Politics with Nolan: Cuomo’s Deadly Lie
By Nolan Cleary, Interim Editor-in-Chief
Sean Tedeschi, Junior Broadcast Editor
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a heightened look at real leadership in America. For many, Governor Andrew Cuomo was the poster child for that leadership.
From his viral press briefings to his impassioned television monologues, Cuomo became coined by the media as the gold standard for COVID-19 leadership.
Many Democrats called Cuomo a front runner for the 2024 Democratic nomination for President. Late-night host Stephen Colbert coined the term “Cuomosexual.” The Governor won a commemorative Emmy award for his actions regarding COVID-19.
At the height of the summer, amid the pandemic, Cuomo published his book about leadership. In light of recent events, however, many are taking a second look at the Governor’s handling of the situation.
In March, a report from the New York State Department of Health advised against patients infected with the virus being placed in nursing homes. Despite the caution, Cuomo proceeded with plans. This led to some deaths being allegedly covered up or not counted as COVID-related deaths.
Recent news stories have been casting doubt on the Governor’s political future. New York Attorney General Letitia James is a Democrat who was previously endorsed by Cuomo. She published a recent report indicating that nursing home deaths may have been 50% higher than what was previously reported.
Cuomo himself has consistently denied any cover-ups that took place. “Who cares [where they died]? They died.” Cuomo said at a recent news conference
Many high-level New York officials, including members of Cuomo’s party, have been calling on him to be investigated. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called for a full investigation into Cuomo’s actions.
Heather Mott, an employee at Barnwell Nursing Home in the town of Valatie witnessed the effects of Cuomo’s controversial policy first hand and spoke exclusively to The Hudsonian about her experience.
“Everybody started getting sick and then they had the COVID tests going around in there. So they did a lot of COVID tests, they had to wait for the results and a lot of the residents suddenly had COVID. The floor I was serving on had no PPE at first or anything, people were coughing and they didn’t sound good at all. They looked sick. They looked really bad and I was like, ‘Are they alright?’ and they were like, ‘Oh. Yeah, sure. They’re fine’. A couple of days later, when they got tested, there were seven people on the floor with that,” Mott said.
“There were, I believe, a hundred-and-something people there with COVID because of what [Cuomo] did,” Mott said.
What’s more shocking is what Mott later experienced one day on the job.
“The administrator at the time showed up to work while [he was] COVID positive,” Mott continued. “He had told staff at Barnwell that he had it and was asymptomatic. They let him come to work while COVID positive because they needed him. A lot of us were really scared. People [at the nursing home] started crying, I started having anxiety.”
Mott also mentioned that many employees left over the controversy and others wanted to go home immediately.
“There was a couple of residents that demanded to go home and the nurses were saying, ‘You can’t because you need to be treated.’ And I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to die.’”
Mott describes herself as a Democrat but believes Cuomo was playing games with people’s lives in the facility. Mott often felt like Cuomo had no regard for the elderly.
“We really felt like [Cuomo] was overstepping his boundaries and he had no right to be making those rules up because he was putting a lot of people’s lives at risk, a lot of vulnerable people and it’s like he was basically saying ‘Survival of the Fittest’ like this is a game. I just want justice to be served for these families that had to put their family members in the ground a little too early. I knew one of the families and had just seen them in the cemetery recently and were just talking about how it’s messed up and all Cuomo’s fault and I was like `I believe you, I really do, because she wouldn’t have gotten that sick if it weren’t for him.”
Mott resigned from her position at Barnwell Nursing Home in late April. We reached out to other nursing home professionals but didn’t receive any comment. Mott believes that some nurses and front-line workers may be scared to tell their stories.
On top of massive criticism from many in the political scene, some of Cuomo’s allies have also been turning on him.
Lorree Sutton is a retired U.S. Army Brigadier General and the former Commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services. She is currently running for Mayor of New York City as a Democrat. Sutton knew Cuomo well when he was U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s, but now she has harsh words for the embattled Governor.
“He brought this tragedy on himself when he repeatedly obstructed and covered up and lashed out and tried to clear the media as well as his elected colleagues to be part of the cover-up,” Sutton said in an exclusive interview with The Hudsonian.
“If the governor had just been able to say, ‘This is heartbreaking. This is unimaginable for the sons and daughters and grandsons and the daughters and nieces and nephews, everyone who’s involved here, who has lost a loved one,’ under these circumstances and he couldn’t do that. As we know, he said ‘Who cares, they’re dead.’ So it just makes me hurt. There’s nothing to gloat about with this tragedy,” Sutton added.
Sutton herself is a military medic. At the beginning of the pandemic, she offered to put her Mayoral campaign on pause to use her experience and expertise to help Cuomo’s administration deal with patients being hospitalized. Her offer was reportedly ignored.
Now, Sutton says Cuomo must face justice. “Given his timeline and given his actions which are really irrefutable on the Governor’s part, he must be held accountable,” Sutton said.
Cuomo’s troubles may not end at the nursing home scandal. Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim claims there was a coverup and that Cuomo threatened him on a phone call. Sutton believes Kim’s allegations against Cuomo ought to be taken seriously.
“Whenever someone comes out with, whether it be telling their story about discrimination, or sexual abuse or harassment, or any such claim of wrongdoing, my position is that I will always take these voices seriously and these claims seriously and subject them to due process,” Sutton said.
“I don’t know if Mr. Kim’s claims are accurate, I do know that they are serious and they must be subject to due process, we’ll see if others come forward,” Sutton said.
Sutton’s quote was recorded on February 28 before claims of sexual harassment against Cuomo surfaced to the public.
Sutton did say however, that Cuomo was difficult to work with when they were both in the Bill Clinton administration. “He is very difficult to work with and these kinds of comments and intimidating techniques have been reported by multiple people, but it should be a part of the due process.”
Now, many have been fighting for a safer way to manage nursing homes during COVID. The Personal Caregiver Bill attempts to present safe ways for caregivers and loved ones to visit their families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marcella Goheen is the founder of EssentialCareVistor.com and it’s the key advocate of the bill. The proposed piece of legislation is personal for Goheen, as her 66-year-old husband is in a nursing home.
The bill is supported by Democrats in the New York State Senate, but progress on the bill has been moving slowly, as Governor Cuomo has expressed hesitance to sign the bill into law. “It stems from the decision that people didn’t know how nursing homes work,” Goheen said.
Goheen said the push to pass the Caregiver’s Bill isn’t political, but that she thinks the controversy over the Governor’s handling of nursing home deaths may explain why he’s dragging his feet on the current bill.
”I actually do. I think that [Cuomo’s actions are] political. I think it’s become a political football game, and again our vulnerability is being used again and that’s not ok. That’s unacceptable, I think it’s absolutely important to have accountability. I honestly hope that’s not the case, but I don’t think it’s helpful,” Goheen said. “If someone doesn’t want to make the same mistake twice, they tend to lump everything in the same category,” Goheen said.
Cuomo continues to maintain that he did nothing wrong in regards to nursing home deaths, but with two sexual assault allegations now adding to other ongoing controversies, the walls seem to be closing in for the Governor.