Gov. Andrew Cuomo during his presentation of the State Budget on Jan. 19, 2021 (Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)
ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office is finding itself in additional hot water this week after it was learned over the weekend that a former member of his staff had requested Democratic county executives to voice their support for the embattled governor. But what brings attention to the request is that former the Cuomo aid is now in charge of vaccination distribution across the state.
Over the weekend, the New York Times and Washington Post reported that Larry Schwartz, the states vaccination coordinator, has been asking Democratic county executives to support an embattled Cuomo during calls in which he also discussed vaccine matters.
One executive, who was not named in the reports, said they feared their county’s vaccine supply might suffer if they didn’t signal support for the governor, who is facing growing calls to resign as more women come forward with sexual harassment and misconduct allegations.
The executive filed notice of an impending ethics complaint with the public integrity unit of the New York Office of Attorney General on Friday.
The governor’s acting counsel, Beth Garvey, issued a statement Monday denying that Schwartz raised the issue of vaccines on the calls and claiming he “would never link political support to public health decisions.”
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