28 September 2022: The Governor Who Quit Attempts a Comeback

Andrew Cuomo’s stunning, remorseless return to public life after sex scandal

Andrew M. Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace rather than face impeachment proceedings, is attempting to mount a comeback. Here's an excerpt from the New York Post's coverage:

Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a return to public life Wednesday, saying he wanted to “move forward” — little more than a year after the threat of all-but-certain impeachment forced him to resign in disgrace.

In an eight-minute video posted online and sent to reporters by his spokesman, Cuomo, 64, stared straight into the camera, jawboning about his brief exile and his plans for the future.

Cuomo, wearing an open-collar dress shirt and jacket, said being forced from office allowed him to spend “time engaging in something called life,” adding with apparently unintended irony: “I had a lot to make up for.”

But without a shred of remorse or apology to his multiple accusers, Cuomo — who has denied any wrongdoing — added: “The past few months gave me a new perspective on politics, on people and even on life.”

Cuomo failed to address any aspect of his deadly 25 March 2020 directive nor its contribution to hundreds, if not thousands, of excess COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents. On a side note, as a matter of editorial policy, the timeline will prioritize coverage of Cuomo's COVID nursing home scandals and legal developments related to his other ongoing scandals.

As for Cuomo's political "comeback", we'll observe that Cuomo has proven one thing beyond any shadow of doubt in the past year. When the going gets tough, Andrew M. Cuomo quits. He proved it when he resigned rather than fight his pending impeachment from office. He proved again when he chickened out of running for another state office because it wasn't in the bag for him. And he continues to prove it with his ongoing efforts to evade culpability for the fatal consequences his deadly directive wrought.

In short, Cuomo lacks the integrity that would make him someone worth listening to. It's strange then that his comeback plan puts such priority on him hosting a podcast, which most people put in the entertainment category of life. It's as if he's hoping to replace the Emmy he lost with whatever participation trophies are handed out for podcasters.

26 September 2022: Chris Cuomo Sort-Of Acknowledges Breakdown of Journalism Ethics

‘Way Too Much of a Conflict’: Kara Swisher Confronts Chris Cuomo on Advising His Brother While at CNN

Chris Cuomo, the hapless brother of the resigned-in-disgrace former New York governor Andrew M. Cuomo, was confronted by podcast host Kara Swisher over his journalism ethics in using his CNN platform to boost his brother's political interests.

The discussion, which was published Monday, did not have an easy lift-off. Swisher first asked Cuomo to talk about the “problematic” aspect of his lighthearted interviews with his brother during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The hindsight 2020 for me is that if I had known that a grudge would be harbored,” Cuomo said. “Because if we’re giving a fair reckoning, not many people spoke up loudly in the media about disapproving of my brother being on during that time. They did so later. And I think that is something that needs to be owned as well. The reason that they didn’t come out in the moment was because it was very popular and powerful.”

Throughout the conversation, Cuomo defended his interviews with his brother while dismissing critics who argued they represented a conflict of interest.

Cuomo claimed there was “complete transparency” and his interviews with his brother were “the right call” in the context of the times, but he also curiously admitted they should have been considered a conflict “ab initio” — from the beginning.

Or as any independent observer would recognize, Chris Cuomo's interviews with his brother were an embarrassment from Day 1 and should never have been tolerated by any serious broadcast news outfit because of the inherent journalism conflict of interest involved.

21 September 2022: Cuomo Won't Testify Before Congress About COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Andrew Cuomo ducks House invite to testify about his nursing home deaths scandal

Andrew M. Cuomo has turned down an opportunity to voluntarily come clean about the role of his deadly 25 March 2020 directive in contributing to excess COVID deaths in New York's nursing homes during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ignored an invitation to testify Wednesday at a congressional hearing focused on COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the coronavirus last week publicly asked Cuomo to appear to answer questions about his 2020 order requiring nursing homes to take coronavirus-positive patients.

“We asked him to testify at this very hearing and he still to this day has not even responded,” said Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who tweeted a letter addressed to Cuomo asking him to appear.

“He’s not participating,” Scalise said. “He didn’t even feel that he owed those victims a response to the questions we had for him.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told The Post that Republicans intend to use subpoena powers to investigate Cuomo’s order and his administration’s admitted subsequent coverup of death statistics if the GOP retakes the House in the November midterm elections.

Andrew M. Cuomo can reasonably expect to face legal problems related to his fateful choices as New York's governor for years to come and his attempts to evade their consequences.

21 September 2022: Cuomo Whines About Political Pals Who Defriended Him

Andrew Cuomo opens up about the ‘political friends’ who abandoned him

It says a lot about Andrew M. Cuomo's loss of power that this story was reported by New York Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams. Here's the main thrust of the resigned-in-disgrace governor's complaints:

Our ex-governor who never played nice just sent me flowers. He’s now being more nicer.

Now that Andrew Cuomo filed a lawsuit about his sexual harassment allegations, I asked what friends stood by him.

“Nobody. It was tough. Traumatizing. Biden, a friend 20 years, not knowing details, immediately said about me, ‘He’s got to go.’ Biden had troubles years before and I stood by him. Gave him the benefit of the doubt. It was heartbreaking to see him trash me without reading one page, making one phone call.

“Pelosi? Please. I know her 30 years. Her daughter worked for me. Obama? He’s been tough. When troubles come you like to think you’re different. You’re not. Enemies and haters accumulate. Schumer, Gillibrand, pals working in the state, friends I respected, fell like dominos. Lose your power and heartless politicians read the tea leaves. You’re dead. Over. Pols grab another piece of meat. The phrase ‘political friends’ is an oxymoron.”

And yet, he doesn't think he's done:

“Look, my interest is public service. There are no term limits so I can make another go in four years. I’m someone who delivers. And who knows, could be there’s nobody to beat me. Also who knows — maybe by then I’ll be sweeter.”

Will being "sweeter" in four years help him avoid accountability for all the excess COVID deaths resulting from his deadly 25 March 2020 directive?

14 September 2022: Ex-Aide Sues Cuomo, DeRosa Over Alleged Sexual Harassment

Ex-aide Charlotte Bennett sues Cuomo, DeRosa over alleged sexual harassment

It has always just been a matter of time before Andrew M. Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace as New York's governor rather than face impeachment, was sued by more of the women who alleged he sexually harassed them while serving as governor. This report covers the civil case being launched by the second woman to allege sexual harassment abuse on the part of Cuomo. Here's the introduction:

A former assistant to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed a discrimination suit against him Wednesday — that alleges he once joked about getting investigated for sexual harassment over an incident involving her.

Charlotte Bennett’s Manhattan federal court filing claims that during a June 5, 2020, meeting in Cuomo’s office, he made a crack about how watching her COVID-19 mask move when she breathed reminded him of the monsters in the movie ‘”Predator.”

After Bennett “laughed uncomfortably,” Cuomo allegedly foresaw the consequences.

“If I were investigated for sexual harassment, I would have to say I told her she looked like a monster,” he said, according to the suit.

Bennett’s suit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that Cuomo repeatedly subjected her to humiliating sexual harassment and tried to smear her as a liar when she went public.

The next excerpt better describes Bennett's legal complaint:

Bennett’s 60-page complaint alleges when she worked for Cuomo between May 2019 and June 2020, he “subjected her to sexualized comments about her appearance, assigned her humiliating and demeaning tasks, and beginning in early June 2020, subjected her to invasive and unwanted questions about her personal life, romantic and sexual relationships, and history as a survivor of sexual assault.”

“He told her he was ‘lonely,’” wanted a girlfriend who lived in Albany, and was willing to date someone over the age of 21 years old,” the suit says.

“Cuomo’s comments and behavior were unwelcome and Ms. Bennett reasonably perceived them to constitute a sexual advance.”

Bennett says she “promptly” complained to Cuomo’s then-chief of staff, co-defendant Judith DesRosiers. But instead of “taking appropriate corrective measures,” DesRosiers transferred Bennett to an “inferior position” on Cuomo’s health policy team.

Neither DesRosiers nor Judith Mogul, Cuomo’s special counsel at the time, interviewed Bennett until after she told other colleagues about Cuomo’s alleged harassment, either, according to the suit.

In addition, DesRosiers, Mogul and DeRosa allegedly violated state policy by failing to refer Bennett’s complaint to the Government Office of Employee Relations.

All three, DesRosiers, Mogul, and DeRosa are named as co-defendants with Andrew M. Cuomo in Bennett's lawsuit.

Cuomo is already defending allegations of sexual harassment in a civil case filed by a female New York state trooper back on 17 February 2022.

13 September 2022: Andrew Cuomo Accuses NY Attorney General Tish James of Misconduct

Andrew Cuomo accuses AG Tish James of misconduct in sex harassment probe

In the latest legal development since he resigned in disgrace as New York's governor, Andrew M. Cuomo has filed an ethics complaint against New York state attorney general Letitia "Tish" James. Here's an excerpt:

Disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed an ethics complaint against Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday — alleging that she repeatedly violated attorney conduct rules in connection with the sexual harassment probe that forced him to resign under threat of impeachment last year.

In his latest attempt to avenge himself against his accusers, Cuomo said James had “an intolerable personal and political conflict of interest” and “engaged in a terrible and quite obvious manipulation of facts, evidence and the law” during and after her blockbuster investigation....

Cuomo’s 48-page letter to the state First Judicial Department’s Attorney Grievance Committee rehashed many of the same arguments that his defense lawyer, Rita Glavin, made during a series of news conferences following his Aug. 10, 2021, resignation.

But that doesn't mean it was a total rehash of Cuomo's tired claims.

... he also seized on an exclusive, front-page report in The Post last year that revealed how a state police bodyguard allegedly spotted the then-governor and his top aide, Melissa DeRosa, “making out on the sidewalk like high schoolers.”

Cuomo accused James of intentionally including “inflammatory hearsay” testimony even though she “knew she had directly contrary information and chose not to release it.”

Aside from that, it mostly was a rehash of Cuomo's tired claims, in which Cuomo also attacked the independent lawyers who conducted the probe for the attorney general:

In addition to targeting James, Cuomo’s letter to the Grievance Committee alleges misconduct by the two outside lawyers she hired to conduct the investigation that concluded he sexually harassed 11 women, including nine current or former state workers.

Cuomo alleged that the lawyers — former acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim and Anne Clark, an expert in employment discrimination — exhibited “bias” and misled the public with a 168-page report that “deliberately omitted evidence contradicting allegations of sexual harassment and undermining witness and complainant credibility.”

The report concludes with the AG's office's response:

In a prepared statement, the AG’s Office said, “Attorney General James, Joon Kim, and Anne Clark hold themselves to the highest ethical standards.”

“Mr. Cuomo resigned after an independent investigation revealed that he preyed on multiple women who worked for him. New Yorkers are ready to move forward and close this sordid chapter in our state’s history,” the statement added.

Andrew M. Cuomo chose to resign rather than face impeachment proceedings where he could have loudly argued his claims.

8 September 2022: Cuomo’s COVID-19 Policy Incompetent

Opinion - Cuomo’s New York COVID-19 Policy Incompetent

This opinion piece by W.R. Daniel Bull appeared in Oswego State University's Oswegonian student newspaper on 8 September 2022. Here's an excerpt:

When the number of reported COVID-19 cases started to rise, Cuomo put the state of New York under lockdown. Schools were closed and students were forced to learn over Zoom; businesses were closed and some had to deliver their products. The number of rising cases seemed to have slowed down over the following months, and Cuomo would be declared a national hero by the political left. His leadership during the pandemic was often compared to that of former president Donald Trump in a negative light. He televised press conferences, in which he often talked about his family and other aspects of his personal life, seemingly to comfort New Yorkers. He would end up winning an Emmy for these.

But was his leadership really worthy of praise? In the year since he left office, I don’t think he was really at all competent. One thing that bugged me was how he handled schools. My last in person day of high school was March 13, 2020. Cuomo was hesitant to close school for the rest of the year. I will be embarrassed to admit, but I naively thought that I would be able to go back to school before June 2020. Given the obvious evidence to the contrary, I know that makes me look stupid, but what I do not understand is why Cuomo waited so long to keep schools closed when other governors decided to close them for the rest of the year early on.

Aside from his sheer incompetence over handling schools, what really soured my opinion over Cuomo was his policy on nursing homes. Hospitals were quickly being overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, to the point in which a navy hospital ship was dispatched to New York harbor. In an effort to alleviate the stress on the hospitals, nursing homes were ordered to take in COVID-19 patients. By March 2020, it was established that COVID-19 was both an airborne illness and among the most vulnerable to serious illness or death from COVID-19 were the elderly. This order was revoked in May, but the damage was done. The following January, it was later revealed that the Cuomo administration deliberately undercounted and withheld the true number of nursing home deaths, fearful that they would be investigated by the Department of Justice under former president Donald Trump.

The timeline indicates the fear of being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice was a complete afterthought. In truth, as best as we can tell from the available evidence, the motive for Andrew M. Cuomo to cover up COVID nursing home deaths dates to 19 March 2020, when Cuomo's literary agent first took calls from book publishers about a potential book deal related to his management of the growing pandemic emergency. Less than a week later, Cuomo's panic at how quickly SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections were spreading prompted him to implement his infamous deadly 25 March 2020 directive. To score the biggest book deal possible, Cuomo needed to have his pandemic policies appear to be as successful as possible, which he already knew would be undermined by excess deaths resulting from his deadly directive. The first step in the cover-up then came with Cuomo's 2 April 2020 gift of legal immunity for COVID deaths to nursing home operators.

Without that deal, the risk of liability exposure for nursing home operators would give them every reason to both resist going along with the deadly directive and to directly point to deaths caused by exposure of nursing home residents to COVID-infected patients being dumped out of New York hospitals because of the directive. With the deal, they would keep silent. The deal thus initiated the cover-up, which Cuomo then used to bank the biggest possible book deal he could while promoting his national political prospects.

What could have been had Cuomo's personal ethics were not so corrupt? We'll never know, but for his part, Bull describes what could have been had only Cuomo come clean:

I would have slightly forgiven Cuomo if he had said that he made a serious error in judgment and apologized to the public, but instead he was more worried about the backlash to the revelations and claimed that the whole episode was politically motivated. He was not sorry, and he was never held accountable. This was a man that the media wanted us to praise, but he was incompetent at best! He looked good in front of a camera, but he did not know what he was doing in regards to schools and his callous disregard for New York’s elderly was despicable.

At a minimum, Cuomo's despicable acts could reasonably be described as criminally negligent manslaughter under New York state law. But then, so would many others holding power within New York's state government for their roles in helping implement and enforce the deadly directive. We think Cuomo has only so far escaped accountability in this matter because if he does, many of them will go down with him.