Despite resigning in disgrace last summer amid a sexual harassment scandal and accusations of misconduct, former New York Governor Andrew ...
Despite resigning in disgrace last summer amid a sexual harassment scandal and accusations of misconduct, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has seemingly been attempting to make a comeback in recent weeks.
He has made at least two public addresses, Bloomberg reported. It was at an address to clergy in the Bronx that he announced he was open to the option of running for governor again.
“I’m open to all options,” he said, Bloomberg reported.
He even said he would be open to creating his own political party to run again.
“I’ve done it before. My father’s done it before,” he said.
Considering how the past year has gone for Cuomo, his suggestion about running again is audacious, perhaps foolishly so.
Cuomo made these comments on March 17, even though on March 15 the state comptroller released an audit that outlined the number of nursing home deaths that Cuomo’s administration covered up during the pandemic.
“The Department failed to account for approximately 4,100 lives lost due to COVID-19,” the audit reported.
The investigation found Cuomo’s Health Department underreported deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent.
“Whether due to the poor-quality data that it was collecting initially, or, later, a deliberate decision, for certain periods during the pandemic, the Department understated the number of death at nursing homes by as much as 50%,” the audit said.
The report also explained that the Health Department often adhered to the narrative of Cuomo and his officials wanted to promote during the COVID pandemic. Thus the Department failed to meet its “ethical” and “moral” duties to be transparent.
“Our audit findings are extremely troubling,” the state comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said in a statement, the New York Times reported. “The public was misled by those at the highest level of state government through distortion and suppression of the facts when New Yorkers deserved the truth.”
Ironically, Cuomo was initially praised all around the nation, even the world, for his response to COVID.
In November 2020 he was even awarded an international Emmy for his daily coronavirus briefings, NPR reported.
Then the hammer dropped and the nursing home scandal was discovered. Even the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn began an investigation into the governor’s office over its handling of COVID-19 nursing home deaths, Axios reported.
On top of all that, 11 women alleged Cuomo had sexually harassed them.
In August of 2021 Cuomo resigned after months of criticism for his handling of the pandemic and sexual harassment, The Hill reported.
However, even at the time of his resignation, Cuomo did not admit any fault over these issues, or even name them as causes for his resignation.
He simply claimed that he thought he would best serve New York by stepping aside for the time being.
“This is one of the most challenging times for government in a generation. Government really needs to function today. Government needs to perform. It is a matter of life and death, government operations. And wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing,” Cuomo said, The Hill reported.
“I think, given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing. And therefore, that’s what I’ll do,” he added.
Now, even after the audit disclosing more information on the nursing home deaths, Cuomo still wants to get back in the game.
Twitter exploded with criticism of Cuomo.
Others have predicted that even if he runs for governor, he has no chance.
“There is absolutely no future for Andrew Cuomo in public life in New York State or anywhere else,” Christine Quinn, a former speaker of the New York City Council who was once a close Cuomo ally, told the New York Times.
She added, however, that “the mind of a harasser and an assaulter is the mind of a narcissist. So he probably thinks he can be president of the United States.”
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