Two Democratic governors initially praised for their response to COVID-19 are now facing a negative reaction to the treatment of the disease almost a year after it started.
Californians were outraged when they saw photos of Governor Gavin Newsom eating at Napa Valley’s exclusive French Laundry restaurant, while parts of the state were under block, fueling the momentum for the recall effort against him.
In New York, the FBI and Brooklyn federal prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home policies after his administration hid the total number of COVID-19-related deaths for months.
Both Republicans and Democrats are outraged at him, and he is facing possible rebuke from his own party and calls for his resignation from the Republican Party.
Cuomo’s problems escalated in January after New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report saying that deaths in nursing homes “may have been underestimated”. The Cuomo administration then revealed that nearly 15,000 nursing home residents died, instead of the 8,500 originally reported; the lowest figure does not include residents who died in hospitals.
Last week, one of the governor’s top advisers, Melissa DeRosa, told lawmakers that the government “froze” when state lawmakers and the Justice Department requested data on the nursing home – was concerned that the information was “used against us” .
Cuomo apologized this week for the “void” in information about deaths in nursing homes.
Democratic state senator Andrea Biaggi, a critic of Cuomo, told CBS News that there is a “growing feeling” among her colleagues that “the governor’s expanded emergency powers must be reduced and withdrawn.” Powers expire at the end of April. Senate majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said in a statement on Wednesday: “We certainly see the need for a quick response, but we also want to move towards an increased oversight and review system.”
Cuomo said on Friday that he told legislative leaders that he wants to “tone it down”. But he believes that some people are spreading misinformation about nursing homes and says he will “react aggressively”.
A target of Cuomo’s ire is Democratic MP Ron Kim, who has criticized the policies of Cuomo’s nursing home. 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 that Cuomo asked him to issue a statement in defense of DeRosa. A senior adviser to Cuomo accused Kim of lying and having a “long and hostile relationship” with the governor.
“Every time we speak, every time we criticize, we are punished or threatened and vilified in the media,” said Kim.
State Sen. Gustavo Rivera told CBS News that he received no threatening calls from Cuomo, but was contacted by Joe Percoco, a former Cuomo aide who was convicted of bribery in 2018. Rivera said he does not want Cuomo to run in 2022.
“Its presence and toxicity make it difficult to govern this state,” said Rivera. “It’s his way or his way.”
A survey by the Siena College Research Institute released this week, conducted before DeRosa’s comments, found Cuomo’s overall approval rating at 56%, up from 77% last April. Sixty-one percent of New Yorkers approved his treatment of the pandemic, but only 39% think he did a good job of making all the data on COVID deaths in nursing homes available.
Steven Greenberg, a researcher at Siena College, notes that Cuomo’s drop in favorability is largely due to the loss of Republican support.
“There has been no scandal that has had a long-term impact on how New York Democrats feel about Andrew Cuomo,” said Greenberg.
Cuomo has $ 17 million in his campaign account and easily defeated previous primary opponents. A victory in 2022 would make him the first governor of New York elected for a fourth term since Nelson Rockefeller. Cuomo’s father, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, lost his candidacy for a fourth term for Republican George Pataki in 1994.
California Democrats also fought Newsom for COVID. The governor pushed for schools to reopen this month, but the Democratic state Senate passed legislation setting a target date for April, which Newsom signaled would veto. And state legislators also criticized The sudden lifting of requests to stay at home by Newsom. But agents like Los Angeles County Democratic Party chairman Mark Gonzalez say the criticism will not translate into support for Newsom’s removal.
Senator Dave Min, a freshman, called the recall of an attempt to “fabricate a crisis” and exploit discontent around COVID “to remove a governor they didn’t like from the start.”
“Undoubtedly, there is fatigue with Covid and a lot of restrictions. But the silent majority is following protocols, following science. It’s kind of being kidnapped by this very loud and angry minority,” said Sen. Min.
The organizers of the recall movement say they have collected more than 1.6 million signatures. Signatures must be verified by March 17 and 1.5 million are required to start a special revocation election.
As of February 5, they had sent 1,094,457 signatures and had 668,202 signatures validated.
Gonzalez said that while a revocation election “would certainly leave a mark” on Newsom’s 2022 reelection campaign, it would not “define his legacy”.
Newsom was elected in 2018 with 62% of the vote and is now seeing a 46% to 52% approval rating. Earlier in the year, he had $ 20 million in cash in hand, an advantage for a possible recall campaign, as there are no contribution limits in California in the face of a recall.
“I wish we had the ability to revoke in the state of New York,” New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said at the California Republican Party Convention on Friday.
Cuomo and Newsom are defending themselves from further threats, partly because of the attention they receive as governors of major states, as well as the nature of the constant political changes surrounding COVID, said Democratic strategist Jared Leopold.
“One day his condition is at the bottom of the list in terms of infections or vaccines, and the next day he is at the top,” he said. “This crisis is not a short-term sprint, it is a long-term marathon. Coronavirus will define many elections in 2022, but the question is where are the governors’ legacies on this issue in 2022, not where they stand in February 2021. “