The Olson Group’s report on the State’s handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic has been released at long last, and it doesn’t reveal much besides what many had already surmised.
Briefly, the report widely criticizes former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D) usurpation of local powers to effectively dictate the state’s response to the coronavirus from the executive office. Everything from vaccination rollouts to trying to influence food supplies had Cuomo’s involvement. Almost every decision had the makings of a Rube Goldberg Machine that invariably made each aspect of New York’s response less effective and more confusing than necessary.
The report appropriately states that at a time when New Yorker’s needed clarity and transparency, Cuomo gave them the direct opposite of that.
Cuomo always had an ego, but he wasn’t always a terrible governor. It was until 2018, when Democrats formed a trifecta and Albany and nationalized politics took the helm in almost every state, that Cuomo gave into the progressive tactics and started letting his ego get the best of him.
Ceremoniously presiding over bail reform, sanctuary city and state statuses, and the botched response to the pandemic are apparently all the earmarks of a book deal, with a slew of sexual harassment allegations as the cherry on top of the whole thing.
Cuomo’s arrogance also did not adequately prepare Kathy Hochul (D) for the state’s top job. Her status as his running mate in 2014 and 2018 was simply to balance the ticket with a female candidate from Upstate New York. Talks were in the works of dropping her in favor of an NYC progressive, but she nonetheless weathered a PR stunt to boost his prospects and set up another eventual kingmaker in the Empire State.
However, Cuomo keeping her in the dark for so long did not pay off when she was thrust into the spotlight amid his quick resignation in August 2021, the same time when he was facing mounting calls for resignation and investigations due to his sage wisdom to force nursing homes to accept COVID-positive or symptom-presenting patients, no exceptions.
Hochul already wasn’t up to snuff for the job as it was, but adding on the mountain of controversy and angst from the public desperate to move past mask mandates and lockdown measures certainly didn’t help her case.
Now, after much rock-kicking, the report has come out. We sincerely hope that this keeps the fire under Cuomo lit, so that his conduct may be properly investigated and prosecuted, as justice still needs to be served to thousands of families across the state who lost relatives over a decision the report says was “lacking in transparency.” Furthermore, the report says that the way the State reported those nursing home-related deaths was not considered until public outcry made it a much larger problem than they had previously assumed.
Perhaps the most egregious chapter in this whole tale is that of Cuomo’s continued arrogance. Cuomo used the famous “who cares?” line when asked about the nursing home deaths, effectively saying that it didn’t matter how or where people died, it just mattered that people died. Unfortunately for Cuomo, the deaths could have been tens of thousands below the casualties New York suffered, had it not been for the unconscionable nursing home order.
Cuomo again invoked this line at a recent hearing before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, either showing his arrogance knows no bounds, or he is simply convinced his decision was sound.
Either way, the report’s findings show that the Governor commandeered power and oversight where unnecessary, slowed the state’s response and recovery rates dramatically, and made decisions that, even in hindsight, provide no silver linings or shreds of conscientiousness.
To add insult to injury, Hochul kicked the report past the 2022 gubernatorial election, likely to save herself from the righteous wrath of the public, as she was vicariously involved in the state’s handling of the pandemic during her time as lieutenant governor. Timing seems to be Hochul’s side once again as the report came out just a day after the legislative calendar in Albany ended. This largely hampers efforts to have timely press conferences and hearings while state legislators are spending time with their families or taking vacations after a grueling end-of-session marathon.
Now, the Olson Group has been forced by Hochul to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), effectively putting a gag order on the firm from discussing the report with news organizations.
After four years since the pandemic began, one thing remains certain: transparency is not Albany’s strong suit.
