Do what he says, not what he does.
Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency due to the blizzard, urging people not to travel – then got in his car during the snowstorm on Monday and drove from Albany to the Big Apple.
“I want New Yorkers to hear me loud and clear – stay home and off the road,” the governor said in a statement about his emergency statement.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also issued a state of emergency for the Big Apple – which prohibited non-essential travel.
But that did not stop the governor from hitting the road. He explained that he did not want to sit at home telling essential workers, including those who clean the streets, that they needed to work.
The governor sat behind the wheel in the midst of the snowstorm during the roughly two and a half hour trip from Albany, where he usually holds press conferences, to conduct a press conference in his Manhattan office early Monday afternoon .
“I’m saying, I’m on the road right now – it’s awful,” admitted Cuomo during a morning call to WCBS radio before arriving in Manhattan.
“I’m driving to New York in person,” he said, adding that he was alone in the car as an extra safety precaution because of the COVID-19.
The governor was asked by WCBS reporter Juliet Papa if he thought “it’s a great idea to drive” – as predictions of up to 2 feet of snow had already canceled thousands of municipal and state coronavirus vaccinations, closed public school buildings and wreaked havoc in mass transit.
“Life is an option,” replied Cuomo.
“Airports are closing as we speak, and for me, it’s walking or driving, and I’m going to drive,” he said.
“I want to be there,” said the governor. “We have a lot of emergency workers doing a great job today, and my personal predilection is that I don’t like to call emergency workers and tell the drivers of the emergency snow plow: ‘You have to leave.’ … But then I have to stay home.
“If I call them, I will not call anyone to a situation that I would not be in.
“As long as I’m governor, I’ll be there, that’s how I see the work,” said Cuomo.