Cuomo's future still clouded as he defends his COVID record

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Tuesday provided a dramatic forum for the most bitter public exchanges of blame for the death of nursing home residents in New York from COVID-19.

The dramatic, partisan-charged confrontation was a long time coming — made even more barbed by the fact it came less than two months before the national elections.

Leaders of the committee from the chamber’s Republican majority accused former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of blithely directing a vulnerable population out of hospitals into nursing homes beginning in 2020 without regard to the lethal consequences. They cited documents and testimony to support what they called his administration’s manipulating numbers in a way that downplayed that category of deaths, and issuing a directive barring nursing facilities not to turn away clients with the virus, worsening the spread.

Cuomo’s defense was blunt and fierce. He derided the committee’s activities and conclusions as partisan attacks on the COVID policies of Democratic governors. He cited federal health agencies’ advice that he interpreted as supporting his nursing-home policy, which committee members disputed.

"Fifteen thousand vulnerable seniors died because of your executive order on March 25," said Rep. Elise Stefanik, an ambitious upstater and the fourth-ranking House Republican. Cuomo shot back: "You can’t make up facts, Congresswoman." She returned the admonishment. Others, including subcommittee chair Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), attacked Cuomo for a lack of remorse.

Cuomo counterpunched by citing the failure of then-President Donald Trump to promptly organize responses, instead downplaying the pandemic months after he privately acknowledged its severity. The ex-governor, who resigned in 2021 amid unrelated sexual harassment allegations, asked rhetorically as he has before why COVID killed 1.2 million Americans.

Not all Democrats on the committee helped that message. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) said: "Any public official who sought to obscure transparency or mislead the American people during the COVID-19 pandemic should answer to the American public — regardless of political party."

All this came only hours before the presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Meanwhile, a federal probe of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ top appointees generates headlines almost daily. That becomes relevant now because Cuomo has been driving anticipation of a potential comeback effort, possibly to succeed Adams. The ex-governor is seen as unlikely to take on Adams in a Democratic primary next year, but if the mayor is pushed out in the scandal, Cuomo may jump in.

One veteran Democratic operative who asked for anonymity said Cuomo is "carefully watching" for what comes out of the federal probes. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is next in line of succession under the city charter. He belongs to the leftier, Working Families Party wing of the party. Cuomo could market himself as a centrist with Adams' emphasis on order.

One Sunday in May, on a visit to a Brooklyn church, Cuomo slammed the city’s response to possible water contamination at a city Housing Authority development in Manhattan. "Two years of government incompetence," the ex-governor said. In turn, agency spokeswoman Barbara Brancaccio blasted back by calling it "fear mongering for political expediency — something the ex-governor reminded New Yorkers of again and again during COVID."

Cuomo’s truculent image is well-established, both inside and outside the state party he once led. Would voters accept that at this late date?

Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.

By Dan Janison

dan.janison@newsday.comDanJanison

Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.