22 August 2021: Cuomo Makes Odd Claims About Criminal Justice System

Andrew Cuomo Lashes Out in Final Days as Governor During Hurricane Henri Briefing

Andrew M. Cuomo made the following statement after a reporter asked about claims his attorney, Rita Glavin, made about Charlotte Bennett, the second woman to come forward to allege sexual harassment on his part. Cuomo's attorney claimed to possess information about Bennett's credibility that she did not state while making public statements on Friday, 20 August 2021. Here is Cuomo's response:

"If you think justice is to accept a complaint from a person without investigation and without credibility determinations and without looking at past actions of that person, then you don't know what the justice system is. You've never been in a situation where you just reiterate complaints, and you don't investigate them and you don't say whether or not the law even applies to them. That's not justice. That's a bulletin board posting complaints."

In effect, Cuomo is claiming the investigators hired by New York's attorney general to investigate the profusion of sexual harassment claims involving him as perpetrator were neither investigated nor corroborated. The charges of sexual harassment presented in their report never-the-less prompted Andrew M. Cuomo to announce his resignation as New York Governor, which becomes effective at 11:59 PM on Monday, 23 August 2021.

22 August 2021: Editorial - Changes Needed to Fix NY's Public Corruption

Changes in power, ethics must follow the Cuomo era

The editors of the Albany Times-Union are focusing on New York's biggest unresolved problem being left behind by Andrew M. Cuomo on the eve of his departure from office.

Come 12:01 Tuesday morning, New York will have a new governor. Whether the state enters a truly new era, though, will depend on whether its people have learned the hard lessons of the Cuomo years — and do something about it....

Yes, its people. We certainly expect Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul to live up to her promises to be a different kind of leader than Andrew Cuomo when she takes over as governor. But simply hoping that the governor — any governor — will serve with integrity and humility while wielding the enormous power that comes with the job is just a form of semi-autocracy, however benevolent and efficient it may seem. It’s the people — as represented by the Legislature — that must bind the governor to rules and norms that keep his or her power and the ability to abuse it in check.

If there is one overarching lesson of the Cuomo administration, it’s an age-old one that people too often forget when a leader’s agenda seems to be in sync with their own: Power corrupts.

The editors lay out a series of incidents that should have raised show-stopping red flags in Albany, but didn't. Instead, the public corruption permeating throughout New York's state government from Cuomo's influence was tolerated by its legislators.

Mr. Cuomo did not accomplish all this alone. He did it with the complicity of a Legislature that has become far too deferential to governors when it comes to allowing them to dominate so much of the government. If Mr. Cuomo believed he could get away with cover-ups and inappropriate behavior, it was because, in no small part, the Legislature did little to disabuse him of that notion until his wrongdoing reached a critical mass that his fellow Democrats could no longer ignore.

That must change, and the Legislature must lead the way, creating a truly independent ethics watchdog — and presenting to the public the necessary constitutional amendment — and a state inspector general unbeholden to the governor. And it would do well to look at all the state’s boards and commissions with an eye toward correcting the imbalance of executive and legislative appointments.

To accomplish reform, New York will need to amend its state constitution. That means the state is at least two legislative cycles away from adopting the reforms advocated by the editors. State legislators need to get started on that work now.

21 August 2021: New Misuse of Public Resources in Cuomo Move-Out?

Cuomo’s daughter used state police SUV to move from governor’s mansion: sources

You would think Andrew M. Cuomo would be smarter, but once again, it appears NY state taxpayer resources have been specifically applied to personally benefit himself. Here's an excerpt from a report that suggests Cuomo lowered his personal expenses for moving out of New York's executive mansion by transporting his family's personal possessions in state trooper vehicles:

Gov. Cuomo’s daughter used an unmarked police SUV to take herself and her belongings from the state’s Executive Mansion, a possible misuse of state resources, sources said.

Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo, 23, was spotted last week lugging a large cardboard box and bags out of the Albany residence days after her father announced he was resigning.

She placed the goods in a black SUV, which a source identified as a state police vehicle, and was driven away.

“If there are legitimate security concerns for his family, they could provide security, but not moving services,” said Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a state watchdog.

Horner said unless the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics approved, “it could be an improper use of state resources.”

Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo is the youngest of Cuomo's three daughters, each of whom benefited from having a one-third share of $1 million in early proceeds from Cuomo's controversial pandemic "leadership" book deal placed in a trust fund for their personal benefit. The book deal will net Andrew M. Cuomo a total of $5.12 million and is a subject of criminal investigation because of Cuomo's documented use of public resources to produce it.

Meanwhile, the mystery of where Cuomo will store his stuff has been solved....

Cuomo dumps his stuff at sister’s home

Just think of how much more he'll be able to pay for legal expenses by keeping his stuff at his sister's place!...

Run out of office, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is keeping it all in the family — all his belongings, that is.

Before he gets evicted from the governor’s mansion Monday, the disgraced three-term governor’s belongings were trucked down to his sister’s house in Westchester via a pair of U-Hauls, The Post has learned.

The home in Westchester County’s Purchase — about 14 miles south of where he once lived with ex-longtime girlfriend Sandra Lee — is owned by Maria Cole and her hubby Kenneth Cole, the famous fashion designer, according to property records and reports.

Cuomo has — at the very least — stored some of his possessions from the governor’s mansion in Albany in the luxurious home, which is about an hour drive from what will next week be his former Third Avenue office building.

The question of where Andrew M. Cuomo will live is yet to be answered at this writing....

21 August 2021: Cuomo's Chief PR Flack Authors New Hit Piece

Gov. Cuomo has been railroaded: The governor’s adviser says the attorney general’s report is a sham

Richard Azzopardi has often unintentionally presented himself as many things, including tone deaf, misogynistic, and something of a conspiracy theorist among other undesirable characteristics.

All these revealed character flaws combine in a new op-ed/hit piece featured in the Friday, 20 August 2021 edition of the New York Daily News. Here's his introduction:

The last few weeks have been trying. COVID has returned with a vengeance, the Taliban has taken back Afghanistan, and yes, we are about to change administrations in Albany.

Events have been moving so quickly, few people have bothered to examine how we got here. With respect to the impending transition of power in the state Capitol, the answer is simple: Gov. Cuomo was railroaded.

Azzopardi then launches into a series of smear attacks of the kind that prompted rebuke by the chair of the NY Assembly's judiciary committee overseeing the Assembly's impeachment probe just one month ago. In our view, Azzopardi's comments come across as tone-deaf, misogynistic, and smack of conspiracy theory, which really ramps up in the op-ed's conclusion:

The fix was in and an election was overturned on flimsy evidence and twisted process. Whatever you think of Andrew Cuomo, that is a loss for values we are supposed to cherish. Also, mark my words: Tish James will be announcing a run for governor within months.

Azzopardi has also revealed a weird fetish of accusing all Cuomo critics of secretly running for governor. We think that's part of the schtick that goes along with his conspiracy theorist characteristics.

21 August 2021: Cuomo Attorney Demands NY Atty General Report Be Changed to Benefit Cuomo

Cuomo lawyer seeks amendments to harassment report

This report covers events from 20 August 2021. Andrew M. Cuomo's attorney is demanding New York's State Attorney General change the report on the soon-to-be former NY governor's alleged sexual harassment of 11 women that forced him to prematurely resign from office.

Cuomo’s attorney, Rita Glavin, said she is sending a letter to James’ office seeking corrections and additions to the report, which concluded 11 women who had accused Cuomo of sexual harassment or inappropriate touching had made credible allegations. Since the report's release, Glavin has repeatedly characterized the findings as the results of a biased investigation that excluded evidence favorable to the governor. "We're asking that the report ... be made complete, and that the material omissions that were left out be put in," Glavin said.

Cuomo announced on Aug. 10 he would resign, but the governor still faces criminal investigations related to alleged inappropriate touching. He no longer faces the prospect of impeachment by the state Assembly, but the chamber plans to issue a report concerning its own inquiry into the sexual harassment allegations and more.

The state attorney general's office responded to the 11th hour request.

The "investigation was exhaustive, thorough, and without outside influence, period," Delaney Kempner, James' director of communications, said. “Given the multiple, ongoing criminal investigations into the governor’s conduct, it would not be appropriate to respond further to these baseless attacks. The 168-page report and additional 486 pages of exhibits clearly corroborate the experiences of the complainants, yet the governor and his aides continue to undermine those who seek to expose this dangerous conduct.

"We cannot allow survivors of sexual harassment to be further traumatized by these continued attacks, lies, and conspiracy theories,” Kempner said.

The report continues to summarize Cuomo attorney Glavin's attacks on several of the women whose damaging accusations appear in the attorney general's 168 page report.

20 August 2021: Cuomo Moves Out of NY Governor's Mansion

After several weeks of a relatively high number of stories revolving around Andrew M. Cuomo's scandals, we're reaching a point where we'll soon have a lot less news to cover as Andrew M. Cuomo leaves office. We suspect we'll have a flurry of stories next week when his resignation takes effect, but the pace of Cuomo scandal stories coming out from New York will soon be paced by legal developments, which means our coverage will thin to perhaps a less-than-daily pace as the political side of Cuomo scandal coverage fades.

Our primary focus remains Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals and cover-up, but we'll continue to feature related Cuomo scandal news as it might intersect that larger scandal.

Speaking of which....

Moving trucks seen outside of Executive Mansion ahead of Cuomo’s exit

This story marks Cuomo's premature physical exit from New York state's Executive Mansion:

Andrew Cuomo appears to be all packed up — with no place to go.

Moving trucks were spotted Friday outside New York’s Executive Mansion, three days before the disgraced governor has to be out.

A U-Haul and at least two pickup trucks were parked outside the mansion in Albany first thing in the morning.

At least six workers could be seen unloading dollies and carts from the truck before heading inside.

After being unloaded, the U-Haul was then moved out of site from the road.

It is not yet clear where Cuomo is headed when he leaves his lavish digs and his resignation comes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Monday.

Cuomo doesn’t have any property in his name, public records show.

Cuomo was paid millions for his pandemic "leadership" book and his political campaign organization has an $18 million warchest. We're pretty sure he can afford to put his things in a storage facility while staying almost indefinitely at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park, even with his upcoming legal expenses, if that's what he wants to do. And that's not even tapping his $50K/year annual state employee pension, which for him, would just be walking around money.

In the meantime though, we can't help but wonder if he watched this helpful video:

20 August 2021: Analysis - The Media's Role in the Cuomo Myth

The media’s role in the Cuomo myth

This analysis piece by Ross Barkan appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review on 18 August 2021. What we find fascinating is how many problems the major news organizations were willing to overlook in the Cuomo administration's handling of 2020's coronavirus pandemic as they chose to put blinders on and to promote Cuomo's interests instead.

The first excerpt acknowledging the clear signs of failures in Cuomo's handling of the pandemic picks up after Barkan discusses Cuomo's news media-boosted popularity:

... Cuomo’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was objectively a failure. New York, to date, still has the second highest death rate in America, despite successive waves and the emergence of the Delta variant now ravaging many southern states. COVID-19 tore through nursing homes and healthcare facilities, with Cuomo’s administration masking the true death toll there until the state attorney general, in 2021, forced him to revise it greatly upward.

Two other early COVID-19 hotbeds, Seattle and San Francisco, suffered far fewer losses, thanks to their fast-acting executives and strong coordination between governors and local leaders. Jay Inslee and London Breed, however, never became household names. They never graced the covers of Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. They never won an Emmy.

Cuomo’s enormous popularity in the early stages of the pandemic granted him enough residual goodwill to survive the first wave of scandal in February and March, to not resign when senators and representatives like Chuck Schumer and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told him to leave. And this was possible because the media, at every turn, fueled the Cuomo myth.

It must be made clear what is meant here by media: almost all of it, including cable TV and prestige newspapers and magazines. The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC all helped inflate Cuomo’s reputation, along with other mainstream publications. CNN, most notoriously, allowed Chris Cuomo, the governor’s brother, to interview him repeatedly in prime-time.

That's a problem, because each of these organizations hires journalists who received degrees from the Columbia School of Journalism. They're doing what they were taught, advancing predetermined narratives to advance the interests of partisan advocates, which might explain Barkan's next two sentences attacking one of the few news media outlets that didn't fall into a Columbia School of Journalism-style narrative promotion lockstep:

Since Cuomo is a Democrat, conservative media, by virtue of political polarization, didn’t play along. The New York Post would’ve probably done less accountability journalism and scathing headlines if Donald Trump Jr. governed New York.

Keep in mind that Barkan has already described the media's failure to hold Cuomo accountable for pandemic policies that were "objectively a failure". In Barkan's mind, editorial page opposition to Cuomo is the only explanation that accounts for the NYP's apparent supernatural ability to call attention to the Cuomo administration's objective policy failures in their news section.

In doing so, Barkan all but confirms the pro-Democrat biases of the New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC fully compromised the quality of their news coverage, rendering them incapable of reporting the Cuomo administration's objective failures. That's not a surprise to us, because these organizations were participants in what we've described as the Cuomo Influence Network, with former Cuomo administration staffers and loyalists given management roles within them where they continued to promote Cuomo's interests over their new employers.

That led to their giving Cuomo a free pass on saying similar things to what they attacked President Donald Trump for saying. That led to their giving Cuomo a free pass on his objective policy failures, such as the deadly 25 March 2020 directive that forced nursing homes to blindly admit patients being dumped out of hospital to free up hospital bed space, which contributed to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, more New Yorkers than would have happened without the policy.

19 August 2021: Opinion - Bill Hammond on How to Fix NY COVID Practices

Nursing Cuomo’s broken trust: Kathy Hochul’s responsibility on COVID and long-term care

The nonpartisan, nonprofit Empire Center for Public Policy's Bill Hammond has an opinion piece in the New York Daily News. He lays out actions for Kathy Hochul to take on to clean up the mess the Cuomo administration has created through its deadly 25 March 2020 directive and subsequent cover-ups of COVID deaths in New York.

Before we get to any excerpts, here is a bullet point summary of actions Hammond recommends, which are fleshed out more fully in the article.

• Make the state's public data on COVID available to the public.
• Fully account and report all the probable and confirmed COVID deaths in New York.
• Appoint an independent commission to identify what New York did wrong under the Cuomo administration and to propose actions to correct problems.
• Come clean on nursing homes.
• Fire the people who allowed or participated in the Cuomo administration's falsification of data.

Here is Hammond's extended comment on what it means to "come clean on nursing homes:

One issue the investigative commission should particularly explore is the Health Department’s infamous March 25, 2020, directive compelling nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients being discharged from hospitals. Although the governor and his health commissioner have defended the policy as “smart” and in keeping with federal guidance, they have also stonewalled requests for the data necessary to assess its impact.

It falls to Hochul to formally disavow the policy — and clear the remaining fog about how it happened and what damage it caused. Since she had no role in its design or implementation, she shouldn’t have any objection to a clear-eyed assessment.

There are a lot of problems that need to be fixed in New York with respect to the Cuomo administration's COVID policies and corrupt practices. Hochul needs to take concrete action to fully clean house in the state government. Will she?

19 August 2021: National Law Review Explains Why NY AG's Report Was Effective in Demolishing Cuomo's Credibility

The Cuomo Report: An Employment Lawyer’s Takeaways and Tips on Conducting Workplace Investigations

This analysis piece by Michael Clarkson explores why the New York Attorney General's report on that office's investigation of sexual harassment claims alleged against New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo was so damaging to his prospects of remaining in office.

The August 3, 2021, report regarding the sexual harassment allegations brought against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, “Report of Investigation into Allegations of Sexual Harassment by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo” resulted in his resignation on August 10, 2021, and renewed attention to the #MeToo movement. As a political wonk and an employment lawyer, these events have been of great interest. Also noteworthy, are the lessons one can glean from the report in how to conduct an effective workplace investigation.

Credibility is key to any workplace investigation. Judging credibility and articulating the basis for what makes a witness credible (or not) is perhaps the most important skill of any workplace investigator. In finding that the allegations against Governor Cuomo were credible, the Cuomo investigators relied on the fact that the complaints were contemporaneously memorialized and timely reported, the motivation of the complaining witnesses (particularly their reticence to complain), the specific nature of the allegations, photographs, and text messages, among other factors. These factors—particularly when compared with Governor Cuomo’s “generalized statement[s]” and “blanket denials”—were overwhelming.

Cuomo often promised he would come forward with compelling evidence to support his claims the allegations against him were false, but ultimately never did, despite publicly committing to do so.

19 August 2021: What Is the NY Assembly Doing to Report Its Cuomo Impeachment Probe Findings?

Assembly Judiciary Committee’s work to produce report on Cuomo probe continues

The news out of Cuomoland is light today, so we expect few updates. This report provides a status update for the NY Assembly's promised report on its Cuomo impeachment findings:

“There’s mountains of evidence that have been compiled in this case,” said Assembly Judiciary Committee member Phil Steck.

He says that includes evidence from the Attorney General’s investigation, statements, documents, text messages and “pings.”

Members have the opportunity to review the evidence this week.

Republican Assemblyman Keith Brown from Northport who serves on the committee said, “I will be traveling to my Albany office and burning the midnight oil to review more than 500,000 pages of documents so I am prepared to deliver the people of the 12th Assembly District, and New Yorkers across the state, the answers they deserve.”

“I’m sure individual members might want to see a particular item of evidence that interests them. It would shock me if any of the members of the committee will review every single piece of evidence,” Steck said.

He noted that members get briefed by their attorneys on the evidence.

“My understanding was, as of our last meeting, they had completed their work, or virtually completed it. We had requested material from the Governor. The Governor’s Office did not provide anything, so that speeds it up because then the lawyers don’t have to go through all the material the Governor provided,” Steck said.

Andrew M. Cuomo's legal team had previously indicated they would supply documents supporting their claims on or by 13 August 2021. That commitment likely flew out the window when Cuomo announced his resignation on 10 August 2021, even though his last day as governor is set to be 23 August 2021. The failure to meet that commitment is their choice.

18 August 2021: Would Cuomo Qualify as a Sex Offender in NY?

Could Cuomo Have To Register As A Sex Offender? Investigations Continue For Embattled Governor

This report addresses the speculation Andrew M. Cuomo may have to register as a sex offender in New York if any of the criminal investigations involving his alleged sexual harassment of multiple female victims should result in a conviction:

Five district attorneys have requested materials from the State Attorney General’s office in order to consider potential criminal charges against Cuomo for instances of sexual misconduct that allegedly took place in Albany, Manhattan, Westchester, Nassau and Oswego counties, as detailed in the AG’s report released earlier this month.

Several women described unwanted kisses and touching from Cuomo and current staffer Brittany Commisso said he groped her under her blouse last fall. According to criminal defense attorney Matthew Galluzo, county prosecutors could choose to bring charges against Cuomo in the form of a forcible touching count, a class A misdemeanor, or as sexual abuse in the third degree, a class B misdemeanor. Forcible touching carries a maximum of one year in prison.

If Cuomo is convicted on multiple counts in New York state, he could potentially have to register as a sex offender, though Galluzo says it’s not required after a single conviction.

“Because there’s multiple cases here and multiple incidents, it is conceivable that he would eventually be registered as a sex offender,” Galluzo said. “That is definitely possible.”

State data from the Division of Criminal Justice Services shows about half of the forcible touching cases in the state tend to end with convictions or sentencing, and most of those are settled with a conditional discharge, not jail time.

Much will depend upon any specific charges that may be filed. At present, we think it is unlikely Cuomo will have to register as a sex offender.

The report continues to observe that Cuomo also faces more likely consequences in the form of civil lawsuits filed by the women he is accused of sexually harassing while Governor of New York. It also mentions the potential for federal charges related to his administration's cover-up of COVID nursing home deaths and also state charges related to the scandals associated with Cuomo's pandemic "leadership" book.

18 August 2021: Report - Cuomo Nursing Home Deaths Demand Probe

Kathy Hochul should probe Cuomo’s COVID nursing home scandal, report says

This report covers the findings of the nonpartisan Empire Center's "Like Fire Through Dry Grass" report on the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home deaths scandals and cover-up.

Incoming Gov. Kathy Hochul should order a top-to-bottom probe of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in nursing homes last year under her disgraced boss, Cuomo — the Empire Center for Public Policy study said.

The stinging report by the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond — which also recommends the ouster of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker — recounts the controversy over a Cuomo policy that required nursing homes to admit or re-admit recovering COVID patients discharged from hospitals during the peak of the pandemic last year that critics say contributed to the spread of more infections and deaths.

The analysis — entitled “Like Fire Through Dry Grass” — which is what Cuomo called the spread of COVID among the frail, elderly residents in nursing homes, also explains in great detail how Cuomo and his team deliberately undercounted and covered up the true total of nursing home residents killed by COVID, and even broke the law to block release of the information to the Empire Center, until a judge ordered his team to release it.

“As serious as the sexual harassment allegations are, Cuomo and his team should be held accountable for what happened in the nursing homes. People died and they intentionally lied about the problem for months and months,” Hammond said.

“Hochul needs to clear the air and say, `We will never do that again” and not lie about a public health crisis.”

Hochul has not explained why she has asked New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, who allowed the Cuomo administration to doctor reports produced by the state Departent of Health he oversees to conceal the full extent of COVID nursing home deaths in the state, to continue in his position.

18 August 2021: Empire Center Releases Report "Like Fire Through Dry Grass"

‘Like fire through dry grass’

The nonpartisan, nonprofit Empire Center for Public Policy's Bill Hammond issued a new report on the center's investigation of Andrew M. Cuomo's and NY Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's attempted cover-up of the full extent of COVID deaths among NY nursing home residents during the period their deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect. The report was released on 17 August 2021.

Click through the link above to see the Empire Center's new report. The following excerpt succinctly summarizes the independent group's analysis and findings as it relates to the misconduct of Cuomo administration officials:

The record shows that the governor and his aides:

• misstated how the March 25 directive worked and where it came from;
• omitted thousands of victims from official death counts;
• rewrote and falsified a Health Department report;
• knowingly disseminated skewed and misleading statistics;
• stonewalled legislative inquiries; and
• withheld public records in defiance of the Freedom of Information Law.

An array of high-ranking state officials participated in the cover-up, including several of the governor’s closest advisers, the health commissioner, the superintendent of financial services and a longtime aide later elevated to be SUNY chancellor.

As a result of their combined efforts, the true scale of the pandemic in New York’s nursing homes remained secret for months – until the attorney general’s office faulted the Cuomo administration for under-reporting and the Empire Center won a court order compelling release of complete data. The death toll in long-term care facilities turned out to be more than 6,000 higher than the state had acknowledged – a disparity shocking enough to make national headlines.

The original directive grew out of a moment of genuine crisis, when a deadly but poorly understood virus was spreading with fearsome speed.

Once the worst had passed, however, the governor and his aides had an opportunity to reassess their decision-making without the pressure of an emergency. They could have led an honest discussion of the decision they made – by describing the policy accurately, proactively sharing relevant data and engaging in good-faith debate to draw lessons for the future.

Instead, they led what amounted to a disinformation campaign – one that continues to cloud understanding of a major public health disaster.

We've highlighted "the health commissioner" in the text above because Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul has asked Howard Zucker, NY's health commissioner, to stay on the job despite his role in enabling Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandal and its attempted cover-up after she becomes New York's governor on 24 August 2021.

As for the report, the timeline's coverage of Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals overlaps and concurs with the Empire Center's analysis. We've presented our general overview of the scandals and their phases in the timeline's "Major Milestones" entry, which at this writing, covers the period from the beginning through through Andrew M. Cuomo's 10 August 2021 resignation announcement.

18 August 2021: Editorial - Why Is Hochul Keeping Howard Zucker in Power at NYDOH?

Why would Kathy Hochul keep on the man most responsible, after Cuomo, for the nursing-home coverup?

This is a short editorial we're featuring in full:

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged to end Albany’s “legacy of sleaze” when she takes over from Gov. Andrew Cuomo next week. So why is she keeping on the man most responsible, besides Cuomo, for the deadly COVID nursing-home scandal?

Hochul asked Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to remain at his post, sources tell The Post. At a press conference later, she told reporters she’ll be “taking advantage” of her “deep relationships” with “outstanding commissioners” and freeing them to “make smart decisions.”

Yet Zucker doesn’t make “smart decisions,” and keeping him on, even if briefly, only gives him a chance to do more damage.

Hochul might be nervous about replacing the state’s top public-health official as Delta surges, but Zucker has spent more time covering for Cuomo than acting in the interests of public health. He issued the infamous March 25, 2020, order forcing nursing homes to take in COVID-positive patients — and then helped the gov hide the toll. A report by the Empire Center out Tuesday details the wrongdoing.

Hochul says, “Job No. 1 is to clean house of people who were mentioned in” state Attorney General Letitia James’ report on Cuomo’s sexual harassment. But New Yorkers want a clean sweep of anyone who enabled the gov’s many misdeeds — and the nursing-home coverup might be his worst. She should sweep Zucker out immediately.

The timeline will have more on the Empire Center's new report in our next entry.

18 August 2021: Cuomo Influence Network Continues Collapse

Cuomo fallout? Two ex-governor's aides leave Kivvit consulting

This report indicates Andrew M. Cuomo's influence network, which is made up of his partisan supporters who have been embedded in various advocacy and media organizations, is continuing to collapse.

On Monday, former Cuomo chief of staff Joshua Vlasto and ex-communications director Richard Bamberger abruptly left the consulting firm Kivvit, a company that had deep connections to the governor.

According to a tweet from Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey on Monday, the two men said in a statement that they had "agreed to amicably part ways" from Kivvit, a national firm whose state operations are based in New York City.

Kivvit, whose managing partner is another high-ranking Cuomo aide, Maggie Moran, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Times Union.

While Moran was not mentioned in a scathing report issued by the state attorney general's office two weeks ago that detailed Cuomo's alleged harassment of multiple women as well his office's response to the allegations, Vlasto and Bamberger were both discussed. The Aug. 3 report led to Cuomo's resignation announcement a week later; he's scheduled to formally leave office in eight days.

The report — summarizing the investigation led by two attorneys appointed by state Attorney General Letitia James — concluded that Cuomo violated state and federal sexual harassment laws and fostered a toxic workplace, and that his staff acted illegally in retaliating against an accuser. The report also detailed how trusted former Cuomo aides, including Vlasto and Bamberger, worked in unpaid and informal roles to help strategize Cuomo's response to the first woman who accused him of sexual harassment.

This story is yet another example of former Cuomo officials placing their loyalty to Andrew M. Cuomo's interests ahead of the interests of the organizations that employ them.

18 August 2021: When Will Hochul Take Over as NY Governor?

Kathy Hochul taking governor's office Aug. 24

This report indicates Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation as NY governor will officially take effect at 11:59 PM on 23 August 2021. NY Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will then become NY governor at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, 24 August 2021.

New York's first female governor, Kathy Hochul, is set to take office on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at the stroke of midnight.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation from office will be effective at 11:59 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, Hochul's office said Tuesday.

Details of how the power transfer will take place weren't immediately available, but Hochul, now the state's lieutenant governor, is expected to make a public address sometime Tuesday, according to a spokesperson, Haley Viccaro.

Cuomo had announced Aug. 10 that he would resign from office in 14 days, but didn't specify exactly when he would step down.

Cuomo is quitting amid a collapse of support from even his most loyal political allies following the release of a report overseen by State Attorney General Letitia James that found the governor had sexually harassed at least 11 women.

The timeline will have more on Cuomo's collapse of support in our next entry.

18 August 2021: Cuomo Files Paperwork to Collect NY State Pension

Disgraced Gov. Cuomo files for $50K pension ahead of delayed resignation

We didn't have long to wait to find out that Andrew M. Cuomo has indeed filed paperwork to resign as New York's governor. This report indicates he has submitted the forms needed to collect a pension from New York taxpayers of $50,000 per year.

Disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo filed retirement papers with the state to receive a $50,000 annual lifetime pension — just days before his resignation takes effect over his sexual harassment scandal.

“The governor just filed his application for service retirement. The date of retirement is Sept. 1, 2021,” a spokesperson for the state comptroller’s office said Tuesday.

Under current law, neither resignation or impeachment for alleged misconduct bars eligibility from obtaining a pension for state service. Only a felony conviction can trigger pension forfeiture.

The date of retirement on Cuomo's pension paperwork is consistent with his prospective final day in office of 23 August 2021 falling within a regular New York state government payroll period that begins on 19 August 2021 and ends on 1 September 2021.

17 August 2021: Chris Cuomo Claims He "Tried to Do the Right Thing"

Chris Cuomo breaks silence on brother’s scandal, admits to urging gov to resign

Chris Cuomo may be the dictionary definition picture of the bottom story of the day. The following excerpt features his comments after returning to host CNN's Prime Time news broadcast after a week's vacation on Monday, 16 August 2021.

Chris Cuomo on Monday night finally broke his on-air silence about his brother’s sexual harassment scandal — claiming network rules prevented his from covering it.

“I never covered my brother’s troubles because I obviously have conflict, and there are rules and CNN about that,” Cuomo said at the end of his 9 p.m. show....

On Monday night, he downplayed the conversations he had with his brother during that time as simply brotherly advice.

“I never reported on the scandal. And when it happened, I tried to be there for my brother. I’m not an advisor, I’m a brother. I wasn’t in control of anything. I was there to listen, offer my take,” he said on air.

He also admitted that he urged his brother to resign, saying it “was something I never imagine having to do.”

We consolidated a lot of the timeline's coverage of the critiques of Chris Cuomo's ethically-compromised journalism into a single timeline entry, which links to many other related timeline entries providing examples of it:

• 15 August 2021: Cuomo Cheerleader CNN's Chris Cuomo Controversy

The clock is ticking on his career at CNN. Given the damage he has done to the news network's reputation, the clock may be ticking on CNN too.

17 August 2021: Where Is Cuomo's Letter of Resignation?

Did Cuomo really resign? There’s been no letter, and he continues to make huge decisions

When Andrew M. Cuomo announced on 10 August 2021 that he would resign as New York's governor in 14 days, most assumed he put that pledge into writing.

Columnist John Podhoretz is wondering where Cuomo's letter of resignation is, and because no one seems to know, he wonders if Cuomo has really resigned....

Has anyone seen a formal resignation letter from Cuomo with a signature at the bottom? Surely such a formal document is legally necessary, given the nature of the powers Cuomo holds as chief executive of the state of New York. He must forswear his office as a matter of functional law so that it can be vacated before his successor, Kathy Hochul, is sworn in.

His resignation is supposed to take effect in eight days. Where is the letter?

Might it be that Cuomo has a scheme to stick around? Could this whole resignation business be a kind of trial balloon — to see whether things might change so dramatically due to unforeseen circumstances that he might have grounds to rescind his resignation?

David Paterson, whom Cuomo succeeded as governor, said it last week: “It was just a little puzzling that they wanted to have that amount of time … It’s suspicious, I’ll put it that way.”

Podhoretz' column appeared in the New York Post on 16 August 2021.

17 August 2021: Cuomo Acts Eight Months Too Late to Mandate Nursing Home Staffs Get COVID Vaccines

Cuomo mandates all New York hospital, nursing home staff be vaccinated

Andrew M. Cuomo's announced resignation as NY governor is supposed to take effect on 24 August 2021. In a rather bizarre move, he's acting some 8-9 months after COVID vaccines started being distributed in New York to mandate nursing home staffs be vaccinated.

All of New York State’s 450,000 health care workers in hospitals and nursing and other settings are required to get the coronavirus vaccine by Sept. 27 to help curb the spread of the COVID delta strain, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.

The order issued by the state Health Department covers staffers at privately run and public hospitals, nursing homes and other elder care facilities and congregate settings....

The order acknowledges what The Post has reported in recent months: that an unacceptably high rate of medical workers remain unvaccinated at hospitals and nursing homes.

About 75 percent of the state’s 450,000 hospital workers have completed their vaccination series — in most cases getting two doses.

That means one of every four hospital workers is unvaccinated.

Meanwhile, just 68 percent of the state’s 145,500 nursing home workers — serving frail, elderly residents most susceptible to contracting COVID – got jabbed.

That means one of every three nursing home staffers is unvaccinated.

What makes Cuomo's action interesting is the 6 July 2020 report by New York's Department of Health, which blamed nursing home staff members for spreading COVID in NY nursing homes during the period when the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect.

If Cuomo really believed that was true, and if he really cared about the risk of exposing elderly nursing home residents to COVID, he wouldn't have waited 8-9 months after vaccines became available to fix the problem he claimed caused so many elderly New Yorkers to be exposed to COVID.

Instead, he waited until eight days before his last day in office to impose the mandate. Doing it at such a late date means it was never true, and he never really cared.

17 August 2021: NY Lawmakers Thinking About Going Old School Egyptian

Lawmakers eye Cuomo's pension, scrapping father's name from bridge

The ancient Egyptians had a way of dealing with bad pharoahs. After they died, they would remove their names from the monuments where they had literally been chiseled into stone.

This report indicates several NY lawmakers are suggesting doing something very similar with the Cuomo name.

It’s a bill that has been floated before, but is gaining more steam in light of recent events — changing the name of the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge back to the Tappan Zee.

In 2017, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo first renamed the newly rebuilt Tappan Zee Bridge, there was quite an uproar among local community members and even some lawmakers.

Now with Cuomo resigning in less than eight days facing numerous scandals, Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who introduced the bill, said it is time for the Cuomo name to be scrubbed off the bridge.

“If he could have named it the Andrew Cuomo Bridge, he would have, but he couldn't, and so he settled for Mario,” Assemblyman Lawler said. “So I think it's really time to get the Cuomo name off the bridge and revert it back to the Tappan Zee.”

The original name of the bridge, Tappan Zee, represented the history of the region.

The word “Tappan” referred to a Native American tribe that lived nearby and the word “zee” is Dutch for "sea."

Right away, when the name of the bridge was changed to honor Andrew Cuomo’s father, there was pushback. A petition with almost 110,000 signatures was delivered to the state Capitol.

Cuomo at the time called it “politically motivated and vindictive.”

Now that same bridge is being investigated by the Assembly Judiciary Committee as part of their impeachment investigation, after reports came out about potential safety violations.

“Given the governor's conduct and the scandals swirling around him, both the sexual harassment and the nursing home scandal, as well as his $5.1 million blood money book deal, I think now is the right time to change the name back,” Assemblyman Lawler said.

The report also describes an effort to strip Andrew M. Cuomo of the $50,000 per year pension he is set to receive after resigning as New York's governor, which would require amending New York's state constitution. We think that effort is a real long shot, but it will be interesting to see what might become of the bill to rename the bridge. We think it's unlikely to pass, but that may change depending on what all the various investigations into Andrew M. Cuomo determine.

17 August 2021: Editorial - Can We Really Trust the Assembly on Cuomo?

EDITORIAL: Can we really trust the Assembly on Cuomo now?

The editors of Schenectady's Daily Gazette wonder how much the Assembly can be trusted after NY Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's attempt to drop all its Cuomo impeachment investigation work. Because it raises such strong points, here's the full editorial:

Once you lose credibility, it’s really difficult to get it back.

So while we applaud state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s change of heart in pursuing investigations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, it’s going to be difficult to trust whatever the Assembly does now going forward.

Heastie on Friday announced that in the wake of Cuomo’s resignation over sexual harassment allegations, the Assembly would not conduct impeachment proceedings against the governor.

That decision made sense practically and politically. If the point of impeachment is to remove a governor from office, and the governor is no longer in office, then why waste the time and tax money and create a distraction on a moot process?

But Heastie went further than he should have, by announcing that not only would the Assembly not pursue impeachment, it also would suspend its investigations into Cuomo’s conduct regarding the sexual harassment, the use of government staff for his private book deal and the policy decisions and cover-up related to the governor’s covid nursing home response.

The public deserves answers to these questions, and as such deserved to have the Assembly continue with its investigations.

By suspending the investigations, Heastie raised questions about the Assembly’s sincerity to give the public those answers.

The decision raised questions about whether fellow Democrats Heastie and Cuomo made a deal for Cuomo to resign in exchange for no impeachment. It raised questions of whether the Assembly was ever sincere in its efforts to get to the bottom of those scandals and whether it was serious about holding Cuomo responsible for his misdeeds. It raised questions about whether the Assembly was taking the sexual harassment accusers seriously.

Heastie must have read the deluge of negative comments on social media over the weekend, because on Monday morning, he reversed course and said the Assembly would indeed keep the investigations coming.

Even Heastie’s failure to provide a timeline for the conclusion of the investigations on Monday raises questions about whether the public will actually ever see any reports. He might just be quashing the voices of outrage to buy time to sweep this under the rug.

See how this works? Once trust is lost, it’s difficult to get back.

And if we can’t trust this process, can we ever truly trust that justice is being served?

It's not so much a question of whether the Assembly can be trusted, but whether the man who controls the majority party in the Assembly can be trusted. Heastie's initial responses suggest he's not up to the task of holding those with power who engage in misconduct accountable.

17 August 2021: Assembly Asked to Review Case JCOPE Dropped

Assembly asked to investigate botched handling of ethics case involving ex-Cuomo aide

In something of a rebuke of both Andrew M. Cuomo and NY Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, three Republican members to New York's Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) asked the NY Assembly's judiciary committee to continue investigating Cuomo's alleged misconduct in office. They specifically asked the committee to investigate a case that JCOPE dropped, which involved the leak of information about a JCOPE probe into a close associate of Andrew M. Cuomo to Andrew M. Cuomo.

The Assembly panel investigating Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being asked to look into more alleged misconduct — this time involving the botched handling of an ethics case involving imprisoned ex-Cuomo fixer Joe Percoco.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics in January 2019 had discussed whether to open a probe into Percoco when word leaked to Cuomo within the hour of how members had voted on the matter.

Cuomo was reportedly not pleased that JCOPE was targeting his own pal for potential violations of the Public Officers Law. Percco at that point had already been convicted of public corruption following a federal trial.

His displeasure had been passed along to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) over how Heastie’s appointees had voted on the matter.

It’s a misdemeanor crime to leak information about JCOPE’s confidential deliberations and investigations.

Here is a description of the request of the three NY lawmakers:

“Recognizing Governor Cuomo’s intention to resign, Joint Ethics Commission members Gary J. Lavine, David J. McNamara and George H. Weissman nonetheless request that the Assembly Committee on Judiciary complete its inquiry into the conduct of the Governor,” the three JCOPE members, appointed by Senate GOP leader Robert Ortt, said.

“We specifically request that the ambit of this inquiry include the illegal breach of confidentiality from the Commission’s meeting of January 2019 to the Executive Chamber and the ensuing cover-up of the wrongdoing by the Office of Inspector General,” the JCOPE members said in the letter provided to The Post.

“It is salient to note that the Inspector General reports directly to the Governor’s Secretary,” the JCOPE members said in the letter to Levine.

They called the IG’s report on the Percoco matter “a sham”, adding, “the apparent cover-up raises the specter of official misconduct.”

“It is likely, in our view, that the Governor and several of his close associates were complicit in the cover-up of the breach of confidentiality,” Lavine, McNamara and Weissman wrote.

Here is related previous coverage from the timeline:

• 2 July 2021: JCOPE Vote Abstainers Block New Criminal Probe of Governor Cuomo
• 9 July 2021: JCOPE Ethics Leak Probe Won't Be Reopened
• 10 July 2021: Is JCOPE "a More Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy"?
• 10 July 2021: Editorial - "JCOPE Has Got To Go"
• 14 August 2021: Cuomo-Appointed Chair of JCOPE Resigns

16 August 2021: NY Assembly to Produce Report on Its Cuomo Impeachment Probe

NY Assembly Judiciary Committee to issue final report on Gov. Cuomo investigation

NY Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced on Monday, 16 August 2021 that the NY Assembly would release final report in its impeachment inquiry to the public.

A few days after the New York State Assembly said it was suspending its impeachment investigation into Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Assembly Judiciary Committee says it will issue a final report on the investigation.

New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Assembly Judiciary Chair Charles Lavine released a joint statement Monday morning saying the Assembly Judiciary Committee will continue to review the evidence, and plans to issue a final report.

Both note that the Assembly Judiciary Committee will take "all appropriate steps" to make sure that this report does not interfere with other ongoing investigations.

The report provides the text of Heastie's and Lavine's joint statement:

The Assembly Judiciary Committee will continue to review evidence and issue a final report on its investigation of Governor Cuomo. In doing so, the committee will take all appropriate steps to ensure that this effort does not interfere with various ongoing investigations by the United States Attorney concerning nursing home data; the attorney general concerning the governor's memoir; and local law enforcement authorities in five jurisdictions – Manhattan, Albany, Westchester, Nassau and Oswego – regarding possible criminal incidents of sexual misconduct.

When Heastie announced the assembly would suspend its impeachment probe of Andrew M. Cuomo on Friday, 13 August 2021, he failed to indicate if any report would be forthcoming despite the expenditure of millions of NY taxpayer dollars to fund both the probe and Andrew M. Cuomo's legal defense. That omission led to considerable pressure on him to commit to producing a report, which is what led to today's announcement.

16 August 2021: Opinion - Evaluating the Cuomo Aftermath

Evaluating the Cuomo Aftermath

This opinion piece by Mark Davis appeared in Newsweek on 16 August 2021. The following excerpt is notable for its succinct summary of the scale of Andrew M. Cuomo's plunge in public esteem:

What lessons can we draw from one of the farthest, fastest reputational plunges in political history? What does it mean that allegations of personal misconduct, rather than the cover-up of nursing home deaths in the worst early days of COVID, proved Andrew Cuomo's undoing? Does his exit solidify the prospects of a woman elected to a full gubernatorial term next year—and if so, which one?

The Emmy award Andrew Cuomo received for his supposedly brilliant COVID-19 press briefings will sit on a shelf collecting dust alongside extra copies of American Crisis, his book filled with "leadership lessons" from the pandemic. Months after pocketing $5 million in the book deal, the crisis was all Cuomo's, as the state reeled from surging COVID cases and the stench of pandemic-related controversy. State attorney general Letitia James, in the first of two punches that would deck the governor, found that Cuomo's administration fudged nursing home death numbers. Stories of intentional delays in death data to avoid Department of Justice scrutiny soon followed. By March, the FBI and U.S. attorney's offices were investigating.

Less than a year earlier, Cuomo's star was shining so brightly that large percentages of Democrats told pollsters they wanted the governor to pursue the presidency. Presuming Biden will not seek a second term at age 82, the 2024 Democratic field might have pitted Cuomo against a decidedly underwhelming Kamala Harris.

Davis continues on to consider the potential impact of Cuomo's fall on the future outcome of the 2022 election for governor in New York, which he speculates may present Republicans in the state with a rare window of opportunity to win a statewide race.

16 August 2021: A Serious Question Is Asked

How will Lt. Gov. Hochul handle nursing home scandal once she becomes governor?

This report doesn't cover new information, but documents that Hochul pledged to fully cooperate in providing requested data on New York's COVID nursing home deaths on a national news program:

In a sit-down interview Sunday morning with Face The Nation, Hochul was asked when she plans to release the nursing home data.

Hochul replied, "I'm not going to raise expectations until I have those documents in my hand, I'm not. What I have done already is meet with the commissioner of health and we talked about what an outstanding request for data are in the realm. I will look at those and have my team focus on this early on. I've got a lot of priorities, but I'll absolutely make sure that my administration fully cooperates with request for data."

But how does Hochul think that will work with Cuomo's DOH Commissioner Howard Zucker, who allowed the doctoring of data released by his department by other senior figures in the Cuomo administration, staying in power atop the NYDOH with her consent?

16 August 2021: Hochul to Retain Ethically-Compromised NY DOH Commissioner Howard Zucker

New York’s incoming governor Kathy Hochul will keep some of Cuomo’s commissioners

Evidence is emerging NY Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will not complete the full housecleaning New York's state government needs following Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul —who has vowed to end Albany’s “legacy of sleaze” when she replaces scandal-scared Gov. Andrew Cuomo this month — said Sunday she will keep some of his agency heads.

Hochul — who also said she’ll oust staffers implicated in Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal — will keep some of his commissioners for at least 45 days, she said at a press conference at the Erie County Fair.

Among the commissioners she will be retaining is Howard Zucker, who has been implicated in the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home deaths scandal and cover-up.

But at least one commissioner she plans to keep was involved in ethically dubious behavior during Cuomo’s reign, sources said.

Hochul asked Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to stay on during a meeting about the pandemic Thursday, sources told The Post— even though he’s embroiled in a scandal over nursing home fatalities and allegedly covering up death data.

“Anyone involved in covering up the Governor’s behavior, or responsible for fudging nursing home data, or who engaged in retaliation against the women who spoke up should have no place in government. Kathy Hochul will have to make those decisions,” Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) told The Post last week.

During the press conference Sunday, Hochul said she plans to retain some Cuomo commissioners because she has good working relationships with them.

That kind of "go along, get along" psychology is part of how corruption is able to flourish in the background. She seems to have a higher than zero tolerance for that aspect of Albany's "legacy of sleaze".

16 August 2021: NY Assemblyman Says Assembly Will Issue Report on Its Cuomo Impeachment Work

Assemblyman: Report on Cuomo to come

This report indicates the information compiled for the NY Assembly's impeachment probe may be made public:

Assembly Judiciary Committee members were told Saturday morning that, tentatively, a report report on its mostly secretive findings to date on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo would be released to the public, according to a text message sent to them.

"In addition to forwarding all evidence to relevant investigative authorities, the Assembly Judiciary Committee will complete its work and issue a final report," a text message to committee members Saturday at 10:43 a.m. reads, according to member Phil Steck, a Democrat from Colonie who shared the text with the Times Union.

The day prior, Friday, Speaker Carl E. Heastie and committee Chairman Charles D. Lavine declared its investigation over. They did not say they would issue a report.

Heastie's spokesman, Lavine and his spokesman did not return requests for comment Sunday. The status of a report on an investigation that Heastie has said cost millions of dollars remains unknown; investigations into Cuomo are valued at $10.3 million, according to state comptroller contracts, but final numbers are not yet known.

Heastie said in his statement Friday afternoon that the committee would turn over relevant information to investigators, who continue to look into the issues, which include the counting of nursing home deaths, a $5.1 million book deal and political favors to Cuomo's family.

The lack of commitment to issue a report contributed in part to the ire from a wide-ranging group, including politicians on opposite sides of the aisle, advocates and the women who were found by investigators to have been harassed by the governor.

Statements calling for at least a report and, preferably, an impeachment, of Cuomo poured in over the weekend since Heastie and Lavine announced Friday afternoon they were ceasing its impeachment investigation into the governor.

"The speaker can't muster enough courage to simply do his job," said Charlotte Bennett, who was found to be harassed by the governor in the attorney general's report, in a statement Sunday. "After spending millions of taxpayer dollars and issuing lofty statements, he's failed to lift a finger to make clear that New York rejects Cuomo's behavior."

The text promising to deliver a report based on the information collected for the NY Assembly's impeachment probe is being made public to head off criticism like Charlotte Bennett's and to prevent it from being memory-holed.

15 August 2021: Lt. Gov. Hochul Claims She'll "Fully Cooperate" with Cuomo Nursing Home Deaths Probes

Cuomo successor Kathy Hochul vows to 'fully cooperate' with COVID nursing home probe

NY Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul indicates she will "fully cooperate" with requests for data on Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. But doing so won't be her top priority after being sworn in after Cuomo's resignation takes effect on 24 August 2021.

Incoming New York governor Kathy Hochul on Sunday vowed to "fully cooperate" with requests for data on the nursing home scandal facing Andrew Cuomo’s administration – though she stressed other priorities included getting COVID relief money out to landlords and illegal immigrants.

"I'm not going to raise expectations that I have those documents in my hand on day one," Hochul, the lieutenant governor set to replace Gov. Andrew Cuomo next week, said in an appearance on CBS’ "Face the Nation." "What I have done already is met with the commissioner of health and we will be talking about what outstanding requests for data are in the realm. I will look at those and have my team focus on that early on."

"I have to tell ya, on Day 1, I am focused on COVID," Hochul, a Democrat, continued. "We have to deal with the fact that the rates are rising. I want to get money out to people. We have way too much money sitting there that should be going to renters, the landlords who are suffering. And I also want to get the money out for the excluded worker program where people who are immigrants aren’t getting any money because they aren’t documented and that money is sitting there unspent."

"So I have a lot of priorities, but I will absolutely make sure that my administration fully cooperates with these requests for data," she said.

If she follows through, that would be an improvement over the Cuomo administration. One red flag is her stating she met with the "commissioner of health", which would be a reference to Howard Zucker. Zucker played an instrumental role in implementing and enforcing the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive, and also played a substantial role in its subsequent cover-up, which has resulted in calls for his ouster from public office.

15 August 2021: Cuomo Cheerleader CNN's Chris Cuomo Controversy

We're taking advantage of a relative breather in the ongoing ethical scandals of Andrew M. Cuomo to catch up with the journalism ethics scandals of his hapless brother, Chris Cuomo, and the news network he compromised, CNN. This will be a long timeline entry, spanning the ten days from 5 August 2021 through 15 August 2021.

Chris Cuomo's ethical failure: Why CNN anchor's actions hurt journalists across America

This opinion piece by Kathleen Bartzen Culver appeared in USA Today on 5 August 2021. It explains, simply, why CNN's management failure in allowing Chris Cuomo to influence its coverage and to advise Andrew M. Cuomo on his media strategy harms all journalists.

As details emerged this week that CNN anchor Chris Cuomo assisted in drafting his brother’s response to a sexual harassment scandal, my first thought was about my former students in newsrooms large and small, whose work just got harder.

Cuomo was more involved in crisis communication strategy for his brother — one of the most powerful Democrats in the country — than previously disclosed.

What happens to him at CNN is less important to me than what happens to all the other journalists whose ethics will be questioned and whose bond of trust with the citizens they serve could be damaged by the choices he made.

When it comes to credibility and trust, people don’t see individual reporters or news organizations. They see “the media.” So when one journalist or outlet makes questionable choices, the tarnish can easily spread to others....

Cuomo squandered his journalistic independence by getting involved in saving his brother’s political career. But he also put a sword in the hands of people who would call journalists “enemies of the people.”

Cuomo is perhaps the most flagrant practicioner of the advocacy, or "narrative"-based school of journalism, which predetermines conclusions then seeks out stories aimed at influencing public debate toward the journalist's predetermined goal, omitting covering other stories that would either contradict or obstruct that goal from being achieved. Originally aimed at potentially putting Andrew M. Cuomo into the White House, CNN under Cuomo's influence turned toward acting as a gatekeeper seeking to keep Cuomo's multiple scandals from blowing up.

Related coverage from the timeline:

• 6 May 2020: Peak Cuomo Arrives
• 21 May 2020: Cuomo Cheerleader CNN's Credibility Enters Rapid Phase of Collapse
• 9 July 2020: CNN's Pro-Cuomo Bias
• 25 June 2020: White House Calls Out Cuomo's Deadly Directive, Cuomo Called Out for Lying About Nursing Home Deaths, CNN Shreds Credibility by Endorsing Governor Cuomo's Policies
• 18 February 2021: CNN Bans Cheerleader Chris Cuomo From Covering Brother Governor Andrew Cuomo
• 22 February 2021: Cuomo Cheerleader CNN "Haunted" by Massive Ethics "Blunder"
• 30 March 2021: CNN's Chris Cuomo Received Extra Special Care from NY DOH Doctor at Taxpayer Expense
• 3 April 2021: "Andrew Cuomo Breaks the News"
• 29 April 2021: CNN AWOL in Reporting Cuomo Cover-up Story
• 12 May 2021: CNN Slammed for Lack of Trustworthy News Coverage
• 21 May 2021: "CNN's Messy Situation" With Cuomo
• 21 May 2021: How CNN's Cuomo Shredded CNN's Credibility
• 24 May 2021: Opinions - CNN's Compromised Integrity and Calls for Chris Cuomo's Firing
• 25 May 2021: CNN's Cuomo Conflict of Interest and Ethics Problems Extend to Top of Network
• 2 June 2021: CNN's Cuomo Exposes Systemic Ethical Failures at Network
• 8 June 2021: What Does CNN Gain from Continuing to Employ Chris Cuomo?
• 12 June 2021: When Will CNN Fix Its Cuomo Integrity Problem?
• 6 August 2021: How Far Does Andrew M. Cuomo's Influence Reach Within CNN?

The longer CNN's managers and editors fail to excise their Cuomo problems, which extend beyond Chris Cuomo to the top of CNN's organization chart, this thread of headlines will probably continue lengthening until ending with headlines like "CNN Fires Chris Cuomo", or ultimately, "The Death of CNN". They've chosen to dig a very deep hole for themselves.

Moving on...

New York Assembly moves forward with Cuomo impeachment inquiry as the governor digs in, refusing to step down

This report appeared in the Washington Post on 10 August 2021. Here's the relevant item featuring CNN's Chris Cuomo, which confirms that the CNN reporter continued advising the scandal-mired Andrew M. Cuomo even after he pledged to stop engaging in the conflict of interest:

Cuomo, who is ensconced in the governor’s mansion in Albany and has not been coming to the office, is left with few advisers. Rich Azzopardi, his longtime spokesman, has said he plans to stay in his post. The governor also continues to confer with longtime adviser Charlie King, a lobbyist at the public strategy firm Mercury, as well as his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, according to people familiar with the situation.

Put a pin in this story, we'll come back to it shortly....

CNN Owes Its Viewers an Apology

This opinion piece appeared in The New Republic on 11 August 2021.

Over the last several months, Chris has served as an informal adviser to his brother as he attempted to hold onto his job and avoid impeachment. A report from New York Attorney General Letitia James found that Chris was advising his brother’s communication strategy and had even drafted a statement indicating that the whole thing was a misunderstanding: “Sometimes I am playful and make jokes,” that draft read, in part. “My only desire is to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.” Andrew Cuomo resigned on Tuesday—while using a similar defense to the one proposed by his brother—but Chris—who is currently (and fortuitously) on vacation—still has a job.

There has been some suggestion that these matters fall under a journalistic gray area. Chris, after all, has not publicly discussed or reported on the allegations against his brother or his decision to resign. He has not misinformed the public, nor has he covered up his involvement with his brother’s defense. (He acknowledged that he had been “looped into calls” back in May, when he apologized and noted that the calls were “inappropriate.”) But there is no “blood is thicker than water” card in journalism; nothing that says that all journalistic ethics go out the window when a family member is involved.

CNN and Chris Cuomo may—and certainly will—suggest that this is a onetime lapse of judgment and that a sense of probity will reassert itself when Chris returns to covering those who are not members of his family. But Chris’s involvement goes beyond incidental brotherly advice. Cuomo reportedly advised his brother to take a “defiant” position in response to the allegations and suggested he use the phrase “cancel culture.” That goes well beyond being “looped into” a few calls. His participation in discussions of how the governor of New York responded to sexual harassment allegations undercuts his ability to adequately cover sexual harassment allegations in politics, full stop. It may very well undercut his ability to cover politics, as well: For as long as he is discussing politics on CNN, the subjects of his scrutiny will be able to throw this sordid episode back in his face, and they will. The charges of journalistic malpractice, moreover, will accrue to CNN’s other anchors and journalists, however unfairly that may be. It is hard to say how the network continues with him, unless it is prepared to exist in a perpetual state of mini-scandal.

Chris Cuomo certainly deserves blame—and, at the very least, a long suspension—for advising his brother. But CNN’s brass, who approved of this corrupt arrangement, deserve the greater share of condemnation. By abandoning its policy of not allowing him to cover his brother last spring, the network created an ethical morass where none previously existed. It gleefully allowed its anchor to lob softballs at his brother because it was good for ratings; as soon as that governor fell in the public’s estimation, he stopped showing up.

None of this was rooted in the interests of journalism or the ethics that underpin the industry; it was a cynical business decision, not that anyone at CNN will simply admit it. It’s hard for the network to punish Chris Cuomo for giving his brother a helping hand and a pat on the back because CNN’s editorial policy for much of 2020 was that giving Andrew Cuomo a helping hand and a pat on the back was good television. But it should never be forgotten that CNN’s profit play helped whitewash Andrew Cuomo’s derelict record on Covid-19 and in his own decrepit professional life. These are the true stories CNN chose to not tell its viewers. It should pay a price for this failure.

We'll point out again that this opinion piece appeared in The New Republic, which is no stranger to journalism scandals.

Chris Cuomo apparently lied to his viewers. Again.

Remember that story we asked you to pin? This 11 August 2021 opinion piece is where it comes back into play....

CNN’s Chris Cuomo told his viewers this year he’d stop advising his brother, disgraced Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, on how to navigate multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

The cable news gremlin that faked the moment he “emerged” from his basement after an alleged battle with COVID-19 apparently lied.

Who would have predicted such a thing?

The Washington Post reports this week: “Cuomo, who is ensconced in the governor’s mansion in Albany and has not been coming to the office, is left with few advisers. Rich Azzopardi, his longtime spokesman, has said he plans to stay in his post. The governor also continues to confer with longtime adviser Charlie King, a lobbyist at the public strategy firm Mercury, as well as his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, according to people familiar with the situation.”

But wait, there's more!

The New York Times confirms the Washington Post’s report: “Chris Cuomo has regularly spoken with Governor Cuomo by telephone over the past week and advised his brother to resign, said two people who requested anonymity to describe sensitive private conversations.”

By the way, this isn’t the first time that it has been reported that the cable news anchor, who hosted the New York governor for a half-dozen glow-up interviews during the height of the coronavirus pandemic last year, has been advising New York’s disgraced governor behind the scenes.

That confirmation may have sealed both Chris Cuomo's fate at CNN, and perhaps the network's if it fails to act on it.

Now, what effect has all this information coming out since Andrew M. Cuomo's resignation had on CNN's viewership, particularly for its Prime Time newscast hosted by Chris Cuomo?

Women rejecting CNN's Chris Cuomo after Gov brother's resignation over sexual harassment

This report appeared in The Hill on 12 August 2021.

Women are reportedly tuning out CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time,” the network’s flagship show with Chris Cuomo, after the New York Attorney General released a report that found the anchor’s brother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, sexually harassed at least 11 women.

It was before Chris went on his birthday trip, departing from his show last week, Tuesday through Friday, that there was a significant drop in female viewership, The Wrap reported. At the same time, Attorney General Letitia James announced the details of the report and the New York governor’s history of misconduct that Tuesday morning.

“Cuomo Prime Time” averaged 453,000 female viewers last week, with only 76,000 in the coveted demographic age of 25 and 54 for advertisements, according to Nielsen Media Research and The Wrap.

That is a 21 percent decrease from his second-quarter average of 570,000. In that age demographic, it’s a 41 percent decrease from his second-quarter average of 128,000, Wrap Up reported.

In a year to date comparison, female viewers dropped by 45 percent -- 61 percent of those viewers being in key demographics.

The report suggests "Chris Cuomo is taking backlash for something his brother did", but does not consider that Chris Cuomo has been enmeshed in the things his brother did for months, including providing advice for how to escape facing consequences for his acts, particularly with the media.

Unless CNN's managers and editors make a decision to the contrary, Chris Cuomo will return to host CNN's Prime Time broadcast on Monday, 16 August 2021.

15 August 2021: Editorial - Don't Stop Investigation of Cuomo

Don't stop investigation of Governor Cuomo

The Albany Times-Union's editors are calling for the NY Assembly's investigation of Cuomo to continue, with the ambition of fixing the institutional problems that allowed Andrew M. Cuomo's corruption and scandals to fester unchecked for so long:

Lawmakers need to go beyond Attorney General Letitia James’ report and discuss, for example, what can be done to strengthen the state’s laws, policies, procedures and reporting mechanisms on sexual harassment, not to mention its training requirements for high-level officials. Mr. Cuomo’s seeming shock that his behavior was unacceptable suggests he missed not just the societal memo but the courses required by laws he himself signed.

The Legislature still needs to fully understand how it was bamboozled and strung along for months by the administration and Health Commissioner Howard Zucker when it came to the stonewalling of data on nursing home resident deaths from COVID-19. How did this cover-up go on so long? Could better rules be in place to require the release of public information and information sought by the Legislature — including more severe consequences for willfully withholding it?

New York needs to understand how the ethics rules concerning the use, and misuse, of public employees for private gain broke down in Mr. Cuomo’s drafting of staff to help with his memoir. And as we have said many times before, it needs to review just how the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Office of the Inspector General have become so compromised that Mr. Cuomo and those around him would have little fear of being investigated, with an eye toward strengthening ethics mechanisms.

Yes, there are multiple investigations going on, but only the Legislature can pull this all together and implement binding changes that can’t be easily undone by future governors.

And yes, much of what went wrong here was the result of individuals violating the public’s trust and thinking they could get away with it. Power can do that.

But when a governor can get away with so much for so long, the situation cries out for a clear understanding of how that happened and how it could be prevented from happening again. New York has a case study in high-level corruption before it. We should not close the book so soon.

Had it not been for the highly visible scandal of the COVID deaths among New York's nursing home residents resulting from the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive during 2020's coronavirus pandemic, it is highly unlikely Cuomo's other scandals would have come to light under New York's corrupted oversight system for public officials. New Yorkers deserve to be protected from their public officials misdeeds in office.