Two Democratic governors initially praised for their response to COVID-19 are now facing backlash over their handling of the disease almost a year after its inception.
The Californians were furious when they saw photos of Gov. Gavin Newsom eating at the exclusive Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry while parts of the state were shut down, fueling the force of the recall against him.
In New York, the FBI and Brooklyn federal prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home policies after his government hid the entire number of COVID-19-related deaths in nursing homes for months.
Republicans and Democrats are furious with him, and he faces a possible rebuke from his own party and calls for his resignation from the GOP.
Cuomo’s troubles escalated in January after New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a report saying the number of deaths in nursing homes “may have been under-counted.” The Cuomo government then announced that nearly 15,000 nursing home residents had died, instead of the 8,500 originally reported; the lower figure did not include residents who had died in hospitals.
Last week, one of the governor’s top aides, Melissa DeRosa, told lawmakers that the government “froze” when state and Justice Department lawmakers requested the nursing home data – fearing the information would “get against us. used”.
Cuomo this week apologized for the “void” in the information on deaths in nursing homes.
Democratic State Senator Andrea Biaggi, a Cuomo critic, told CBS News that there is a “growing feeling” among her colleagues that “the governor’s extensive emergency powers should be curtailed and taken back.” The powers expire at the end of April. Senate leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said in a statement Wednesday, “We certainly see the need for a speedy response, but we also want to move towards a system of greater oversight and review.”
Cuomo said on Friday that he told legislators he wants to “soften the tone.” But he believes some people are spreading misinformation about nursing homes, and he says he will “aggressively fight it”.
One target of Cuomo’s wrath is Democratic Representative Ron Kim, who has been critical of Cuomo’s nursing home policies. Last week, Kim accused Cuomo of calling him at home and “spending about ten minutes threatening my career,” he said in an interview. Kim claims Cuomo asked him to make a statement defending DeRosa. A top adviser to Cuomo accused Kim of lying and having a “ long, hostile relationship ” with the governor.
“Every time we say something, every time we criticize, we are punished or threatened and vilified in the media,” Kim said.
State senator Gustavo Rivera told CBS News that he has not received threatening phone calls from Cuomo, but he was contacted by Joe Percoco, a former Cuomo assistant convicted of bribery in 2018. Rivera said he doesn’t want Cuomo to become active in 2022. .
“Its presence and toxicity make it difficult to run this state,” Rivera said. “It’s his way or his way.”
A survey from the Siena College Research Institute released this week, conducted ahead of DeRosa’s comments, found that Cuomo’s overall approval score was 56%, up from 77% in April last year. Sixty-one percent of New Yorkers approved of his handling of the pandemic, but only 39% think he did a good job of making all data on COVID deaths in nursing homes available.
Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg notes that Cuomo’s decline in favor is largely due to the loss of Republican support.
“There has been no scandal that has had a lasting impact on the way New York Democrats think about Andrew Cuomo,” Greenberg said.
Cuomo has $ 17 million in his campaign account, easily beating previous primary challengers. A victory in 2022 would make him the first New York governor to be elected for a fourth term since Nelson Rockefeller. Cuomo’s father, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, lost his fourth-term bid to Republican George Pataki in 1994.
The California Democrats have also fought with Newsom over COVID. The governor pushed for schools to reopen this month, but the Democratic state senate passed legislation setting a target date for April, after which Newsom said he would veto. And state legislatures have too criticized Newsom’s sudden cancellation of stay-at-home orders. But agents like Mark Gonzalez, chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, say the criticism will not lead to support for Newsom’s removal.
Freshman Senator Dave Min called the recall an attempt to “create a crisis” and tap dissatisfaction with COVID “to remove a governor they didn’t like from the start.”
“No doubt there is fatigue at Covid and a lot of the limitations. But the silent majority is following the protocols, following the science. It’s just kind of hijacked by this very loud, angry minority,” said Senator Min.
Organizers of the recall movement say they have collected more than 1.6 million signatures. The signatures must be verified on March 17 and it takes 1.5 million to initiate a special recall.
By February 5, they had submitted 1,094,457 signatures and 668,202 signatures had been validated.
Gonzalez said that while a recall “would certainly leave a stain” on Newsom’s 2022 reelection campaign, it “will not shape his legacy.”
Newsom was elected in 2018 with 62% of the vote, and he now sees an approval rating of 46% to 52%. At the start of the year, he had $ 20 million in cash on hand, a benefit to a potential recall, as there are no limits in California on contributions facing a recall.
“I wish we had a memory in New York State,” said New York Congressman Elise Stefanik at the California Republican Party Convention on Friday.
Cuomo and Newsom are fending off more salvos, in part because of the attention they receive as governors of major states, as well as the nature of the constantly shifting politics surrounding COVID, Democratic strategist Jared Leopold said.
“One day your condition will be at the bottom of the list for infections or vaccines, and the next day it will be at the top,” he said. “This crisis is not a short-term sprint, but a long-term marathon. Coronavirus will determine many elections in 2022, but the question is where the legacies of governors on that topic in 2022 are, not what they stand in. February 2021. “