Today, Assembly member Ron Kim and other lawmakers called on the Cuomo administration to turn over all documents and correspondence pertaining to his 2020 book American Crisis: Leadership Lessons From the COVID-19, published by Crown Publishing House.
They cited the mounting connections between the administration’s alteration of nursing home data and the announcement of his book, and the suspicious timing of the two events. The Assembly made clear that any and all communication between the Cuomo administration and his book publisher was now of vital public interest and must be released.
As major news media outlets have reported, the administration actively worked to suppress data on thousands of nursing home deaths in the report issued by New York State Department of Health on July 6, 2020. The announcement of his aforementioned book came just one month later, on August 18, 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/
In a letter to the Cuomo administration, the state representatives also cite the Public Officers Law, which explicitly prohibits the solicitation of gifts, or otherwise opportunities for personal financial gain, at the expense of influencing or obstructing government operations against the general welfare of the people of this state. In urging the governor to turn over all requested documents, they emphasized the need for complete and full transparency to ensure his administration complied with this statute.
A copy of the letter can be viewed here.
https://www.vanityfair.com/
The Assemblymember and his colleagues also noted the striking parallel between the current case and the long-standing controversy over former President Trump’s tax returns. Numerous nationally elected officials have made it clear that obtaining the latter documents are essential to understanding the former president’s decisions as commander-in-chief. In the same vein, any hidden communication involving Governor Cuomo and his administration regarding his book publishing deal will be crucial for understanding his decision to hide life-and-death nursing home data.
Assemblyman Ron Kim said, “The book contract and payout structure is critical to fully understanding the governor’s motivation in deflating nursing home data. We now know that the timeline and facts leading up to the book deal announcement coincide with the administration ordering health officials to commit fraud. By altering the data, the governor could claim a successful response to COVID-19 and ensure, through greater books sales, concrete financial and political gain. It is incumbent on the administration to make public the terms of his book deal so that New Yorkers can eliminate the worst possible interpretation for his alteration of nursing home data.”
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