Republicans, Sen. Skoufis spar about COVID call
Democratic state Sen. James Skoufis said Tuesday that three county Republican chairmen in his district are “partisan hacks” who are “playing politics” by calling on him to resign as chairman of a key Senate committee over the nursing home controversy that’s hounding Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Skoufis, of Cornwall, was responding to a press release issued late Monday by the GOP chairmen in Ulster, Orange and Rockland counties — Roger Rascoe, Canfield Greene and Lawrence Garvey, respectively — that said he should step down as chairman of the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations over his participation in a Feb. 10 Zoom call with top
Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa and other Democratic state lawmakers. DeRosa reportedly said in that call that Cuomo, a Democrat, withheld certain data about COVID-related deaths of New York nursing home residents out of fear it would be used against the state by the Trump administration. The county GOP leaders say Skoufis should have spoken out about the call after it occurred.
Skoufis’ committee had been pressing the Cuomo administration to provide information about COVID deaths tied to nursing homes, and the senator recently proposed legislation regarding such facilities in the state.
The press release from the three GOP chairmen said Skoufis “refused to issue subpoenas to the governor’s office or the state Department of Health concerning his own investigation, thus allowing the governor and his office to continue to lie and evade. Then, when Ms. DeRosa, finally admits the truth, Senator Skoufis thanked her. This shameful pandering is a complete abdication of Senator Skoufis’ oversight responsibilities as chair of the investigations committee.”
Also, the Republican leaders said, “after the call, Senator Skoufis made no statement concerning the call’s existence or content. Senator Skoufis owes the families of those that died, and the people of New York, answers. Senator Skoufis’ failure to seek or provide those answers clearly establishes that he is unfit to chair the Senate investigations committee.”
Skoufis, in a statement issued Tuesday, responded: “While some partisan hacks play politics and spend their time composing over-the-top, absurd press releases, I continue to be hell-bent on getting answers for families who lost loved ones in a nursing home. Few Democrats have been more vocal and more insistent on answers than I have, standing up to a Department of Health and [Cuomo] administration regardless of the political repercussions.
“That’s why I held over 40 hours of oversight hearings a number of months ago; that’s why ... I threatened subpoenas on January 25 for the full nursing home death numbers — and was provided answers just days later,” Skoufis added. “That’s why, in the meeting [with DeRosa] last week, I was the one challenging the administration on their feet-dragging; and, that’s why, most recently, I’ve broken with my party and called for revocation of the governor’s emergency powers . ...
“I encourage my colleagues and local partisans to stop playing politics and join me in the effort to get answers that the Legislature, public and nursing home families are continuing to seek,” the senator added.
The heads of the Democratic Committees in Ulster, Orange and Rockland counties also responded to the GOP statement.
“The nursing homes answer [by DeRosa] that has elicited much attention ... was prompted by a pointed question by Senator Skoufis himself as he continues to hold government actors accountable,” reads the statement from Kelleigh McKenzie of Ulster, Brett Broge of Orange and Kristen Stavisky of Rockland. “This comes on the heels of over 40 hours of oversight hearings that Senator Skoufis led as chairman of the investigations committee. When there were outstanding answers, he threatened subpoenas; within a week and a half, those answers on nursing home deaths were produced.”
A day after the DeRosa call, Skoufis said in a prepared statement that his subpoena threats prompted a response from state Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker that contained answers to the nursing home questions.
“While the Department of Health’s response was long overdue, it’s important that it was finally shared,” Skoufis said in the Feb. 11 statement. “Legislators from both parties, families of nursing home residents, and the public understand the gravity of getting answers and acting upon them.
“While there will, no doubt, be additional questions, I intend to review the administration’s response with my colleagues and continue developing a legislative response to this ongoing nursing home crisis,” the senator added. “I remain committed to getting answers, holding stakeholders accountable, and advancing solutions in a sober, thoughtful manner.”
The disclosure of DeRosa’s comments in the Feb. 10 call, first reported by the New York Post, came as Cuomo and his administration already were facing backlash for underreporting the number of New York nursing home residents who died from COVID.
A recent court order and report by the state attorney general forced Cuomo to acknowledge the nursing home resident death toll was nearly 15,000, though it previously reported 8,500. The lower number excluded residents who died after being taken to hospitals.
The governor has drawn withering criticism from state legislators in both parties since DeRosa’s comments were made public, and U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, also has called for investigation.
Republican State Sen. Sue Serino, meanwhile, announced Monday that she filed a Freedom of Information request to Cuomo’s office for a “full transcript and recording” of the call between DeRosa and Democratic lawmakers “regarding the monthslong coverup of COVID-19 nursing home deaths.”
Serino, of Hyde Park, also fired back at a reported Democrat plan to hold off stripping Cuomo’s emergency powers as a political maneuver to influence state budget negotiations.
“I was absolutely disgusted to read that some members of the Legislature’s [Democratic] supermajority are trying to use the state’s nursing home scandal as leverage in the state budget process,” Serino said. “These vulnerable residents and their loved ones are real people, not political bargaining chips, and they deserve better.”