Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ron kim. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ron kim. Sort by date Show all posts

Tuesday, June 01, 2021

1 June 2021: A Profile of Assemblyman Ron Kim

Ron Kim is more than a Cuomo antagonist

City & State New York provide a profile of Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens). This excerpt reveals that a willingness to take on established interests is one of Kim's defining characteristics:

Son Kim, Ron’s uncle who died in a nursing home last year, was also the man who sponsored his family to immigrate from South Korea when Ron was 7 years old. At that time, in the mid-1980s, Kim said his parents still had hope in the American dream, opening a grocery store on the Upper East Side. They opened several different stores, but eventually declared bankruptcy. “For many years, I saw them, my parents, live in debt to family, and it was very tough for them to get by,” Kim said. “As a teenager, the knee-jerk reaction was to, like, be angry at your parents, like, ‘Oh, they don’t speak English, they’re not integrated or assimilated into America,’ and almost felt the shame as a teenager.” After going to college and “connecting the dots better,” Kim said he saw that the system was rigged against people like his parents.

It was that experience that triggered a career in public service. Kim’s parents were able to put together money to send their son to Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, renting an apartment in Riverdale where Kim lived during the week, though he usually spent weekends at home in Flushing. Though scholarships were available for the private school, his family wasn’t aware that they were even an option. Kim received a full scholarship to Hamilton College in Central New York, where he played football, and later earned a master’s degree in public administration from Baruch College in Manhattan.

Kim got his first exposure to politics as an intern in then-Council Member Liu’s office, a position he was offered after showing up to Liu’s office with a list of complaints from Flushing residents. A traditional career of moving through the political and governmental ranks followed, with stints working for then-Assembly Member Mark Weprin, the New York City Department of Buildings and the Department of Small Business Services, then-Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and as regional director for government and community affairs for Govs. Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson.

Despite walking that traditional path through Democratic politics, Kim got his first taste of what happens when you deviate from the path when he launched a failed run for Liu’s open council seat in 2009, without the support of the Queens County Democratic Party. Although he ran successfully for his current Assembly seat three years later, with the backing of labor groups and the Democratic Party, Kim said he has increasingly distanced himself from the Democratic establishment. A major turning point for him was his wife Alison Tan’s 2017 challenge to Council Member Peter Koo from Flushing, who Kim frequently butts heads with. (Koo and Kim represent some of the same areas in the City Council and the Assembly, respectively, including much of Flushing, Linden Hill and Murray Hill.)“After witnessing how she was treated and talked down to by the establishment, that’s when I realized this whole facade of playing by the rules is flawed and designed to really suppress up-and-coming immigrants, women of color and people from marginalized communities who should be part of the process, not feel excluded,” Kim said.

The death of Kim's uncle from COVID during the time Governor Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect is one of the driving factors in Kim's crusade for accountability in Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

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Wednesday, August 11, 2021

11 August 2021: NY Assemblyman Calls for Impeachment of Cuomo to Continue

Cuomo resigns: New York Democrat whom governor promised to 'destroy' calls for nursing home accountability

New York Assemblyman Ron Kim is continuing to press for Cuomo's impeachment, which he recognizes as necessary to hold him accountable for the excess COVID nursing home deaths that resulted from his administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive.

New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim told Fox News on Tuesday Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation should not be the end the quest for his accountability for multiple scandals, including one where the lawmaker alleged being threatened for failing to substantively defend the disgraced politician....

"I'm relieved that he stepped down so we can focus on the people's work," Kim said. "I'm grateful for the women who stepped up courageously. I committed in March that after he goes down for sexual assault and harassment, I will still be here to hold him accountable for the thousands of nursing home deaths that happened under his watch. And I plan on still doing that."....

Kim said New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx, – a longtime Cuomo ally – guaranteed the chamber on Monday that there had been no talks with the governor on resignation or potential impeachment proceedings.

Kim said it is up to Heastie and the rest of the chamber, which is Democrat-controlled, whether a post-facto impeachment will be executed, as Cuomo will be leaving office in 14 days. Former President Donald Trump was notably impeached after leaving office.

"I, for one, think the impeachment process is good for democracy. We will get to the truth of not just the women but all of the nursing home scandals, the book deal, everything else in between," Kim said. "We deserve the truth so we can make sure that we don't repeat the same mistakes moving forward."

Kim's statements above were made on 10 August 2021.

Dem assemblyman Ron Kim calls out Andrew Cuomo's 'biggest criminal act'

This interview occurred early on 11 August 2021, in which NY Assemblyman Ron Kim follows up his previous day's call for Andrew M. Cuomo's impeachment to continue, describing what he considers to be Cuomo's biggest crime.

His biggest criminal act, in my opinion, is committing public fraud. He suppressed—he ordered his people to suppress life and death data at the peak of the pandemic. Information that could have been used to legislate, to save people’s lives—he took that away from us because he was chasing down a $5.1 million dollar book deal. That is criminal.

Should the NY Assembly choose to proceed with impeachment, there's certainly enough material for them to consider.

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Saturday, August 14, 2021

14 August 2021: NY Assembly Dems Slam Heastie Choice to Pull Plug on Cuomo Impeachment

Lindsey Boylan, Ron Kim Slam NYS Assembly's Decision to Suspend Cuomo Impeachment Probe

This report covers the reaction of a Cuomo sexual harassment victim and a Cuomo COVID nursing home deaths scandal victim to the news from NY Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie that the Assembly will drop its impeachment probe. First here's the reaction of Lindsay Boylan, the first woman to come forward to allege Andrew M. Cuomo sexually harassed her, whom senior Cuomo administration officials targeted for retaliation:

Lindsey Boylan, one of Cuomo's accusers over alleged sexual harassment, called the decision to not continue the investigation an "unjust cop out."

"The public deserves to know the extent of the Governor's misdeeds and possible crimes," she said in a tweet Friday afternoon. "His victims deserve justice and to know he will not be able harm others."

She also said in a tweet Saturday morning: "I feel the deep disappointment so many have in the leaders of our state. What I also know is that it is countless women with many years left in their careers leading the fight against the corruption & morass. We will win this fight together. Of that, I am confident."

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) lost his uncle, who died from COVID in a New York City nursing home during the period the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect. Here are Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) comments:

Assemblymember Ron Kim, a fierce critic of the governor, said in a tweet that "Cuomo will start claiming his innocence by saying the Assembly won't imp-each him because he didn't do anything wrong. He will play the victim while attacking 11 courageous women who spoke up."

"We can't allow this to happen," he tweeted.

He also shared a memo from lawyer Robert Hockett that said the Assembly's decision is "regrettably short on both legal authority and persuasive authority."

Here is the statement Kim posted on Twitter:

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Thursday, April 15, 2021

15 April 2021: Ron Kim on Holding Nursing Homes Accountable and the Origins of Governor Cuomo's Cover-up

Ron Kim on nursing home immunity repeal: It was critical 'to hold these facilities accountable'

This interview with NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) discusses some of the background behind what motivated his legislation to repeal the COVID legal immunity gifted to a powerful hospital and nursing home lobby on 2 April 2020 by Governor Cuomo.

"Exactly a year ago the governor relied on his top lobbyists that represented the special interests of hospitals and nursing homes to sneak into the budget of a 5,000 page document of a near blanket corporate immunity for the top executives," Kim explained on Hill.TV's "Rising."

"Now as you can imagine, when you're giving out this type of corporate immunity to some of the worst nursing homes it serves as a disincentive for these businesses from investing further into PPE or hiring more staff," Kim continued. "So it was critical for us to repeal it, to go the other direction to hold these facilities accountable, to direct them to invest more."

Kim said that while other lawmakers and the media in other parts of the country shone a light on the flaws of the bill and prevented it from passing, a lack of transparency allowed it to pass in New York.

"In places like Albany and other capitals there wasn't that much transparency and accountability. So they were able to put it through with the powerful executive like Andrew Cuomo who was on CNN and all these other mainstream media every night pretending that he was serving the public but when you look at the policies that he was putting together he was protecting the corporate interest over people's lives," Kim said.

That's only part of the story. In truth, the member organizations of the lobby that sought and received the commitment to provide legal immunity from Governor Cuomo had to know the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive would unleash a torrent of deaths within New York's nursing homes. They leveraged that knowledge over Governor Cuomo, who knew that would be a consequence of the policy well before he committed to push through legal immunity for nursing home operators.

In this sense, that arrangement marks the beginning of Governor Cuomo's attempted cover-up of the full extent of COVID-related deaths of New York nursing home residents. Without the compensation of legal immunity for COVID deaths of patients in their care, there's little question nursing home operators would have been very vocal about the Cuomo administration's 25 March 2020 directive. Governor Cuomo would benefit from avoiding the public discovery of the consequences of the policies he and senior officials in his administration greenlighted.

Here is related coverage from the timeline outlining these aspects of Governor Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals:

The next step will be to hold Governor Cuomo and the members of his administration who implemented and enforced the 25 March 2020 directive accountable for the consequences of the 25 March 2020 directive that they clearly anticipated.

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Sunday, November 21, 2021

21 November 2021: NY Lawmakers - Cuomo Should Be Impeached

Lawmakers: Assembly’s Cuomo probe grounds for impeachment

This report captures a statement released by NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), who argues the state legislature must follow through on its probe of Andrew M. Cuomo's misconduct in office and impeach him.

Queens assemblyman Ron Kim, who blew the whistle on Cuomo’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic, issued a statement saying the Assembly must prepare to impeach the disgraced politician to bar him from holding office again in the state.

“As we wait for the release of the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s impeachment report, our legislative body must prepare itself for an extensive impeachment trial so we can hold Andrew Cuomo accountable for his crimes,” said Kim, a democrat vocal opponent of Cuomo, in a statement.

“We already have anecdotal corroborations that the disgraced governor broke the Public Officers Law multiple times, and therefore, we must see this report to its logical end and impeach the former governor,” Kim added.

Kim joins Democrat Phil Steck, an assembly member representing Colonie, who told The New York Times he also felt the report would justify Cuomo’s impeachment, describing the investigation as “right, just and fair.”

“When you read the report you come to the conclusion that [Cuomo] basically transformed the executive chamber to write a book for his own personal enrichment,” Steck said.

It remains to be seen if the report will change the minds of both Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Charles Lavine, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, who have spoken out against pursuing an impeachment.

There are legal questions of whether New York's state constitution would permit the impeachment of a state official who resigns before they might be impeached, so it will be interesting to see what might develop among lawmakers on that count. Based on his previous statements and general conduct, which includes slow-walking and stalling the Assembly's impeachment probe for months to protect Cuomo, we think it is unlikely Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will support impeachment unless enough Democratic Party members of the legislature make enough noise to follow it through.

Here is the 20 November 2021 Twitter post containing Assemblyman Kim's statement:

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Sunday, March 21, 2021

21 March 2021: A Memorial for COVID Nursing Home Victims in Brooklyn

Families of Nursing Home COVID-19 Victims Honor Loved Ones, Demand Accountability

The families of victims from COVID nursing home fatalities gathered in Brooklyn for a memorial:

On Sunday, a street in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood was filled with photos of seniors who passed away. The wall of remembrance put faces and names to the number of victims that is estimated to be in the thousands. They died away from their sons, daughters, grandchildren and other relatives, who could not visit them in their final moments due to the COVID-19 lock down.

The next excerpt features a description of one of the victims, who doesn't fit the mold of who you might think lived in New York's nursing homes:

"You don't go there to die. You go there to live and my mother is a perfect example of that. She was more active in her assisted-living facility than she had been in three years," said Donna Johnson, who lost her mother.

The organizers of the memorial identify the motive behind the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive:

Peter and Daniel Arbeeny lost their father and other relatives. They organized the tribute.

"We do not blame the 15,000 on the nursing home staff who left their family to save our families," said Daniel Arbeeny.

Many of the families blame Governor Andrew Cuomo. Last year, in an effort to free up hospital beds, Cuomo signed an executive order which sent thousands of recovering COVID-19 patients to nursing homes. The relatives say this was fatal mistake.

"It was like our our governor said even though he did this, throwing fire in a dry brush. We lost thousands of our loved ones. I lost four family members in one week," said Peter Arbeeny.

The New York Post also covered the event, providing additional reactions from the families of other victims of Governor Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandal.

Ron Kim blasts Andrew Cuomo at memorial for COVID nursing home victims

New York Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) also spoke at the memorial. This report presents his comments.

Addressing dozens of mourners who came out to the emotional event on Henry Street in Cobble Hill, Kim (D-Queens) recalled a phone call he received from Cuomo allegedly threatening that his political future would be "destroyed" unless he shilled for the administration’s accounting of the death toll.

"When I got that call from Gov. Cuomo threatening me and my career, my livelihood, to lie for him, I wasn't scared of his bully tactics," Kim said. "But I was afraid that he would escape accountability.

"This is about decency," continued Kim. "And a decent man uplifts those who are not in power.... That's what this is about: This is about decent human beings coming together, taking on the most powerful politician in the state of New York."...

"Together, decency will win," said Kim, whose uncle, US Army veteran Son Kim, was among the 15,540 residents of nursing homes or adult-care facilities to die of a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus through March 19. "Together, we will get to the truth.

"And that's why I know, I know that this governor will be held accountable," he continued. "That I know that his reign of abusive power will end soon. Because there are way too many decent people in the city of New York to let this guy go unchecked."

Does Governor Cuomo truly believe he's a decent man?

Here is video coverage of Kim's comments at the memorial:

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Wednesday, October 13, 2021

13 October 2021: Anti-Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals Advocates Meet with Hochul

Fox News’ Janice Dean, Nursing Home Family Advocates Meet With NY Gov. to Push for ‘Full Accountability’ on Cuomo Policy

This report describes the 12 October 2021 meeting involving two of the leading advocates opposed to Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive and his administration's effort to cover-up the full extent of COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents and replacement Governor Kathy Hochul.

Fox News’ Janice Dean, New York Assembly Member Ron Kim, and more met with Governor Kathy Hochul Tuesday to call for “full accountability” on covid-19 nursing home deaths.

The report is short on details of their closed door discussion, but this report indicates Hochul offered an apology for the actions of the Cuomo administration.

While the report features several Twitter posts by both Janice Dean and Ron Kim from the past several months, the following tweet confirms this first meeting with Hochul:

Here are profiles from the timeline for both advocates:

Follow the links for Janice Dean and Ron Kim to see where and how often the two appear within events covered by the timeline, which represents only a fraction of their advocacy on behalf of the families of the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home victims.

The meeting also included Alexa Rivera as a representative of the Voices for Seniors advocacy group. She is the co-founder of the group with her sister, Vivian Rivera-Zayas, whose name has come up more frequently as a spokesperson for the group. This timeline entry describes how they became advocates. Their organization's Twitter post about the meeting has more information about what was on the agenda for discussion:

A forensic audit to fully tally the number of nursing home residents who subsequently died from COVID-19 in nursing homes, or at hospitals or other facilities, or at home after being infected during the period the Cuomo administsration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect would be a welcome development after the Cuomo administration's legacy of cover-ups. The administration's cover-up of the full extent of COVID deaths among New York's nursing home residents dates back to early April 2020, so any action on moving forward with such an audit has been a very long time in coming.

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Saturday, September 11, 2021

11 September 2021: NY Assemblyman Concerned Hochul May "Bury" Cuomo COVID Nursing Home Deaths Scandals

NY Assemblyman Ron Kim suggests Gov. Hochul trying to 'bury' Cuomo's nursing home death scandal

This report covers the concerns NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) posted on Twitter for the potential that newly installed NY Governor Kathy Hochul will not follow up on Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals.

The Empire State lawmaker and staunch critic of disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo claimed the new governor is prioritizing playing kingmaker over getting justice in the scandal.

Additionally, Kim suggested that Hochul is attempting to cover up the scandal that saw thousands of deaths undercounted as Cuomo cashed in on a book deal on his pandemic response.

Here is Kim's Twitter post:

Hochul's strange choice to keep the ethically-challenged Howard Zucker on as NY Health Commissioner is the most visible evidence supporting Kim's concerns. Zucker participated in developing and implementing the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive that forced nursing homes to blindly admit COVID patients being dumped out of hospital to free up bed space during the period the policy was in effect.

Zucker also allowed the Cuomo administration to cover-up the full extent of those deaths by letting senior Cuomo officials edit the 6 July 2020 NYDOH report, which the administration used to absolve itself of blame in contributing to those deaths. Zucker then participated in stonewalling the release of NYDOH data to prevent the public from learning the full extent of those deaths for months until forced to do so after losing in court.

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Thursday, May 27, 2021

27 May 2021: Cuomo, Heastie Teamed Up to Silence COVID Nursing Home Policy Critic

Cuomo used Speaker Heastie in bid to silence critic as Post exposed COVID coverup

Governor Cuomo is the most powerful politician in the state of New York. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is the most powerful lawmaker in New York.

According to this report, the two teamed up to use their power to try to silence critics of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive after Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa revealed to lawmakers the administration had covered up the full extent of COVID nursing home deaths in a teleconference on 10 February 2021, the news of which became public the following day.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie tried to help silence one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s most outspoken critics after The Post exclusively revealed the state’s cover-up of nursing home deaths from COVID-19, a smoking-gun text message shows.

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) said he got the message from an aide to Heastie in response to comments he made about The Post’s reporting that top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa had admitted in a meeting with Albany Democrats that administration officials withheld the total death toll from both lawmakers and the public.

The speaker’s aide told Kim that Heastie (D-The Bronx) was “relaying the message” — in which Cuomo provided a statement for Kim to walk back his remarks — on behalf of the governor, the assemblyman said....

Kim said he was “stunned” when he saw the message, adding, “I came to the conclusion that if I put out this statement, that I would be complicit in the cover-up.”

“Beyond that, the thousands of families I told I would protect — I would have thrown them under the bus,” he added.

Here's the full text of the statement that Governor Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Heastie attempted to get Assemblyman Kim to put out in his name to mislead the public about the nature of the information that was revealed at the 10 February 2021 teleconference:

“The Post article did not put into proper context my comments concerning the meeting, so I think it is important to provide more perspective. The purpose of the meeting was to get overdue responses to questions we had, and I believe it was productive. Administration officals at the meeting contended the Trump Administration had initiated a politically motivated effort to blame democratic states for COVID deats and that the State received a document request from the Department of Justice which had to be fulfilled on a priority basis and therefore state legislative responses were delayed. At the meeting, Melissa DeRosa assured us that the legislative responses will now be prioritized. I look forward to receiving this information.”

Shortly after this message was conveyed to Kim, he refused to retract his remarks, which resulted in a belligerent call from Governor Cuomo attempting to bully him into complying with his strategy.

If Governor Cuomo and Speaker Heastie's attempt to draft and convey a statement for a state lawmaker to give to the press sounds unusual, it is.

Cameron Macdonald of the nonprofit Government Justice Center and also an adjunct at the conservative Empire Center for Public Policy called Cuomo’s request to Heastie “problematic” and said “it was inappropriate for the Speaker to act on it.”

“They placed party politics and loyalty over accountability,” Macdonald said.

“Such coordination between the Governor and the Speaker casts doubt on the Speaker’s desire to lead the Legislature’s oversight role.”

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-The Bronx) said, “We need to be concerned... because we are an independent branch of government and we should operate independently from the executive.”

Here are related entries from the timeline:

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Saturday, June 12, 2021

12 June 2021: Assemblyman Ron Kim Targeted for Harassment by Cuomo Supporters

Lawmaker critical of Andrew Cuomo says he’s been sent racist messages — and multiple copies of gov’s books

Andrew M. Cuomo's political supporters are making their presence felt by a change in the tactics they're employing against the governor's critics.

One of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s most outspoken critics is finding out that if you mess with the three-term Democrat, bad things can happen.

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) told The Post on Friday that he’s been bombarded with hateful emails and Facebook messages for repeatedly calling out Cuomo over his handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kim, who is Asian, said he’s been called a “gook,” told he’s “rotten to the core,” and asked whether his “fixation” on Cuomo was affecting his marriage.

One writer even issued a veiled threat, saying, “If I were you I would repent. Make peace with the governor. Because time is short. You don’t want to make God angry.”

“The lord Jesus has his back. He will protect him…And his enemies will be scattered,” the writer added.

The last portion of that excerpt provides a taste of the abusive electronic communications Kim has received. The article provides longer examples.

For his part, Kim is continuing his stance demanding Governor Cuomo be held accountable for COVID deaths in New York nursing homes resulting from the administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive. But Kim notes the threats may take a toll:

Kim also called it “disturbing that there are still people susceptible to Cuomo’s demagoguery and will go out of their way to target someone like me for doing my job, which has been to stick up for older adults and vulnerable constituents.”

He added, “I do not want to lower my voice but at some point, if I feel like my family and my staff are in an uncomfortable place, I may have to.”

Related items from the timeline:

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Wednesday, November 24, 2021

24 November 2021: Bill Establishing $4 Billion Compensation Fund for NY COVID Nursing Home Victims

$4B COVID fund proposed for nursing home victims

On 17 November 2021, NY Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) introduced legislation setting up a compensation fund for the families of nursing home residents who died from COVID during the period Andrew M. Cuomo's deadly 25 March 2020 directive was in effect.

Legislator Ron Kim, a noted critic of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 nursing home policies, is proposing a $4 billion compensation fund for civil claims arising from personal injuries or the death of nursing home residents in New York due to COVID-19.

Kim, D-Flushing, recently introduced A.8489, the Justice for Nursing Home Victims Act, in the Assembly. Thus far, Kim’s legislation isn’t getting much support from his fellow legislators — there is not yet companion legislation in the state Senate and the bill has no co-sponsors in the Assembly.

The Justice for Nursing Home Victims Act would amend the Public Health Law to establish a Nursing Home Resident COVID-19 Compensation Program, creating a commission to administer the compensation program and procedures for disbursing damages compensation to the estates of individuals who are eligible by law to claim damages. Eligible individuals would include the residents of nursing homes as well as those temporarily admitted for subacute care and rehabilitation.

Kim also proposes reversing any public policy that limits the liability of nursing homes while amending the Public Health Law to designate responsibilities for nursing homes during a pandemic and explicitly holding nursing homes liable for negligence resulting in the wrongful death of residents.

Lastly, the legislation amends the state Civil Practice Law to allow civil claims or causes of action related to personal injury or death to be filed for up to two years after the legislation takes effect, if it is passed.

Kim previously proposed the $4 billion fund back on 30 September 2021. The new development here is introduction of the A8489 bill encoding the proposal into legalese that the New York Assembly may vote upon. The bill is in committee at this writing.

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Thursday, May 06, 2021

6 May 2021: Interview with Assemblyman Ron Kim

Ron Kim Outlines Legislative Priorities for New York as State Recovers from Pandemic

This timeline entry is lengthy, given the responses that Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) provided to questions asked by Newsweek's Meghan Roos, where we're focusing our coverage of Kim's comments as they relate to Governor Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. In this first excerpt, he identifies some of the factors that allowed the Cuomo administration's cover-up of the full extent of COVID deaths among New York nursing home residents to become established:

Governor Cuomo recently signed legislation you have pushed for that peels back immunity protections for nursing homes implemented in the early days of the pandemic. Why was this such a vital piece of legislation for you?

It was a win for the 15,000-plus families who lost their loved ones and community groups that recognize giving out broad corporate immunity—to nursing home operators, CEOs and the business behind the facilities at the peak of the pandemic—served as a disincentive for these businesses to invest any more dollars to save people's lives. And that's exactly what happened.

The moment they received this broad immunity last April, they no longer felt the need to spend every dollar they had on PPE and hiring staff to provide social distancing protocols in these facilities. Coupled with the governor's mandate to ban people and families from entering these facilities, and also to waive medical-keeping records, it was a combination of failed policies that led to unnecessary deaths, while giving the businesses 'Get Out of Jail Free' cards at the peak of the pandemic.

When the government and the state fails to protect vulnerable members in places like nursing homes, the one recourse families and residents and patients have are the courts and an individual right to recourse. The governor took that away from them retroactively: he put the bill in April but he went retroactively to March. So patients or residents who thought that they had recourse, their rights were taken away.

This second excerpt gets to the toxic culture Governor Cuomo has promoted while in office, including trying to bully elected officials into participating in his cover-up:

You made headlines earlier this year when you accused Governor Cuomo of using bullying tactics against legislators like yourself. Has that always been your experience with the governor?

I think most politicians in New York, as well as the press, have known about his bullying tactics and his character. It was an open secret for all of us. Everyone talked about it. It was notorious how he treated people.

For most of us, it's not the bullying that we were concerned about—it's him escaping accountability for his abuse of power. I think there's a difference between him being abusive and just being a bully to lawmakers and his peers. The moment that he became abusive with me is when he asked me to lie to cover up for his top aide who had admitted to possibly obstructing justice for his administration. That was a clear line that he crossed that could not be undone. And the series of credible allegations that came out is a continuous reflection of his abuse of power and his abusive behavior, and that's why he needs to be held accountable.

I think we're at eight or nine credible women who have come forward already. And the nursing home data suppression—deflating public data to sell books and to hold on to this corporate immunity for his top donors—are clear indications of him abusing his power. Despite the wins for the people of New York in the budget, we need to be clear that he still needs to be held fully accountable for his abusive actions.

This third and final excerpt addresses his support for Governor Cuomo's impeachment from office:

You recently penned an op-ed for Newsweek arguing in favor of impeaching Governor Cuomo, but polling in March and early April suggested public opinion among New York voters is split on whether they want him removed from office. Do those indications of New Yorkers' split support for Governor Cuomo's removal from office change your position?

Last year, when I saw the bad policies that were resulting in unnecessary deaths in communities like mine, I was warned not to criticize the governor because, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, his ratings were off the charts. He was popular, I was facing re-election. I had a primary and a general election, and my consultants were warning me not to criticize the governor.

But I didn't care about the polling back then, and I don't look at the polls now. This is about families who lost their loved ones. There are 15,000-plus people who went through similar traumatic, painful experiences.

The sad part is, he had plenty of opportunities at the beginning of the pandemic to completely own up to some of the bad decisions and mistakes and move forward with us. We left plenty of space for him to do that, but he made the choice to lie, cover up, to create this national profile that he was the heroic COVID savior. It was all about his brand and image.

When he felt like the world was treating him like a hero, he wanted all the spotlight; he didn't want to credit any other people around him. But the moment he was facing criticism, accusations of obstruction of justice and facing serious charges, now he's trying to implicate all of us.

Compared to many politicians who have been long in power in New York's state government, we think Kim has a refreshing perspective.

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Friday, April 09, 2021

9 April 2021: Governor Cuomo Forced to Sign Repeal of COVID Legal Immunity

Governor signs Queens assemblyman’s bill repealing nursing home immunity into law

The report covers Ron Kim's victory over Governor Cuomo in forcing the repeal of the legal immunity the governor originally gifted to a powerful hospital and nursing home lobby on 2 April 2020 at the height of his power, which he would go on to sign into law on 6 April 2020.

State Assemblyman Ron Kim’s legislation to repeal an immunity law shielding nursing homes from lawsuits amid the COVID-19 outbreak was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, April 6.

Kim’s bill, which passed by a vote of 149-1 in the Assembly and 63-0 in the Senate, repeals Article 30-D of the Public Health Law (Emergency of Disaster Treatment Protection Act), that was granted by Cuomo at the height of the pandemic in March 2020. The law instituted severe liability standards that essentially insulated nursing homes and their executive leadership from criminal or civil liability. Specifically, liability would only pertain to cases in which gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or instances where intentional malfeasance has occurred.

“Finally, after a year of grief, setbacks, frustration, and gaslighting by this administration, thousands of families who lost loved ones begin to seek some form of real closure,” Kim said in a statement to QNS. “Although this can never fill the void of losing a family member, it will create a path towards finally holding these for-profit operators accountable for their actions.”

With such strong majorities in favor of the repeal of Governor Cuomo's gift of legal immunity, he had little choice but to sign the measure reversing that gift into law. It's another indication of how politically weakened he has become.

Even so, it is only a partial victory for Assemblyman Kim. His mission to right the wrongs done by Governor Cuomo and his administration by holding them fully accountable for the consequences of their COVID nursing home policies remains unfinished.

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Friday, April 02, 2021

2 April 2021: Report - Governor Cuomo Begged Aide Who Confirmed COVID Nursing Home Deaths Coverup to Not Resign

Lawmaker claims Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa wanted to resign, but gov ‘begged her to stay’

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide Melissa DeRosa was ready to call it quits on the day it was revealed she admitted the state deliberately withheld the complete coronavirus death toll in nursing homes — but the governor “begged her stay,” a state lawmaker reportedly claims.

“It’s my understanding Melissa wanted to resign February 12 — the day after the scandal broke of her admitting there was an obstruction of justice in her administration,” Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), citing Capitol sources, told WRGB.

Kim, a vocal Cuomo critic, was referring to damning details reported exclusively by The Post on Feb. 11, wherein DeRosa privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for covering up the number of COVID-19 deaths among the state’s nursing home residents.

If Melissa DeRosa had more integrity, she would have resigned in disgrace. If Governor Cuomo had more integrity, all his scandals would never have happened.

For its part, Governor Cuomo's administration denies the story and attacks Assemblyman Kim:

“Ron Kim doesn’t know what he is talking about and this is not the first time he’s lied about Melissa,” Azzopardi told The Post in a statement.

“He should be ashamed and stop spreading baseless rumors,” Azzopardi said.

We think that's a new, tone-deaf example of why Governor Cuomo is looking for better PR people and legal help.

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Tuesday, July 07, 2020

7 July 2020: Toxic Culture on Display as Cuomo Loyalist Attacks Critics

Top Cuomo aide in spat with Rep. Stefanik over nursing home deaths

This report highlights a social media interaction between U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Governor Cuomo's political aide Richard Azzopardi, but is really about the bipartisan criticism of the New York Department of Health's report absolving itself of all blame in the thousands of coronavirus-related deaths of nursing home residents that complied with its 25 March 2020 directive. Here's an example of that bipartisan criticism from New York Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens):

“What the Department of Health released is nothing more than an industry-backed, corporatist sham of a report designed to scapegoat workers — the front-line heroes of this crisis — for fatal policies created by this administration and its lobbyists,” Kim said.

“My office did not wait until thousands of people died to investigate the nursing home crisis. With only basic due diligence, we uncovered malfeasance and misconduct on a such a scale that an independent investigation by a global entity may be required. This faulty and flaw-ridden report cannot be taken seriously. We will soon be releasing a far more comprehensive, transparent, and honest look at what really happened.”

Cuomo aide Richard Azzopardi responded by attacking Assemblyman Kim:

“Once again, Ron Kim doesn’t know what he’s talking about and apparently doesn’t care about embarrassing himself. The DOH report was peer reviewed by experts at Mount Sinai and Northwell Health and it’s disturbing that this politician is refusing to believe facts, science and dates on a calendar.”

The article indicates that both Mount Sinai and Northwell Health have potential conflicts of interest that could affect their impartiality in the investigation, and thus, their findings, which is why a genuinely independent investigation is warranted.

At the same time, anyone who understands the science of deadly viral infections would never have forced coronavirus-infected patients to be placed in facilities, such as nursing homes known to have chronic problems in preventing the spread of infections among their highly vulnerable residents, in the first place. Regardless of how panicked they may have been from flawed coronavirus model forecasts to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed by a projected surge of patients that fortunately never materialized.

As a reminder, the Cuomo administration is having difficulty finding someone willing to accept a job that pays $195,000 per year to oversee nursing homes in the state of New York because of the toxic culture many perceive has been fostered by Governor Cuomo and members of his administration.

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Monday, May 03, 2021

3 May 2021: Kim Calls for NY State AG to Investigate Cuomo Nursing Home Scandals

Assemblyman Ron Kim urges Attorney General to investigate Cuomo nursing home scandal

Assemblyman Ron Kim spoke to an interest group for seniors on 3 May 2021, calling for New York Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the Cuomo administration's nursing home deaths scandals. Here are his remarks:

“For ten months Andrew Cuomo only listened to the worst operators, the lobbyists, to put forward policies that were not only deadly but were irresponsible and criminal. So, we are here once again calling for full accountability for Andrew Cuomo’s unilateral decision-making around nursing homes, in particular, we are asking for the Attorney General and every other investigator who has now opened up investigations into Andrew Cuomo to look into him and his allies, and his administration committing fraud,” Kim said.

The group, Voices for Seniors, is led by Vivian Rivera-Zayas, whose story is featured in the timeline here. She describes the group's perspective on the state of the investigations surrounding the Cuomo administration's scandals:

“We represent 15,000 seniors who lost their lives in our state. One year later it is clear that there is an investigation into the resources for the writing and the assembly of the governor’s book, we also know one year later there is an investigation into sexual harassment allegations, which are both serious issues. What isn’t clear at this point is if there is an investigation into the handling of the nursing homes during the height of the pandemic still one year later,” said Vivian Rivera-Zayas, who co-founded Voices for Seniors with her sister Alexa Rivera after their mother contracted COVID-19 and passed away shortly after while at a Long Island nursing home.

That the question needs to be raised more than a year after most the deaths occurred says a lot about the system New York's elected officials and state government workers have established to investigate themselves.

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Monday, February 22, 2021

22 February 2021: Bullied NY Lawmaker Says Time to Consider Impeachment for Governor Cuomo

NY Assemblyman Ron Kim says Cuomo impeachment should be discussed over nursing home deaths

This report indicates Governor Cuomo's recent threats aimed at New York Assemblyman Ron Kim in a phone call to him has backfired badly. Instead of backing down, Kim is now calling for Governor Cuomo's impeachment and removal from office.

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Wednesday, June 16, 2021

16 June 2021: NYS Bar Association: Cuomo Directive Contributed to COVID Nursing Home Deaths

Cuomo nursing home order did cause more deaths, should’ve been reversed sooner: task force

A 16 member task force assembled by the New York State Bar Association has determined the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive expanded the death toll from COVID among New York nursing home residents. The directive forced nursing homes to admit COVID patients being discharged from hospitals to free up hospital bed space without any testing to determine if they were still contagious.

Here's the introduction to an article well worth clicking through to read the whole thing:

The controversial directive for New York nursing homes to admit COVID-19 patients increased the death toll among residents — and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s claims otherwise have been disproven, according to a New York State Bar Association report exclusively obtained by The Post.

The 242-page report by the NYSBA’s Task Force on Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care also blasts Cuomo for not reversing the Department of Health’s “unreasonable” mandate sooner than he did, saying it remained in effect weeks longer than necessary.

“Although a determination of the number of additional nursing home deaths is beyond the capacity of the Task Force, there are credible reviews that suggest that the directive, for the approximately six weeks that it was in effect, did lead to some number of additional deaths,” the report says.

The non-partisan Empire Center for Public Policy estimated the number of excess COVID deaths resulting from the Cuomo administration's deadly directive could exceed 1,000.

The article also contains this reaction from Assemblyman Ron Kim:

Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) said Tuesday that he suspected the NYSBA report would be “the beginning of many other reports that will come to prove the deadly impact of the March 25 order.”

“The window of being truthful and asking for forgiveness is gone,” said Kim, whose uncle died in a Queens nursing home after suffering symptoms of COVID-19.

“I think there was a small window early on where they could have admitted their mistake and asked for forgiveness but now they have tripled down on their lies amid cover-ups, where if they admit the truth, they admit to acting criminally.”

The task force's 242 page report became public after Governor Cuomo celebrated lifting New York's COVID lockdown restrictions on 15 June 2021 without ever acknowledging New York experienced any COVID deaths.

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Wednesday, August 04, 2021

4 August 2021: NY Assemblyman Kim Says Impeachment Coming Soon

Cuomo impeachment in next few days, weeks; governor has no more allies: NY Assemblyman Kim

Members of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's political party are looking to put a quicker end to the political pain of having Cuomo continue in office:

State lawmakers plan to convene in Albany on Monday to discuss impeachment proceedings.

State Assemblyman Ron Kim, of Queens, joined the PIX11 Morning News on Wednesday to discuss the sexual harassment report, the possible impeachment of Cuomo if he does not resign, and more....

Kim, who participated in an emergency meeting among Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday, said unlike when the Assembly’s impeachment investigation began earlier this year, Cuomo has no more allies in the Democratic Party.

“One thing I can share is that the tone has dramatically shifted from when we met back a couple months ago to discuss Cuomo,” he said. “Even the lawmakers who once did not want to call for his resignation have come out strongly and said not just resignation; they want to impeach the governor.”

Kim said he expects Assembly leaders to move forward with impeachment expeditiously, possibly in the next few days or weeks, but lawmakers also need to make sure they have “the facts in line” and a “sound case” for the trial.

“What’s certain is that there’s no appetite to drag this out for months,” he added. “That has been abundantly clear among my colleagues … We want this thing done in the next few days. If not, a couple of weeks at the most.”

Kim has previously noted the Assembly already has the evidence it needs to impeach Andrew M. Cuomo, but that refers to his administration's COVID nursing homes scandals. Delays would be involved if they choose to instead move over the sexual harassment findings to limit the political damage to the party, since so many officials in the state government would be at risk of ouster related to their roles in the excess COVID nursing home deaths and cover-ups in the aftermath of the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive.

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Thursday, September 23, 2021

23 September 2021: Reaction to Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's Pending Resignation Announcement

Reaction to resignation by DOH Commissioner Zucker

This report provides the following excerpt from NY Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's letter announcing his pending resignation:

Zucker, in a letter he submitted to Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announcing his resignation, he said it was time to move on from his top position leading the state's health department after nearly 7 ½ years in which he served with with a "fierce dedication to the public's health."

"Perhaps in this era of social media and distrust in government, the countless unfounded criticisms have been met by conscientiousness and competence, tenacity and audacity," Zucker said in his letter to Hochul.

That comment is more than a little tone-deaf given the circumstances forcing his resignation.

This report mainly picks up on the reaction of Republican Party members of the NY Assembly and State Senate to NY Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's announced pending resignation, but since we have a second article that focuses on their responses, we've extracted remarks from a Democratic Party member for our featured excerpt:

Bronx Democrat Sen. Gustavo Rivera said Zucker's ability to serve was "hindered beyond repair" because he allowed the agency to "become a political tool for Cuomo and his allies."

"His resignation is warranted and another step toward ensuring we hold those who neglected their duties under the Cuomo administration accountable," Rivera said in a statement.

The report notes that most other Democratic Party members in the state legislature are remaining silent on Zucker's resignation announcement.

State, local leaders weigh in on Dr. Zucker’s resignation

This report captures the reactions of a number of upstate New York state senators and representatives, all of whom are Republican Party members, and also the statement of Democratic Party member and New York State Attorney General Letitia James. We're presenting NY State Senator Patrick Gallivan's comments as generally representative of the Republican Party members reaction:

I look forward to new leadership at the Department of Health to better serve the residents of our state. In the meantime, many questions remain about the department’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Investigations currently underway must continue and Dr. Zucker should be held accountable for decisions made on his watch.

Most the Republican party members of the NY Assembly and Senate emphasized they've been calling for Zucker's ouster from office for some time. By contrast, Democratic Party member Tish James' comments were more circumspect:

Dr. Zucker’s resignation marks the end of a difficult chapter for our state. While I thank him for his service, we need more transparency and accountability at the Department of Health as we continue to battle COVID-19. I look forward to working with the next health commissioner, who must safeguard the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable, and must do so with openness and great care.

Howard Zucker, NY health commissioner who oversaw Cuomo nursing home scandal, resigns

This report starts with replacement Governor Kathy Hochul's announcement of Howard Zucker's pending resignation as New York's state health commissioner, but quickly gets to NY Assemblyman Ron Kim's (D-Queens) reaction:

“I think it’s the first step; but, just like with Andrew Cuomo, a resignation does not equate to accountability and Howard Zucker and all of Cuomo’s enablers must be held accountable,” said Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens), a progressive lawmaker who was among Cuomo’s most vociferous critics on the handling of nursing homes.

The report also captures the reaction of victims of the Cuomo administration's COVID nursing home scandals:

“Zucker orchestrated the nursing home cover-up and my advice to him would be to retain a lawyer,” said Danielle Messina, whose dad, Samuel, died of COVID in a Staten Island nursing home last year.

Tracey Alvino, whose dad, Daniel, died after contracting COVID in a Long Island nursing home, told The Post that “Howard Zucker should have been fired the minute Kathy Hochul became Governor.”

“He needs to be prosecuted for his role in the Cuomo Crime Syndicate,” he added.

This final report also provides a good general overview of the COVID nursing home scandals, which describe the circumstances that are forcing Zucker's resignation.

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