Cuomo attacks Democratic colleague for nursing home criticism

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For months, Assembly Member Ron Kim was one of the few Democratic lawmakers to criticize Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for his handling of state nursing homes during the pandemic, pushing for that inquiries be made into the matter.

So when a senior official for Mr Cuomo recently admitted that his administration withheld nursing home data from state lawmakers Mr Kim, whose Queens district has been hit hard by the coronavirus, said it appeared the governor was “trying to dodge all incrimination. evidence.”

Hours after Mr Kim made the comment to the New York Post last Thursday, he said he received an angry call from the governor late in the evening. Mr. Cuomo began with a question: “Are you an honorable man? – then shouted for 10 minutes, Mr. Kim recalled, threatening to publicly tarnish the member of the assembly and urging him to issue a new statement clarifying his words.

Mr. Cuomo carried out his threat on Wednesday afternoon.

In a remarkable reply, the governor used his press briefing to launch allegations of improprieties against the member of the assembly, saying that he and his administration had a “long and hostile relationship” with Mr. Kim, who is now in his fifth term.

In particular, Mr. Cuomo was angry and combative over a letter published by the New York Post and signed by several members of the assembly, including Mr. Kim. The letter, citing the governor’s delays in releasing a full tally of nursing home resident deaths, including those after a resident was transferred to a hospital, accused Mr Cuomo of attempting to circumventing federal investigation and “intentional obstruction of justice”. “

In lengthy remarks, Mr Cuomo also accused the congressman of a ‘continuing racket’ soliciting donations from nail salon owners, who were unhappy with a 2015 nail salon reform law. that he helped to develop.

“I think it was unethical, even illegal,” Cuomo said, suggesting that Kim was engaging in “paying to play.”

The scathing back-and-forth comes as the Cuomo administration continues to grapple with the fallout from a spate of revelations about its data withholding, effectively covering the entire number of nursing home residents who have died from the virus.

Over the past month, the Cuomo administration nearly doubled the official death toll of nursing home residents from around 8,500 to over 15,000 – amid a dazzling report from the state attorney general, Letitia James, and a court order.

Mr Cuomo has firmly denied any wrongdoing, despite a nearly six-month delay between lawmakers ‘formal request in August and the release of data following Ms James’ report.

Many lawmakers have been angered by the governor’s lack of candor when it comes to nursing homes and other issues. The delay in releasing the data to lawmakers in particular has strained his relationship with his fellow Democrats, who run both houses of the legislature, and emboldened attacks from Republicans.

The latest catalyst involves a private meeting between Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s secretary, and Democratic lawmakers, including Mr. Kim.

Last Wednesday, Ms DeRosa told lawmakers that the Cuomo administration had failed to comply with lawmakers’ request for data on nursing home deaths because the Department of Justice made a similar request. She said the administration feared former President Donald J. Trump would politicize the case and open a formal investigation into Mr. Cuomo’s management of nursing homes.

Ms DeRosa said the Trump administration had turned nursing homes “into giant political football” and, after receiving the Justice Department’s request, “basically we froze.”

The next day, after the Post’s article was published, Mr. Kim was at home with his wife and preparing to wash his children when he received the governor’s call.

Mr. Cuomo, he said, was furious with him over Mr. Kim’s comments to The Post, which quoted him as saying, among other things, that what he took away from the call was that the administration Cuomo “had to make sure the state was protected from federal investigation first.

“He says I hadn’t seen his anger and his anger, that he would destroy me and come out tomorrow and start saying how bad I am and that I would be done and how he was.” bit the tongue. me for months, ”Mr. Kim said. “It was all screaming. It was not a pleasant tone.

Understanding the Cuomo Impeachment ReportCard 1 of 4

A vast investigation. The New York State Assembly released the findings of its eight-month impeachment inquiry into the behavior of former Governor Andrew Cuomo during his tenure and the potential abuse of power by Mr. Cuomo and his senior officials . Here’s what the report found:

Book offer. The report also revealed that Mr Cuomo had used state agents to produce his memoir on the pandemic, and a member of the assembly said it would be “reasonable” to infer a connection between the agreement $ 5.1 million book and manipulation of nursing home death data.

Mr Kim said he felt bad for the position Ms DeRosa was in and even tried to get the Post to remove her quotes before he got the governor’s call. Mr Kim said Mr Cuomo asked him to issue a new statement saying he did indeed mishear Ms DeRosa. He said the governor wanted Mr Kim to say Ms DeRosa told lawmakers that the reason they denied them nursing home data was because the administration was busy responding to the ministry’s request for Justice.

But Mr Kim told The Times he was unwilling to release a new statement contradicting what he heard on the call with Ms DeRosa.

“Basically I saw a crime and he’s asking me to say I didn’t see this crime,” Mr. Kim said. “I heard what I heard and I can’t lie.”

A spokesperson for the governor, when asked about Mr. Cuomo’s call with Mr. Kim, initially suggested that the governor’s remarks on Wednesday had sufficiently addressed the issue.

But after the article was published, spokesperson Richard Azzopardi said Mr. Cuomo only asked Mr. Kim to clarify his remarks because the MP told him they were taken out of context in the Post article.

Cuomo officials maintained that the governor never said he would “destroy” Mr. Kim and called the conversation between the two men “calm,” denying the governor’s cry.

“Sir. Kim is lying about his conversation with Governor Cuomo on Thursday night,” Azzopardi said. “I know because I was one of three other people in the room when the phone call took place. At no time did anyone threaten to “destroy” anyone with their “anger” or engage in “cover-up”.

Peter Ajemian, the governor’s director of communications, added that “Melissa was clear that we had to prioritize the federal request before responding to the state legislature. We have responded to both requests and there is no crime here, period.

Mr Kim said the governor called him four more times on Saturday but did not pick up because he was stressed by the situation and felt uncomfortable. He has since retained the services of a legal advisor and told the governor’s office that any future communication should involve his lawyer.

“The governor can attack me personally as much as he wants in order to distract us from his incompetent management,” Kim said in a statement. “But these facts do not disappear because they are the facts and are unacceptable.”

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