NEW YORK — Mayor Bill de Blasio and other local leaders in New York say Gov. Andrew Cuomo's ability to manage the state's massive vaccine rollout has been compromised by the growing scandals around sexual harassment allegations and the governor’s decision to hide nursing home deaths.
"We’ve had challenges with the governor’s office for seven years.
It’s nothing new,” de Blasio said Tuesday. “I would say at the same time: a way to move everything forward is to restore local control. It should not be all in the hands of one person. If you put too much power in one person’s hands, bad things happen. We need local control back.”De Blasio’s comments echo those of Republican leaders this week lamenting the state’s lack of focus on vaccine distribution, while Cuomo is defending himself against accusations from three women that he made unwanted sexual overtures in and out of the workplace.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican who ran against Cuomo in 2018, said the governor should “pass the baton” to Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“If nothing changes — you’ll just have a continued lack of coordination, individuals continuing to struggle to access vaccines, counties not being as engaged as we should be,” Molinaro said. “The level of disorganization could be real damaging in delaying people getting vaccines. That’s life threatening.”
Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente, another Republican, also said he is concerned that the crisis in the governor's office could have an effect on vaccine distribution.
“This is a huge undertaking that needs the entire focus — and has needed the entire focus — of his office,” Picente said.
“Are they in the bunker mentality? And if they are, that’s a dangerous place to be.”The governor has not appeared before the press for more than a week, since the three women detailed their allegations against him, but has been issuing Covid-19 updates through press releases.
“In a normal government where there would be respect for the health professionals and they would have the freedom to do their work, we’d be having a different discussion,” de Blasio said at his daily briefing. “It’s well documented that the health leadership in Albany is very tightly controlled by the governor.” (De Blasio has had numerous issues with heeding the advice of his own health department.)
The mayor — who lacks power to set vaccine standards in New York City — advocated for Cuomo to expand eligibility to a new class of essential workers, including sanitation employees, district attorneys, courtroom staff, and city inspectors, among other roles.
De Blasio also called on the state to give New York City a greater supply of vaccine doses, which have been siphoned off at two mega sites in Manhattan and Queens primarily serving non-city residents.
“I want to serve those people vaccinated too, but the answer is ‘give us more vaccine,’” de Blasio said. “If New York City is expected to cover our people, plus folks from the suburbs, plus folks including from New Jersey and Connecticut, we will serve anybody and everyone, but give us our fair share of vaccine. Don't give us too little vaccine and then expect us to handle people from the city and outside of the city.”