Former Governor George Pataki dissolved Governor Andrew Cuomo, calling the COVID-19 nursing home death report “cover-up” one of the worst things I’ve seen in state government. “
During an interview on AM 570 WMCA radio, Pataki called Cuomo’s nursing home policies and actions “inhumane,” “reprehensible,” “scandalous,” “despicable,” and “beyond the borders.”
He called for a criminal investigation by the Biden Justice Department, Attorney General Letitia James and independent investigations by the state legislature.
“This is one of the worst things I’ve seen in the New York State government, and I’ve been following this for a long time,” Pataki said of the nursing home’s death cover-up.
He also said the legislature should curb Cuomo’s emergency powers, which would “accelerate” the introduction of COVID-19 vaccinations and end Albany’s “micro-management.”
“You don’t have to worry about people worrying about a million dollar fine or losing your license if you give someone in Category 2CW a vaccine instead of Category 2AB. This is asinine micromanagement, ”he said.
There is growing support among fellow Democrats who monitor the state assembly and the senate to take away Cuomo the powers they granted him last year to respond quickly to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak that follows. Those powers expire on April 30.
Pataki said team Cuomo and his health department only started to get clean about nursing home deaths after Attorney General Letitia James issued a tantalizing report finding they were misleading the public by the number of deaths from coronavirus among the facility’s residents by 50. percent underreporting – all by excluding people who died after being transported to hospitals.
A state judge also recently ordered Cuomo to release more complete death records from nursing homes after his government illegally withheld the information from the Empire Center for Public Policy for months. The watchdog group filed a legal request for the numbers.
‘We know they hid the number of dead. It’s just despicable, ”said Pataki.
Last May, Pataki criticized the Ministry of Health guideline ordering nursing homes to admit or re-admit convalescent coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals during the height of the pandemic.
Critics have noted that the policy has contributed to the spread of the killer bug in facilities for frail older people.
“Just a few weeks ago, we were told there were just over 8,000 deaths. Now we are told the number is over 13,000, ”Pataki said Friday.
Pataki also described Cuomo’s selfish decision to publish a book on his COVID-19 leadership lessons just months after the pandemic.
“Writing a book about how great your leadership was, when in fact you are aware that you are covering up thousands of deaths… Then you continue with this puppet show about what a great response there was. It’s incomprehensible, ”said the former Republican governor.
Pataki, who led the state after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, said: “I was not there two months after the September 11 attack, waving the flag and saying what a great job I have done.
‘It wasn’t about me. It was about everyone who responded: the firefighters, the construction workers, the first responders, the people of New York. “
Pataki also ripped off Cuomo chief assistant Melissa DeRosa’s comments from a private meeting with state lawmakers Wednesday over the refusal to release a full count of nursing home deaths due to an ongoing federal investigation.
The damning numbers would be “ used against us ” by Trump’s Justice Department, she said. The Post first reported DeRosa’s explanation after obtaining a tape from the Zoom chat.
Pataki called her comments “a cover to prevent a possible criminal investigation. It certainly smells like obstruction of justice. “
He also received DeRosa’s apology to Democrats who complained that the blocking over the nursing home’s death opened them up to criticism from Republican opponents.
“The fact that the government apologized to Democratic politicians for their inconvenience, but never apologized to the people or the families of those who died – that’s inhumane,” said Pataki, who ruled from 1995-2006.
In a statement Friday morning, DeRosa claimed that in her comments, “I explained that when we received the DOJ investigation, we had to temporarily set aside the legislature’s request to deal with the federal request first.”
In response to Pataki, Governor’s office The Post referred to a statement from DeRosa earlier Friday.
I explained that when we received the DOJ investigation, we had to temporarily set aside the legislature’s request [for nursing home death data] to deal with the federal request first. We informed the houses of this at the time, ”said DeRosa.
“We were comprehensive and transparent in our responses to the DOJ, and needed to immediately focus our resources on the second wave and vaccine rollout. As I said in a call with lawmakers, we couldn’t fulfill their request as quickly as someone would have liked.
“But we are determined to be better partners in the future as we share the same goal of keeping New Yorkers as healthy as possible during the pandemic.”