data indicates the state experienced a surge in both cases and COVID-related deaths in the period during which the Lamont administration's guidance has been in effect. The question we cannot yet answer is how many COVID-positive patients, if any, were transferred to Connecticut nursing homes where they may have contributed to the increase in cases and deaths that have been observed.

New Questions

Resetting the baseline period as we have however raises new questions. When the Lamont administration changed its guidance to request Connecticut nursing homes admit COVID-positive patients being discharged from Connecticut hospitals on 6 January 2022, they knew nursing homes were already experiencing a surge in cases. Did they think that would make it okay for them to pursue their version of Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive? What were they thinking?

Better still, what kind of pressure did they put upon any Connecticut nursing home operators who attempted to opt out of accepting COVID-positive patients? We already know that any nursing home operator who might choose to decline accepting patients would be forced to justify their decision in direct calls with state public health officials, a burden that operators accepting COVID patients were exempted from facing. What in their minds could possibly justify such a practice?

18 February 2022: Andrew M. Cuomo's PR Staff Could Dearly Cost Cuomo in Civil Lawsuit

After tweets, Cuomo's spokesman named as defendant by 'Trooper 1'

It's become something of a running gag here at the timeline, but whenever we say Andrew M. Cuomo desperately needs better PR people and more legal help, it is because it is true.

Although Cuomo himself doesn't seem to understand how badly served his PR team is serving him, legal developments in the first civil lawsuit Cuomo is facing from his myriad of alleged sexual harassment victims have quickly emphasized how badly Cuomo continues to be served by his PR team. Which we should note has dwindled to just the person of Richard Azzopardi, whose latest PR efforts have resulted in the first civil lawsuit filed against Andrew M. Cuomo being amended to include Azzopardi as a co-defendant. Here's an excerpt from the Albany Times-Union's coverage:

Attorneys for a State Police investigator who filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo amended their federal complaint on Friday morning to include the former governor's spokesman, Richard Azzopardi, as a defendant in the case after he tweeted remarks a day earlier attacking her legal team.

Azzopardi, in response to lawsuit filed on behalf of the State Police investigator on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, accused her attorneys of seeking to "extort" a settlement in the case.

In response to his remarks, an amended federal complaint was filed by attorneys Valdi Licul and John S. Crain, who are with the Wigdor law firm in Manhattan, naming Azzopardi as a defendant in the case along with Cuomo, former Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and the State Police.

Azzopardi said his remarks are "protected free speech" and that his reference to extorting money referred to a letter that Licul sent to DeRosa's attorney last September alleging that DeRosa had enabled the governor's alleged misconduct and urging her to consider some type of settlement agreement.

Douglas Wigdor, a founding partner of the law firm representing the trooper, also sent Azzopardi a message on LinkedIn, an employment-related online service, demanding that "the former governor immediately disavow the statement and that you immediately retract the statement," according to a copy of the message posted on Twitter by Azzopardi. "Otherwise, we will immediately file an action for defamation against you and the former governor and our client will add retaliation claims."

Azzopardi stood by his remarks on Friday.

"I'm not afraid of these ambulance-chasing hucksters," he said. "This is clearly protected free speech that is supported by actual facts; and while I'm no lawyer there is no way this thing against me is not going to get laughed out of court."

The 31-year-old State Police investigator, whose identity is being withheld by the Times Union, alleges Cuomo sexually harassed and inappropriately touched her after a top former aide told State Police to change the rules so that she would qualify to be placed on the former governor's protective detail.

The report continues to provide more background into the allegations raised by the state trooper who claims she was systematically targeted by Cuomo for sexual harassment. Do click through to read the whole thing!

In our previous entry, we noted that Azzopardi's response to the civil lawsuit would "mean Cuomo will be writing larger settlement checks requiring extra commas and zeroes." And that was well before we had any knowledge of the trooper's attorneys amending their lawsuit filing to include Azzopardi as a defendant, making our observation come true.

Some days, predicting the future is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Then again, that's easy when some things never change. Like Andrew M. Cuomo's desperate need for better PR people and more legal help.

17 February 2022: First Civil Lawsuit Filed by Alleged Cuomo Sexual Harassment Victim

State trooper sues former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, claiming discrimination and retaliation

This report confirms the first civil lawsuit targeting Andrew M. Cuomo's alleged sexual harassment. Here's the introduction to the report:

A New York State trooper is suing former Governor Andrew Cuomo, claiming discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation, according to court documents filed on Thursday. The New York State Police and Cuomo's former top aide Melissa DeRosa are also named in the lawsuit, which alleges that the governor sexually harassed the trooper over several years.

In the lawsuit, the trooper says Cuomo requested she be a part of the Protective Service Unit — his security detail — after they had met for just a minute and despite the fact that she was under-qualified for the position.

He then allegedly harassed her, commenting on her appearance, steering their conversations towards sex, telling her not to inform her colleagues about the nature of their conversations and, in one instance, "asking her to find him a girlfriend who could 'handle pain.'" The trooper also claims that the former governor inappropriately touched her, running a finger down her spine and saying, "Hey you."

Allegations from the trooper were also included in the investigation released in August by New York Attorney General Letitia James, which found that Cuomo "sexually harassed multiple women and in doing so violated federal and state law," James said. Cuomo announced his resignation a week later.

Cuomo resigned in disgrace as New York governor to avoid being impeached over allegations involving his sexual harassment of multiple women.

The report shares this tidbit from Cuomo's PR team, proving once again why Cuomo needs better PR people:

In a statement to CBS News, Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, said the lawsuit relies on James' "fraud of a report" and that the law firm representing the trooper is "widely known to use the press to extort settlements on behalf of 'anonymous claimants.'"

Comments like that will mean Cuomo will be writing larger settlement checks requiring extra commas and zeroes.

16 February 2022: Chris Cuomo's Alleged Sex Attack and a "Quid Pro Chris Cuomo"

By long tradition, any story involving the hapless, journalist ethics-challenged Chris Cuomo automatically qualifies as the bottom story of the day here at the timeline. The day's finally over, so here we are.

Chris Cuomo accused of sex attack during office ‘lunch’; another CNN exec resigns

This report summarizes a 2011 incident involving Chris Cuomo's alleged sexual harassment of a female co-worker at ABC News:

The “Cuomo Prime Time” host was fired in December after details emerged about how he helped his brother respond to sexual harassment allegations last year. But The New York Times reports he was only suspended for advising the politician, and the decision to fire him came shortly afterwards when an unnamed accuser came forward accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Chris Cuomo allegedly invited the “young” woman to his office for lunch when he was working at ABC News in 2011, with the pretext of giving her advice on getting a full-time job at the network. A letter sent to CNN lawyers said there was no food when she arrived and that Cuomo pressured her for sex, then attacked her when she declined.

According to the New York Post, Cuomo allegedly contacted “Jane Doe” five years later in hopes of keeping her from speaking out during #MeToo accusations, and offered to do a flattering report about her then-employer.

The next article gets into a very strange episode involving what we're calling a "quid pro Chris Cuomo" involving that latter incident.

Chris Cuomo Accused of Arranging Puff Piece to ‘Silence’ Woman Who Alleged Sexual Misconduct: NYT

This report focuses on the journalism ethics-challenged Chris Cuomo's alleged attempt to "buy" the continued silence of a female co-worked he allegedly subjected to a 2011 sexual assault when both worked at ABC News after multiple women began advancing sexual harassment charges against his politically-powerful brother, Andrew M. Cuomo.

CNN fired Chris Cuomo after Jeff Zucker discovered the prime time host had been accused of sexual harassment and assault from his time working at ABC, the New York Times reported on Tuesday night.

The extensive report also said Cuomo contacted the woman during the height of the #MeToo movement, and that CNN ran a “flattering” segment about the company where the woman worked....

The Times report Tuesday indicated that Zucker’s decision to fire Cuomo came after CNN received a letter from Debra Katz, an attorney who specializes in sexual harassment cases. That letter arrived the day after Zucker suspended Cuomo.

According to the Times:

The letter was on behalf of the woman who had worked with Mr. Cuomo at ABC News.

It relayed a story that had begun in 2011 when the woman, who was referred to as Jane Doe, was a young temporary ABC employee hoping for a full-time job. One day, after Mr. Cuomo, an anchor, had offered her career advice, he invited her to lunch in his office, according to the letter, interviews with the woman and emails between her and Mr. Cuomo.

When she arrived, there was no food. Instead, Mr. Cuomo badgered her for sex, and after she declined, he assaulted her, she said. She ran out of the room.

Later that day, the woman, who was still seeking a job, tried to smooth things over by writing Mr. Cuomo friendly emails.

The Times interviewed five friends and former colleagues who said the woman told them Mr. Cuomo had made unwelcome sexual requests. She said that only in the past year did she begin to tell people that Mr. Cuomo had also assaulted her, which she hadn’t previously divulged because it was private and painful.

The letter alleges that during the height of the #MeToo phenomenon, Cuomo contacted the woman, “seemingly out of the blue.” He offered to do a segment on CNN about the public relations firm where she was employed. According to the letter, the woman attempted to avoid contact with Cuomo, but the network ended up broadcasting the segment.

According to the Times, in the letter Katz described the segment as an “abuse of power at CNN to attempt to silence my client.”

A spokesman for Chris Cuomo claimed the allegations of sexual assault are false.

16 February 2022: CNN Chief Marketing Officer and Cuomo Influence Network Member Allison Gollust Resigns

Allison Gollust, CNN exec in affair with Zucker, resigns after probe finds ‘issues associated’ with Cuomo brothers

CNN's Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust has been conspicuous by her continued presence at the flailing news network. That's because as an executive, she would be expected to adhere to the same ethical requirements as former CNN CEO Jeff Zucker, who resigned after WarnerMedia executives learned he had concealed his romantic relationship with Gollust from them. Since she was just as much a CNN executive, her remaining on the job at CNN stood out has exceptionally unusual.

This report finds her departure was contigent on the findings of an internal probe by WarnerMedia into the conduct of CNN's executives. When that investigation was complete, she chose to resign. The following excerpt provides a high-level summary of what led to her resignation in disgrace:

Allison Gollust, the CNN executive in a relationship with former network head Jeff Zucker, has resigned after an investigation found the duo – along with Chris Cuomo – violated company policies, according to a memo from the company’s CEO.

The probe, performed by a third-party law firm, examined “issues associated with Chris Cuomo and former Governor Andrew Cuomo,” according to the letter sent Tuesday from Jason Kilar, the boss of CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia.

“Based on interviews of more than 40 individuals and a review of over 100,000 texts and emails, the investigation found violations of Company policies, including CNN’s News Standards and Practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Chris Cuomo,” Kilar wrote in the memo.

Gollust previously worked for the resigned-in-disgrace former governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo, as his press secretary. As such, she is the latest member of Cuomo's influence network to be ousted from the media or advocacy group to which they were embedded, in part because they put Andrew M. Cuomo's political interests ahead of those of their employers. At CNN, Gollust participated in advising Andrew M. Cuomo how to present himself in the daily coronavirus pandemic briefings that led to his surge in popularity in early 2020.

15 February 2022: Cuomo Ethics Inquiries Stalled in Attorney General's Office

Ethics inquiries of Cuomo stalling in attorney general's office

This report describes the frustration that JCOPE commissioners are having with New York State Attorney General Letitia James' office in addressing the ethics inquiries involving Andrew M. Cuomo for which they've sought her office's help.

Five months after New York's ethics commission sought a criminal investigation into the leak confidential information, there's been no indication that state Attorney General Letitia James' office ever took up the matter.

The leak allegation is one of several probes sought by members of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics related to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. But the inquiries have languished at a time when the commission's own future is unsettled.

In her state budget address, Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed disbanding JCOPE and replacing it with a body more independent of state lawmakers. Before that happens, some commissioners are pressing for a timely resolution of the issues that emerged during the Cuomo era.

At a monthly meeting on Tuesday, Commissioner Gary Lavine asked whether any of the commission's staff had been interviewed by James' office concerning the leak matter. Executive Director Sandford Berland, who oversees the commission's staff, said that none had been interviewed.

And last week, former Commissioner Julie Garica, who reported the leak when it was revealed to her three years ago, told the Times Union that she also was never been interviewed by James' office.

There's no other way to describe the attorney general office's lack of action or simple follow-up as anything other than a failure. We view it as a failure that can be easily righted, provided Tish James exercise the leadership to direct her office's resources to perform its due diligence.

14 February 2022: Chris Cuomo Going to Arbitration Seeking Payout from CNN

CNN's former anchor Chris Cuomo readies arbitration case

It's been a slow news day with most outlets covering stories the timeline picked up over the weekend. Still, there is new news to fill the slot for the bottom story of the day, which by tradition, involves the hapless, journalistic ethics-challenged Chris Cuomo, younger brother to the resigned-in-disgrace former governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo. It seems he's trying to cash in via arbitration against his former employer, CNN, who allegedly fired Cuomo because of repeated transgressions of journalistic ethics. Here's the latest:

For Chris Cuomo, his reputation is worth more than his $20-million contract.

FOX Business has learned, from people close to the recently fired CNN anchor, that he plans to fight his dismissal by filing an arbitration case against his former employer. The timing is said to be "soon," according to those sources, and it will broadly argue that his dismissal was unfair. The claim is expected to state the network knew he was advising his brother Andrew, the former besieged governor of New York, over how to handle sexual harassment allegations brought against him.

CNN and its former chief Jeff Zucker said the firing was justified and Cuomo would relinquish his $20-million contract because allegedly he didn’t disclose the extent of the advising that he was doing for his brother Andrew.

Keep in mind that Chris Cuomo was valuable to CNN because his politically-powerful brother was New York's governor. When Andrew M. Cuomo chose to resign in disgrace, Chris Cuomo's value to CNN greatly diminished. His conduct and continued presence on-air damaged and diminished CNN's reputation.

Both Cuomo's power and influence peaked on 6 May 2020. The downhill slide for both, not to mention the terminal phase for CNN's journalistic reputation, can be traced to their 21 May 2020 publicity event on CNN.

13 February 2022: Cuomo's Lawyer Claims COVID Nursing Home Scandals Played No Role in Cuomo's Resignation to Avoid Impeachment

Cuomo attorney denies impact of COVID-19 nursing home deaths on impeachment talks

This report is from 10 February 2022. The following excerpt describes the Andrew M. Cuomo's personal attorney's effort to diminish the role Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals had in driving his resignation.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s attorney, Rita Glavin, once again held a briefing with reporters Thursday to insist on his innocence on claims of sexual harassment and denounce the report from the state Attorney General’s Office detailing Cuomo’s alleged misconduct. Glavin once again laid out her case against the women who accused Cuomo, repeating the same evidence she has offered for weeks to question their credibility and slamming Attorney General Letitia James as politically driven. Cuomo continues to remain out of the public eye.

But when asked about her radio silence on the many other scandals Cuomo faced when he left office, including misuse of government resources to write a memoir and hiding the true number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes, Glavin sidestepped those topics, saying those controversies were not as consequential to the disgraced governor’s downfall, despite the fact that the Assembly’s impeachment investigation concluded both were serious offenses. “I do not believe the governor would have been impeached on any of those other issues,” Glavin said. “He would not have stepped down on any of those other issues....

“The sexual harassment drove all of this,” Glavin repeated. She offered no new evidence to contradict the findings of the Assembly report on nursing homes or that would suggest that Cuomo could have successfully fought articles of impeachment brought on those grounds. Glavin instead blamed what she considered the misleading and prejudicial attorney general’s report once again for Cuomo’s resignation, asserting that had people asked the right questions at the time, the ex governor would still be at the Executive Mansion despite all his other problems.

Glavin's failure to provide any new evidence to contradict the Assembly's findings on Cuomo's nursing home deaths scandals is as much a public relations strategy as it is a legal defense strategy. In her attempt to diminish Cuomo's role in the excess deaths that occurred as a result of his deadly 25 March 2020 directive and the acknowledged cover-up, we think she's exploiting the Hochul administration's reluctance to pursue any serious probe because of the political damage that would hurt the interests of the members of New York's Democratic party still serving in the state government.

Always remember that Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals involved the participation of far more of these officials than did his sexual harassment scandals. There's a very political reason why NY replacement governor Kathy Hochul is shirking her commitment to provide transparency into the role state government officials played in what happened in New York's nursing homes during the period Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect.

13 February 2022: Bipartisan Push to Probe New Jersey COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Democrat joins push to investigate NJ nursing home COVID deaths

This report confirms the effort to probe New Jersey's COVID nursing home deaths during the period that Governor Phil Murphy's version of New York's Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect is now bipartisan. Here's the main takeaway:

The push in the state Senate for a special committee to investigate deaths in New Jersey nursing homes during the pandemic is now bipartisan.

Sen. Nia Gill, D-Essex, introduced a resolution Thursday that would establish a Nursing Home Pandemic Response Investigation Committee. It would have seven members and examine the effects of state actions, executive orders, legislation and state policies on nursing homes, residents and their families.

“The only way that we can ensure the public receives the answers they deserve is to have this committee in the Legislature,” Gill said. “We must have a comprehensive report on how our system of care failed seniors and their families and how we can improve these systems going forward.”

The resolution is similar to what has been advocated for since 2020 by Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, R-Morris, who is now also a prime sponsor of Gill’s proposal.

“It is encouraging to see bipartisan support for an inquiry,” Pennacchio said. “Without an official forum, it is obvious New Jersey residents will never learn the truth about what happened in the nursing homes and what could have been done to prevent the tragedies and save lives.”

Here is related information from the timeline:

• What Happened in New Jersey's Nursing Homes
• 26 August 2020: DOJ Seeks Nursing Home Death Data from COVID Patient Dumping States
• 17 March 2021: Safety at New Jersey Nursing Homes Compromised
• 7 April 2021: No Answers from New Jersey DOH
• 2 July 2021: New Bills Look to Stop Disease Spreading at NJ State-Run Nursing Homes
• 28 July 2021: New Jersey's Murphy Administration Under DOJ Probe for COVID Nursing Home Deaths
• 24 August 2021: Federal Probe of COVID Deaths at NJ Nursing Homes Progresses
• 11 October 2021: U.S. DOJ Interviews Staff at NJ Nursing Homes
• 24 December 2021: New Jersey to Pay $52.9 Million to Families of State-Run Veterans Nursing Home COVID Victims

There is no information at this date on the status of the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation of what happened in New Jersey's state government-operated nursing homes for veterans. The bill now being proposed would be the first investigation by lawmakers to probe all New Jersey's COVID nursing home deaths, contradicting New Jersey State Senator Joseph Vitale's desire to sideline any such probes.

12 February 2022: Editorial - Team Hochul Shirking Responsibility to Probe Cuomo's COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Team Hochul refuses to get to the bottom of Andrew Cuomo’s nursing-home horrors

The New York Post's editorial board finds replacement NY governor Kathy Hochul's administration's lack of commitment to understand what went wrong in New York's nursing homes as a result of Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive to be disturbing. Here's the introduction to the editorial:

With the evident support of Gov. Kathy Hochul, state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett is refusing to get to the bottom of Team Cuomo’s nursing-home outrages. This is far from the “transparency” Hochul promised, and the Legislature should force her to deliver it.

The first issue is then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s infamous executive order of March 25, 2020, which sent thousands of seniors with COVID into nursing homes and helped the pandemic rage through them. The second is the ensuing coverup of the true COVID death toll in the homes.

Bassett says she wants to “look forward” and that she won’t “try and unravel what happened in the nursing homes under the previous commissioner.” Not figure out why a medically outrageous order went out, or why her department was actively complicit in hiding the deadly result?

Listen to those weasel words: “what happened in the nursing homes.” Bassett couldn’t even bring herself to say it. “What happened” was that some 15,000 older people died while Cuomo was playing hero on TV and getting his flunkies to fudge the numbers that showed otherwise.

Here's the final paragraph:

If the state’s leaders manage to keep this swept under the rug, they’ll be accessories after the fact.

We would observe that many of these elected and appointed officials have been accessories all along.

12 February 2022: Opinion - Connecticut's Absurd and Dangerous Cuomo-esque COVID Nursing Home Order

Connecticut’s absurd COVID order endangers nursing home patients — again

This op-ed by Bob Stefanowski, who's running for the Republican nomination for governor in Connecticut, provides a solid recap of the Lamont administration's strange decision to implement a version of New York's Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive as COVID cases peaked in early January 2022.

But he also presents new information about the policy, in which we learn nursing home operators have to justify their decisions to decline admitting COVID-positive patients being dumped out of Connecticut hospitals to free up their bed space, which makes the policy much less voluntary than it has been presented to the public.

Administrators of Connecticut’s 209 nursing homes and long-term care facilities were stunned at the start of this year when the state’s Department of Public Health (DPH) told them they must start accepting patients infected with COVID-19 to relieve pressure on overflowing hospitals.

It was like déjà vu all over again for those who worked in nursing homes during the early days of the pandemic, when deaths from COVID in states like Connecticut, New York and New Jersey were highly concentrated in elderly care facilities.

Despite being one of the most vaccinated groups, people over the age of 65 account for three-quarters of the total deaths from COVID. A combination of close quarters and patients with compromised immune systems made the virus spread like wildfire through nursing homes.

The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that any state considering “relief health care” facilities, such as nursing homes, must ensure that transferred COVID patients won’t compromise those facilities’ ability to prevent the spread of the virus internally....

While ... Connecticut never stopped allowing infected patients in, most nursing homes required two negative COVID tests at least 24 hours apart before they were willing to accept any new patient or one discharged from a hospital looking to free up capacity.

This all changed with Connecticut’s DPH memo this year, urging nursing homes to take in patients discharged from a hospital “regardless of COVID-19 status.” After pushback from nursing home administrators, a spokesperson for Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont clarified that he was not forcing them to take COVID-positive patients, but they needed to call DPH and explain why if they didn’t.

One medical director at a Connecticut nursing home lamented on social media that “if the hospital makes a referral of a COVID positive person and we decline, we are immediately reported to DPH and have to justify the decision.” Like the bully on the school playground saying — “Go ahead, I double dare you” — only this time lives are at stake.

Stefanowski continues to note that the COVID death toll in Connecticut's nursing homes has increased since the Lamont administration's Cuomo-esque policy has been in effect.

But the one question no-one has yet publicly answered is how many COVID-positive patients have been transferred into Connecticut nursing homes since it went into effect in early January 2022? We would also want to know how many COVID cases were present in the nursing homes to which they were transferred on the date before they were transferred, and how many cases have been detected in each day since.

Meanwhile, the timeline has been following the story since it began. Here's an overview of the major reports to date.

• 8 January 2022: Connecticut Looking to Dump COVID Patients Into Nursing Homes
• 16 January 2022: Scenes of COVID Policy Hypocrisy from Connecticut
• 19 January 2022: Connecticut's Lamont Ups Hypocrisy Level with Latest Nursing Home Order
• 29 January 2022: Slowing News Cycle for Cuomo's COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals
• 31 January 2022: Baseline for Connecticut COVID Nursing Home Deaths
• 5 February 2022: Connecticut COVID Nursing Home Death Toll Rises
• 6 February 2022: Connecticut Newspaper Reports COVID Nursing Home Numbers, Forgets to Ask Right Questions

11 February 2022: Replacement NY Governor To Turn Over Cuomo's COVID-19 'Volunteers' Records

Gov. Kathy Hochul will turn over records tied to Andrew Cuomo’s COVID ‘volunteers’

The most important thing about this report is that replacement New York Governor Kathy Hochul is choosing to comply with a subpoena related to the governor's office's records from Andrew M. Cuomo's tenure in office.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office will comply with a subpoena asking for records about unpaid “volunteers” that her disgraced predecessor – ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo – used to help work on New York’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics sent a subpoena to the executive chamber on Feb. 7 requesting information about individuals who were employed by Cuomo during the coronavirus crisis – but exempt from ethics standards laid out in New York’s public officers’ law, thanks to now-defunct executive orders.

“We are reviewing the subpoena and fully intend to comply,” Hochul press secretary Hazel Crampton-Hays told The Post on Thursday.

The three-page document seeks:

1. The total number of individual exempted from the provisions of the public officers law and the jurisdiction of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics during the period when the orders were in effect between March 18, 2020, and April 29, 2021
2. Identify any particular volunteers about whom conflicts of interests or potential conflicts of interest were identified
3. With respect to those individuals, any arrangements for recusal or other means to address the conflict or potential conflict

The governor has until Feb. 28 to turn over the records.

If Cuomo still had meaningful support within New York's Democratic party, Hochul would almost certainly have acted to stonewall the subpoena.

But with no criminal charges having been filed against Andrew M. Cuomo related to his alleged sexual harassment of multiple women, despite the district attorneys in each county where they were filed claim they found the charges to be credible, the 'volunteers' scandal represents Hochul and her political party's latest effort to keep Andrew M. Cuomo's scandals contained to those they've already successfully ousted from power. As such, it provides a targeted means of limiting Cuomo from attempting to regain power, where he must continue consuming his available resources to defend himself.

What it doesn't do, despite the near overlap in relevant dates, is address the much bigger issue of Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals during the period Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect. If NY pols really wanted to put Cuomo down once and for all, they would drop the hammer on that. We think they won't because that would mean removing many more party members serving in the state government from their positions.

10 February 2022: Cuomo Won't Run to Replace Tish James

Cuomo confirms not running against state A.G. James, will address allegations against him ‘soon’

Here's the new meat from a report that's mostly a recap of recent stories the timeline has covered separately:

In an hourlong virtual news conference, Rita Glavin, his personal attorney, also addressed rumblings that the defiant Cuomo might run again for office. Asked whether a campaign is coming, she told reporters, “I don’t know.”

Cuomo, who has kept a low profile since quitting, has begun to poke his head out recently as rumors grow that he might challenge the reelection bid of state Attorney General Letitia James.

Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, said Thursday that Cuomo does not intend to run against James.

We think Andrew M. Cuomo will launch a campaign, if for no other reason than to extract the $16.4 million he has sitting in his campaign's bank account that, by law, he cannot directly cash out and pocket.

That campaign will almost certainly fund high-dollar salaries for Cuomo's close family members and "friends" for their "work" on getting him elected to whatever position he might choose to run for. The last people who should ever expect any of that money are the donors who contributed funds while Cuomo served as New York's governor, before he resigned in disgrace.

If you think that's not true, let's see what happens should any of Cuomo's previous big money donors ask for a refund....

Better still, have Cuomo explain in detail why he's unwilling to run against Tish James for a statewide office to which he was once elected.

10 February 2022: Cuomo to File Misconduct Complaint Against NYS AG Letitia James

Andrew Cuomo to file professional misconduct complaint against New York Attorney General Letitia James

This report indicates Andrew M. Cuomo will file a complaint against New York State Attorney General Letitia "Tish" James.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to file a complaint against New York Attorney General Letitia James with a state judicial committee that reviews allegations of professional misconduct involving attorneys, a lawyer for Cuomo said Thursday.

The attorney, Rita Glavin, accused James's office of "selectively" redacting information in the bombshell sexual harassment report that last year led to Cuomo's resignation from office, as well as including "materially misleading information" in the report, and "slow-rolling" the release of the underlying interview depositions after announcing its findings.

Glavin said James' office has not taken Cuomo's criticisms of the report seriously.

"What she has done and all she has done is she has publicly dismissed our complaints," Glavin said.

"(Cuomo) feels strongly that there was misconduct here, that the attorney general misused her office," Glavin said Thursday while announcing the complaint, which she said will be filed to an Attorney Grievance Committee. Glavin said it's not yet clear if Cuomo will only file the complaint against James, or if he will also name investigators who worked on the report. She did not commit to making the complaint public.

To be fair, Andrew M. Cuomo's personal attorney Rita Glavin has to do things to keep cashing the paychecks she gets from Cuomo, who has a $16.4 million campaign fund he's seemingly using to pay for much of the legal help he's consuming. She won't become a multi-millionaire by not doing things Cuomo wants, even if she's not willing to make the things she's doing public.

Cuomo confirms not running against state A.G. James, will address allegations against him ‘soon’

We came across this report, from which we'll feature the main news item in a separate timeline entry. The report however contains the response of the New York state attorney general's office to Rita Glavin's claims:

“If he thinks he has a real legal case, he should go ahead and file it,” James’ office said in a statement. “These attacks are disgraceful and yet another desperate charade to mask the truth: Andrew Cuomo is a serial sexual harasser.”

James' office's response is a variation of Cuomo's former press secretary Karen Hinton's "Run, Andrew, Run" challenge. But if you hadn't guessed it already from the headline for this report, he's not willing to do that....

10 February 2022: Advocacy Group Petitions to Disbar Cuomo

Advocacy group petitions to disbar Cuomo

You wouldn't think it to hear him describe laws he enacted or may face criminal prosecution under, but Andrew M. Cuomo is a licensed attorney. This report indicates an advocacy group wants his license to practice law taken away from him. Here's an excerpt:

A sexual harassment volunteer organization has filed a complaint with a State Supreme Court Grievance Committee requesting an investigation and disciplinary actions be brought against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The actions could ultimately include disbarment in New York.

The Sexual Harassment Working Group is made up of eight former city and state legislative employees who either experienced or reported sexual harassment from former public officials. They filed the complaint on Feb. 9 in the Third Judicial Department in Albany. Any person or organization can bring a formal complaint against a licensed attorney in the state to appellate court grievance committees.

The group argued that Cuomo violated judiciary rules of professional conduct, based on the conclusions made by Attorney General Letitia James’ independent investigation and the Assembly’s impeachment report.

“Given the sustained and brazen nature of his offenses, we believe it’s clear Mr. Cuomo is not fit to continue to serve as an attorney in the state of New York,” the complaint said. “The AG Report and the Assembly Report reveal Mr. Cuomo committed sustained and gross misconduct unbefitting a member of the Bar.”

While proceedings like this are still going on, Cuomo cannot seriously claim he has been vindicated with any honesty. In truth, he has not been held accountable for any of his alleged misconduct.

9 February 2022: Chris Cuomo Shakes CNN's Money Tree in Attempt to Collect Loose Change

Chris Cuomo wants as much as $60 million from CNN amid Jeff Zucker exit

Since this report features Chris Cuomo, the hapless and ethically-challenged "journalist" brother to Andrew M. Cuomo, you can be assured it represents the bottom story of the day. In this episode, we learn Chris Cuomo is counting on CNN's absence of professional conductstandards to give him a huge payday:

Chris Cuomo isn’t backing down in his battle with CNN following the ouster of his boss Jeff Zucker — the anchor intends to demand as much as a $60 million settlement, according to sources.

Multiple sources tell Page Six that Cuomo, who was fired in December for helping his brother fend off sexual harassment allegations, is ready to dig his heels in by claiming that Zucker not only knew about his dealings with the governor — but that the network boss had his own inappropriate dealings with Andrew....

“Chris intends to fight for every dollar on his contract, and loss of income from the 15 to 20 years left in his career, had Zucker not orchestrated a ‘f–k-job’ on him. He could ask for as much as $80 million but CNN isn’t going to pay that. But there’s an argument he could ask for as much as $60 million”

A second source told Page Six that, “Chris is telling people in the Hamptons he was wrongly fired, humiliated, his career has been ruined, and he wants Megyn Kelly money.” (Kelly won a $69 million settlement from NBC in 2019 following the media storm when she defended blackface on her show.)

If WarnerMedia's legal team had any sense, they would do well to let Cuomo air CNN's dirty laundry while stiffing him on any payouts. It's not like the network doesn't need a full housecleaning and Cuomo's long association with the network has already materially harmed it, so it doesn't have all that much value left to lose.

9 February 2022: Cuomo Encouraged to Run for Office by Former Press Secretary

Run, Andrew, run: Cuomo — and those who see him as a serial harasser — should welcome him diving back into politics

This op-ed by Karen Hinton, the former press secretary to Andrew M. Cuomo when he served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration, challenges Cuomo to run. Because as she uniquely argues, how else can Cuomo learn how big a loser he has become?

Run, Andrew, run. That’s my advice to the former New York governor who may be considering rehabilitating his ruined political career by running for either governor (again) or attorney general (again). In a jaw-dropping interview with Laura Nahmias of Bloomberg News, Andrew Cuomo channeled Humphrey Bogart as Capt. Queeg, complete with the click-clack of balls, as he painted himself a victim of conspiracies by a cabal of powerful rivals intent on mounting a coup to bring him down. Cuomo boldly announced that the 11 women whose accusations formed the basis of findings by state Attorney General Tish James that Cuomo had “violated multiple federal and state harassment laws” are now “zero.” Cuomo claims “vindication.”

Vindicated by whom exactly? Well, by himself, of course, and his attorneys, paid with taxpayer and campaign funds. Cuomo derided the Joon Kim-Anne Clark report, issued by the attorney general, as a “brand of ugly politics like I had never seen before,” sounding very similar to the two young brothers who murdered their parents, throwing themselves on the mercy of the court because they had become orphans. In other words, no one had an uglier brand of politics than Cuomo. He likely recognizes that the true reparation of his shattered image can only come from the voters, not self-proclamations by him or his minions or even New York district attorneys, claiming they will “lose” in court even with “credible” victims.

But Cuomo also must know that if you put all the chips on the table, and lose, there is no coming back; his reputation as an offender will be written in stone by millions of New Yorkers if he is rejected at the polls.

I say go for it, governor. The district attorneys who decided not to press criminal charges deprived Cuomo of his day in court, so he should submit himself to adjudication by the voters.

People magazine presented a profile on Hinton on 28 January 2022. She is one of Cuomo's accusers for alleged sexual harassment cases that pre-date Cuomo's tenure as New York's governor that were not included in the New York state attorney general's report. She has written a book containing descriptions of those incidents among other stories, which is why People interviewed her.

9 February 2022: Mary Bassett's "Apathy" for Auditing Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths on Display

Bassett says review of nursing home COVID protocols unlikely

New York Health Commissioner Mary Bassett is signaling she will not support an audit of COVID nursing home deaths that occurred during the period Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect.

Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett cast doubt Tuesday that the department plans to review the state’s pandemic policies in nursing homes, disappointing Republicans who have insisted on a third-party investigation and report on controversial practices adopted during the coronavirus public emergency....

A controversial March 25, 2020, DOH memo to send COVID-positive nursing home patients home to their facilities to recover issued by former Health Commissioner Dr. Howard A. Zucker, Bassett’s predecessor, continues to be the impetus for the lawmakers’ plea for a review.

The proposed legislation would require the department to release within 90 days a public report on its conclusions about early pandemic policies, their impact on the death toll and an action plan for adult-care facilities to prepare for future health emergencies.

Bassett would not answer questions about using the department’s resources to conduct such a review.

“If this is pending legislation, obviously I won’t comment on that,” the health commissioner said. “If it’s passed, of course, we’ll read it.”

Republicans on Monday urged Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul to include the language in her 30-day amendments to her executive budget proposal.

The Democrat-led Legislature is likely to remain united with Bassett’s apathy about the proposed investigation and let the legislation die in committee.

That's likely because an independent investigation would be damaging to the political interests of the legislature's Democratic party majority. That's because the implementation and enforcement of Cuomo's deadly directive required the active participation of hundreds of state government officials, many of whom are still employed within the state's Department of Health.

That's why the party was willing to pursue the sexual harassment allegations against Andrew M. Cuomo with such gusto. It provided a means to surgically remove Cuomo and his top staff while limiting the damage to the interests of the party's members to remain in power.

8 February 2022: State Lawmakers Want Audit of COVID Nursing Home Deaths

State lawmakers push for audit of COVID nursing home deaths

This report indicates the call for an audit is linked to new legislation being advanced by Republican members of New York's state senate, and is perhaps an inevitable response to newly installed New York Health Commissioner Mary Bassett's statement she would not investigate the COVID nursing home deaths that occurred under Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive .

Republican state senators proposed legislation Monday they say would help prevent COVID from ever running rampant through nursing homes again.

They gathered at the state Capitol to call out Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett for refusing to investigate Cuomo-era nursing home COVID policies.

Sen. Jim Tedisco is among the lawmakers introducing legislation that would compel the commissioner to review previous pandemic policies.

As you may recall, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo had come under fire for a policy that sent hospitalized nursing home residents back to their facilities, even if they hadn't tested negative – and for undercounting nursing home COVID deaths.

Tedisco has called for an independent investigation of all of it and is urging Gov. Hochul to include the legislation in her budget amendments.

It's unlikely that replacement NY Governor Kathy Hochul will consent with the request, given how damaging any serious investigation into Cuomo's COVID nursing home scandals would be for members of her political party. That sentiment is behind why NY Health Commissioner Mary Bassett has stated she would not conduct such a probe, which is the subject of the next report.

‘Complete disregard’: Hochul health boss hit on lack of Cuomo nursing home probe

The following excerpt recaps how Bassett's comments dismissing any probe of COVID nursing home deaths in New York have led to calls for an audit of those deaths by state lawmakers:

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s new health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, showed “complete disregard” towards families of nursing home COVID-19 victim’s families when she said she “won’t unravel” mistakes made under ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo that led to the deaths of over 15,000 elderly New Yorkers, Republican lawmakers charged.

“I came into this year with high hopes that we would hear from a new administration – a new health commissioner – with the desire to right the wrongs of the past. Instead, Dr. Bassett showed a complete disregard for the 15,000-plus New Yorkers when she said, during her recent confirmation hearings, that she will ‘not look back,’ or in her words, ‘unravel’ what happened with the former administration. That is totally unacceptable,” said state Sen. Sue Serino (R-Hyde Park) in Albany Monday.

Bassett recently told state lawmakers that she won’t “unravel what had happened in the nursing homes” or call for an investigation into the pandemic policies under her predecessor, Dr. Howard Zucker – specifically tied to the infamous March 25, 2020 order.

Bassett said she instead wants to “look forward,” but also added she would rather resign instead of implementing a similar policy that would force her to put individuals in harm’s way.

But Serino said the answer isn’t good enough.

“Too many New York families who are impacted by the state’s horrible pandemic policies don’t get the luxury of not looking back,” she said Monday.

Mysteries that still need to be solved include who wrote and approved the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive, what logic did they believe justified such a policy that would clearly cause more deaths than would have occurred without it, who implemented and enforced it, and what methods did they use to compel nursing home operators to comply with it?

All that is to say an audit of Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths is a good place to start. We think much more serious investigations, including criminal probes, will also need to occur.

8 February 2022: Ethics Groups Want Probe of Cuomo Influence Network Members

Ethics groups want investigation of free help Cuomo received

The Cuomo Influence Network is the name we use to describe former staffers of Andrew M. Cuomo's administration who left the disgraced governor's office to work in media or activist organizations who continued to prioritize Cuomo's political interests over those of their new employers. This report reveals that several good government groups want an investigation of the free labor and aid they provided to Cuomo as he tried to discredit the multiple women who accused him of sexual harassing them.

Here's an excerpt covering the argument Cuomo's defense team is presenting to avoid facing penalties, along with the arguments by the good government groups saying both Cuomo and the members of his influence network should face penalties:

When Cuomo’s first accusers came forward, he turned to a team of outside advisers — former members of his administration — who provided the Democrat with strategic advice and public relations help.

Several of those ex-aides worked for companies that lobby the state or have had state contracts.

New York’s gift ban doesn’t apply to family members or friends, and Cuomo’s attorney, Jim McGuire, said simply seeking advice from longtime allies in a crisis breaks no law.

“Every elected official, every politician, every person has a kitchen cabinet they rely on,” McGuire said. “It’s called having friends.”

New York Public Interest Research Group Executive Director Blair Horner said ethics officials should investigate.

“If the governor’s getting free professional consulting in this capacity and he is an elected official, that should be prohibited under the law,” Horner said. “They’re giving free professional advice to the governor and normally they would charge.”...

Ethics experts said it doesn’t matter if employees were acting independently of their companies on personal time. They are still subject to the ban on gifts.

“As a lobbyist, giving your professional services without charge obviously is prohibited, in fact it’s a misdemeanor, it’s a crime,” David Grandeau, New York’s former top ethics regulator, said. “The laws are crystal clear. The problem is with the people enforcing and interpreting those laws.”

The report concludes that the ethics groups don't expect the New York's Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) to address the conduct given its ongoing organizational and institutional problems.

7 February 2022: "Vindicated" Cuomo "Delusional", "Delirious"

We decided to follow up our own take on Andrew M. Cuomo's claim to have been "vindicated" over multiple allegations of sexual harassment with these two pieces, which appeared Rolling Stone and in the New York Post, just to provide a full balance across the political spectrum. (If anyone asks, we would be considerered centrists.)

A Very Delusional Andrew Cuomo Is Trying to Convince People He’s Been Exonerated of Sexual Misconduct

This analysis appeared in Rolling Stone. Here's a short excerpt:

Cuomo believes he’s been vindicated – or at least that’s the line he’s going with. “If you do an honest summary [of the scandal], which is what I get from people on the street, I have been vindicated.”

Cuomo is clearly referring to the decision by New York state prosecutors to not pursue criminal charges for any of his sex crime allegations. But not pursuing charges is very different from an exoneration, and prosecutors noted that they found Cuomo’s accusers to be “credible.”

It’s worth noting that Cuomo’s sexual harrassment case overshadowed several other alleged crimes he committed in office, like the massive coverup of nursing home deaths during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In many ways, Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals is the other shoe that still needs to drop. Following that scandal is why we created the timeline and why we've continued updating it even after Cuomo resigned in disgrace to avoid being impeached over the allegations of sexual harassment by multiple women. From our perspective, it's nice to see the very-left-leaning Rolling Stone is both aware those scandals exist and conscious enough to realize something still needs to be done to address them.

Going now to a typically colorful opinion piece from the New York Post:

Andrew Cuomo vindicated? Only in his delirious, dirty mind

This op-ed is by columnist Maureen Callahan:

Vindicated?!?

It’s the blink of an eye since Andrew Cuomo resigned — yet for Cuomo himself, the five months since his forced resignation is clearly a lifetime. Wouldn’t you know: He’s gone from #MeToo scourge to political martyr.

“I never resigned because I did something wrong,” Cuomo told Bloomberg News. “I said I’m resigning because I don’t want to be a distraction,” adding the dubious, data-free self-report that he’s been “vindicated.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We are living in a horror movie where no monster is ever slain. They just keep popping back up like the soulless zombies they are, trying to terrorize us into submission.

Then she keeps hitting away, hard enough that if anyone thought Cuomo wasn't already brain-dead, they'd be calling a TKO. We've long been fans of the Post's sports coverage (is there anything better than their annual "Mets collapse" stories?), so we can't resist throwing in a boxing metaphor to close this timeline entry....

7 February 2022: Andrew M. Cuomo Claims He's Been "Vindicated"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-07/andrew-cuomo-says-he-s-been-vindicated-won-t-rule-out-run

This report by Bloomberg's Laura Nahmias indicates Andrew M. Cuomo has a unique interpretation of what it means when prosecutors decline to file criminal charges. The following excerpt cuts straight to how the resigned-in-disgrace former governor is trying to sell his spin to the public:

Cuomo has also seized on decisions by four different New York District Attorneys not to prosecute allegations, despite each saying they found Cuomo’s accusers credible. A fifth, the Manhattan D.A.’s office, dropped its own inquiry into sexual misconduct allegations, but has not made a public statement, according to CNN.

“It turns out in a remarkably short period of time that it did become all bogus. 11 became zero,” Cuomo said. “If you do an honest summary, which is what I get from people on the street, I have been vindicated.”

But has he really? Here's the very next paragraph from the report:

In truth, the New York DAs said they found the accounts of the women to be credible despite not pursuing criminal charges against Cuomo. The decision is “not an exoneration” of Cuomo, said DA Gregory Oakes in upstate Oswego County, noting that current New York statutes “fail to properly hold offenders accountable and fail to adequately protect victims.”

That last passage indicates the media, who if CNN is any indication, once constituted the strongest sector of support for Cuomo, isn't buying it.

The report also deals with the prospects for a new run for office by the resigned-in-disgrace politician in its introduction:

Five months after he resigned over a swirl of sexual harassment allegations, New York’s former Governor Andrew Cuomo isn’t ruling out another run for public office. He insists it’s too soon to talk about it.

Instead, he’s consumed by what he alleges are serious mistakes by New York State Attorney General Letitia James and the independent lawyers who investigated the sexual harassment claims against him.

Her office determined the accounts of 11 different women were credible and that Cuomo “violated multiple federal and state harassment laws,” according to the Aug. 3 report. The findings were so damaging and explosive that Cuomo resigned weeks after the report’s release.

But if he had to do it all over, he wouldn’t have resigned, the former governor, 64, told Bloomberg News in a Friday telephone interview, one of a handful since leaving office. “I never resigned because I said I did something wrong. I said, I’m resigning because I don’t want to be a distraction,” Cuomo said.

James’s office is unsparing in its rebuttal. “No one, including Andrew Cuomo, can dispute the fact that multiple investigations found allegations of sexual harassment against him to be credible,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Only he is to blame for inappropriately touching his own staff and then quitting so he didn’t have to face impeachment. His baseless attacks won’t change the reality -- Andrew Cuomo is a serial sexual harasser.”

The choice of how to juxtapose sentences and paragraphs in a news article like this is 100% in the control of the reporter and their editors. That they're immediately following Cuomo's statements with opposing views confirms they view Cuomo as little more than a sideshow, one they feel free to directly challenge.

Andrew M. Cuomo has a $16 million budget to fund his sideshow, but if this article is any indication, he's up against a media that's willing to take him down a few notches everytime he speaks for free. For a politician who made his reputation as someone to be feared if they were crossed, it's a sign he's lost that reputation. Whether he quit to avoid being a distraction as he claims or he quit to avoid being impeached over what the prosecutors who declined to charge him over what they describe as credible sexual harassment allegations is now immaterial. The bottom line is the one thing he's proven beyond any reasonable doubt to the public is he's a quitter.

6 February 2022: Connecticut Newspaper Reports COVID Nursing Home Numbers, Forgets to Ask Right Questions

Danbury area home COVID cases, deaths decline: ‘Nothing like we saw at the end of 2021’

This report from Danbury, Connecticut's NewsTimes puts a local spin on the latest COVID data from Connecticut's nursing homes. We've excerpted the following passages from the article:

Infections among residents across the state are decreasing after a mid-January peak, state data released last week show. In the past two weeks, case numbers stayed below 30 across all state facilities, with a 47 percent decline in total cases since the last report. Most facilities in the Danbury area are reporting no cases, or numbers in the single digits and low teens...

While COVID-related deaths are still higher than they were earlier this fall, these numbers are also starting to decline from a high point of 58 deaths reported on Jan. 20.

The 40 deaths recorded over the most recent two-week period included no more than one or two deaths per location, with the exception of Mystic Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Groton where five deaths were reported.

Prior to the Jan. 20 report, facilities were reporting 13 or fewer deaths during the biweekly state update.

The report makes no mention of the Lamont administration's 8 January 2022 guidance requesting nursing homes admit COVID-positive patients being discharged to free up hospital bed space. Instead, it picks up on a health care manager using hearsay to point their finger at visitors to nursing homes as a blameworthy source of coronvirus infections:

Dr. Vivian Leung, who works as the medical director for the DPH’s Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Program, said this most recent wave saw infection numbers greater than last winter. But high rates of resident vaccination and boosters have meant that mortality rates are going down with each successive wave of the pandemic....

New cases can be hard to trace back to a specific source, but high viral loads in the community mean that visitors and staff might have unknowingly introduced the virus into some nursing home settings.

Leung said that the state worked hard to ensure residents were boosted before the holidays, but she did hear stories of visitors visiting without knowing they were infected.

“We knew that visitation was a potential source of infection, especially when there's such high rates of community transmission. People can come in, unknowingly infected, and really with the best of intentions of spending some time with their loved ones.”

We still haven't seen any reporting indicating how many COVID-positive patients might have been taken in at Connecticut's nursing homes under the Lamont administration's guidance. We hope that answer is zero, since unlike Andrew M. Cuomo's infamous deadly 25 March 2020 directive, Connecticut nursing homes haven't been forced to admit these patients. But without competent reporting or a proper investigation, how is anyone to know?