Last year, obsequious, Trump-deranged Democrats held New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the casebook model for managing the coronavirus pandemic.
This year, he may supplant shameless charlatans like former president Bill Clinton and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam as their new shining example for how to weather a devastating and humiliating news cycle.
Cuomo’s woes seemingly multiplied on Tuesday, more than two weeks since the long simmering scandals finally picked up steam.
On one hand, reports surfaced that Cuomo’s nursing-home massacre may be even larger than the 15,000 projected deaths that he previously under-reported by about 50% as part of a brazen cover-up attempt.
According to New York’s Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, Cuomo’s tally should include at least 552 disabled New Yorkers who were institutionalized with developmental handicaps but otherwise healthy, Fox News reported.
In addition, nearly 7,000 of the roughly 35,000 intellectually disabled residents in residential group homes have been infected with the virus.
“These group homes were required to have a process in place to expedite the return of asymptomatic residents from the hospital, who were deemed appropriate for return to their OPWDD certified residence,” a spokeswoman told Fox News in a statement.
Unlike his controversial order to co-mingle healthy and infected elderly residents, Cuomo never reversed the April 10 order pertaining to disabled patients.
That came despite a research study last year that showed those with intellectual disabilities were twice as likely to face severe outcomes and death from COVID exposure.
“Circumstances and decisions made early in the pandemic may have contributed to the higher case rate of people living with IDD in residential group homes,” said the study, as reported by The Blaze. “Those who tested positive for COVID-19 or who had presumed infection (during the time of limited testing availability) were required to return to their residential setting with instructions to sequester.”
Republican leaders in the state expressed outrage over the new development in a statement, a day after they announced a plan to impeach Cuomo in the state Assembly.
“I am deeply concerned that the April 10th order from OPWDD needlessly put some of our most vulnerable citizens in harm’s way,” said state Sen. Michael Martucci, ranking member of the Senate Disabilities Committee.
“Close on the heels of the deadly nursing home order from the Department of Health (DOH), this order appears both dangerous and tone deaf,” he continued. “Transparency has been a major failing of this administration at all levels. I’m hopeful that they have finally learned their lesson and will provide the information we are requesting and provide it quickly.”
Likewise, some Democrats appeared to be ready to throw Cuomo under the bus, whether due to their own disgust with his scandal and cover-up or due to conflicting political interests.
Attorney General Letitia James announced the names on a panel she had appointed to investigate, as authorized last week by Cuomo himself.
But others seemed more reluctant to assign blame, such as Cuomo’s younger brother, Chris, who deflected by attacking Republicans on Monday during his CNN show.
Other networks, like ABC News, pivoted their attention to palace intrigue following an interview between Oprah and members of England’s royal family, all but ignoring the worsening developments in the Big Apple.
And Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer—one of four other Democrat leaders who forced their state nursing homes to accept infected patients—insisted that the media focus instead on Cuomo’s concurrent sexual harassment scandal and not the one that killed people.
Meanwhile, on that front, a staggering sixth accuser came forward.
Albany’s Times Union reported that the latest victim “had alleged that the governor inappropriately touched her late last year during an encounter at the governor’s mansion, where she had been summoned to do work.”
The paper said that the newest accusation had been acknowledged after the governor’s office learned of it on Monday.
“All allegations that we learn of directly or indirectly are going promptly to the investigators appointed by the attorney general,” said Beth Garvey, acting counsel to the governor.
It reported that the victim was a member of the Executive Chamber staff, although it declined to give the woman’s name since she could not be reached for comment.
US Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-NY, reacted to the latest development in a statement, reiterating calls for accountability.
“With each new allegation that emerges, it becomes clearer and clearer—Andrew Cuomo institutionalized widespread abuse within his administration, which silenced his many victims and enabled him to continue openly preying on those around him,” Zeldin said.
“Andrew Cuomo has made it clear that he will not resign, that he will not willingly take responsibility,” Zeldin continued. “It’s our responsibility—New York legislators, voters and the media—to hold him accountable for his harassment, bullying, threatening and abuse.”
