Etna eruptions show no sign of letup Blaz’s punch bag
Gov’s book latest reason to hammer Andy
Mayor de Blasio fired back at Gov. Cuomo on Thursday for statements he reportedly made in a draft of his recent book that painted de Blasio as suffering from “obvious ego-driven narcissism.”
The draft passage — which was first reported by The New York Times and didn’t make the final cut of Cuomo’s book “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic” — slammed Hizzoner as “one of the worst mayors in modern history” with “little interest or aptitude for government policy or governmental operations.”
For weeks, Cuomo has been reeling amid several scandals, and on Wednesday, he had another to add to the list — the revelation that he allegedly used staffers to help draft his book as his team sought to cover up details concerning the hundreds of New Yorkers who died in nursing homes due to COVID.
None of that was lost on de
Blasio, who on Thursday called for those accusations to be incorporated into an ongoing impeachment inquiry into Cuomo.
Hizzoner described the latest news as revealing “a clear, consistent pattern of corruption” to go along with accusations that Cuomo attempted to cover up the nursing home death toll and allegations that he sexually harassed or assaulted several women.
“The governor wanted to personally profit and politically profit from his book deal. He covered up the truth about the nursing home scandal, and his team covered up the truth to benefit himself financially and politically. That’s what we’re seeing. He inappropriately used government staff to further his own personal aims,” de Blasio said Thursday morning. “This requires a full investigation. The impeachment investigation now needs to look into this — and the federal investigation, the attorney general’s investigation — now, they have to add corruption related to the book deal.”
“Every day we learn something new,” he added.
De Blasio also laid the blame for the violence the city has recently experienced at Cuomo’s feet Thursday, pointing to an attack on an elderly Asian-American woman in Hell’s Kitchen as a consequence of the state’s failure to properly account for inmates released from state prison.
The alleged attacker in the horrific incident is a state parolee who’d been imprisoned for stabbing his mother to death.
The incident, de Blasio said, shows that it’s now “time to hold the state responsible for its parolees.”
“It has not gotten the attention it deserves,” he said. “Now maybe that the imperial governorship is being challenged we’re going to see a different discussion on this topic. The parole system in New York state does not work, takes people coming out of prison — including folks who have committed violent crimes — dumps them in New York City with no plan, no housing, no job, no mental health support. The state just dumps the challenge on the city.”
A spokesman for Cuomo did not immediately respond.