[ad_1]
“New developments seem to be happening every day,” Psaki said of recent allegations. “We find them disturbing. The President finds them disturbing.
She added that there are safeguards to prevent states from inappropriately directing vaccines and ensuring that they are “distributed fairly and equitably.”
The awareness of local authorities by Cuomo’s vaccine czar Larry Schwartz – as reported this weekend by the Washington Post and The New York Times – has sounded alarm bells due to the perception that the vaccine supply of a county could be affected if it did not express sufficient support for the governor although no official said Schwartz made a direct connection between the two. Schwartz said vaccination site determinations remain independent of his other bodies.
“No one indicated that he was uncomfortable or that he didn’t want to talk to me,” he told the Washington Post.
At least one local official was so pissed off that he filed a notice of an impending ethics complaint with the state attorney general’s public integrity unit on Friday. The attorney general’s office is separately investigating recent allegations of sexual misconduct against the governor, an investigation by two outside lawyers.
On Monday, at least two Democratic county leaders confirmed they had been contacted by Schwartz about Cuomo, but both said they did not believe the call crossed ethical boundaries.
“At no time did I feel any pressure and the subject of vaccines was never brought up,” Monroe County Director Adam Bello, who called for Cuomo’s resignation, said in a statement.
Schwartz, who was previously Cuomo’s main aide, held numerous positions in and around state government in the years following his departure from the governor’s office and is widely regarded as a replacement for the governor. He was brought in a year ago to help with the state’s response to Covid-19 and his portfolio included overseeing the state’s efforts to procure ventilators and personal protective equipment, as well as the reference man on vaccine allocations.
Schwartz often played the role of a bad cop for Cuomo and regularly took criticism for his flawless tactics.
Cuomo’s office released a statement defending Schwartz on Monday afternoon saying he “would never tie political support to public health decisions.”
“Any suggestion that Larry acted in an unethical manner or in any way other than in the best interests of the New Yorkers he selflessly served is patently false,” said Beth Garvey, the acting attorney for the governor.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who jumped at the chance to bend the knife on Cuomo after spending years as a punch bag, said on Monday that Schwartz’s interference should be subject to a investigation by state or federal authorities.
“If the vaccine supply is being distributed for political reasons, it is in many ways the worst thing we have heard about all of these scandals, and they are all horrible, because it literally means that some people may not. get the help they need. need and may not live accordingly, ”he told reporters.
[ad_2]
Source link