Ortt wants JCOPE to probe tests of Cuomo family and associates
Report says governor prioritized virus tests for those close to him
Albany
State Senate Republican leader Rob Ortt has called on the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics to investigate whether Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo breached state Public Officers Law by providing priority coronavirus testing for his family and top associates.
Ortt sent JCOPE a formal letter on Thursday, the same day Attorney General Letitia James — a Democrat — made a similar request to the ethics panel.
The Times Union reported on Wednesday evening that Cuomo and state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker dispatched high-level Health Department officials to test his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, as well as his mother and one of his sisters in the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It may be a violation of state Public Officers Law for a state official to use state resources to benefit another individual, including a family member. No state officer, employee, legislator or legislative employee “should use or attempt to use his or her official position to secure unwarranted privileges or exemptions for himself or herself or others,” according to Section 74 of the law, which was cited by Ortt in his letter.
“It does not take a stretch of the imagination to see a clear connection between Gov. Cuomo using his official position as the head of state government and the unwarranted privileges provided to his own family members and close associates,” Ortt wrote. “Obviously, while these actions would be egregious during normal times, they are particularly unconscionable because they occurred early on during the pandemic, at a time when testing was in short supply and high demand.”
JCOPE has been criticized in the past for what’s perceived as its excessive accommodation of Cuomo and his influence over its staffing and operations. It is also notoriously opaque and slow-moving in its actions.
“These are deeply troubling revelations and the people of New York need answers,” Ortt wrote. “Ethics are in short supply right now in the Cuomo Administration. This demands an investigation and JCOPE must step up to do its job. Anything
short of this will demonstrate that JCOPE itself lacks ethics and should be disbanded.”
The testing program has been added to the list of controversies that will be examined by the state Assembly’s impeachment inquiry — though the chair of the chamber’s Judiciary Committee, Charles Lavine of Long Island, said Thursday that the primary focus of that probe would be the sexual misconduct allegations against Cuomo, his administration’s handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes, and the cover-up of a potential structural flaw on the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.
James’ office is already overseeing a separate investigation of the sexual misconduct allegations — a probe that required a formal referral from Cuomo’s office, which initially sought to hand-pick an outside attorney to handle the investigation. That notion was rejected by the attorney general and legislative leaders as insufficient.