Cuomo avoids questions about growing scandals
NEW YORK - Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday had yet another event that journalists weren't allowed to attend, which means the governor didn't have to face questions about the latest scandal.
At a vaccine site in the Bronx, the governor was trying to show he is on the job and not distracted.
"What do you do when life knocks you on your rear end? Do you sit there and say, 'Woe is me, how unfair.'?" Cuomo said. "Or do you say, 'I'm getting up.'"
Shortly before the governor's event in the Bronx, his first sexual harassment accuser Lindsey Boylan took part in a Zoom videoconference with survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault. They are pushing for stronger laws.
"It's time that lawmakers step up and pass legislation to deliver on better and more effective protections for workers and send the message that survivors matter," Boylan said.
The governor has another issue on his hands.
The New York Times reported that Cuomo gave preferential COVID-19 testing access in March 2020 to the president of the pharmaceutical company Regeneron. George Yancopolous and his family got state-administered tests at their home during the height of the pandemic when tests were scarce and most healthcare workers could not get tested.
In April, the governor made this announcement: "We have new testing in New York. Regeneron, which is a great New York company, has created 500,000 kits at no charge. Thank you, Regeneron."
Cuomo gave family, VIPS, early access to coronavirus tests: Reports
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Other beneficiaries of the special at-home state testing last March reportedly include the governor's mother, Matilda, his brother CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, and other VIPs. Republican state Sen. Robert Ortt, the Senate minority leader, sent a letter to the State Joint Commission on Public Ethics to investigate. Critics have long complained that the governor controls the commission.
"If they're not willing to look into this — to even look into it — if they're not willing to do that, then they have no reason to exist," Ortt said.
The state Assembly is also looking into the special access to testing as part of the impeachment investigation.