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Queens assemblyman leads rally blasting
Gov. Cuomo over nursing home scandal
Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim and fellow elected officials called out the governor for bullying tactics
during a rally. Photo by Dean Moses
Kim commenced the rally
by calling out Cuomo for abusing
his power and trying to
bully others to bend to his
will, chanting with the crowd,
“Cuomo is an abuser. Cuomo
abuses his powers. Abusers are
cowards!”
The assemblyman continued
that there must be accountability
for the families and even
employees who were caught
in the crossfire of what some
politicians have described
as a coverup by the Cuomo
administration.
“This about getting justice
for our families here in
New York, who are grieving
their loved ones, who deserve
answers and to know why it
is that their loved ones were
moved without their consent.
Why some of them were given
near-lethal cocktails as supposed
medicine and didn’t
necessarily receive the appropriate
medical care that we expect
to receive?” Queens state
Senator Jessica Ramos said.
Ramos, who is chair of the
State Senate Labor Committee,
charged that Cuomo is shifting
much of the blame on the nursing
home workers for the 15,000
patient deaths.
“There is a lot of reckoning
that is going to take place here
in New York. We are going to
get to the bottom of this and we
are going to need your help,”
Ramos told the crowd.
Family members of those
who perished in a variety of
nursing homes also joined the
rally, many of whom arrived
gripping photographs of their
loved ones.
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BY DEAN MOSES
Queens Assemblyman Ron
Kim and colleagues in government
from around New York
City demanded that Governor
Andrew Cuomo to take accountability
for the nursing
home scandal during a City
Hall rally on Feb. 24.
Amidst the very public
feud between Kim and Cuomo
that seems to be drawing more
politicians into its polarizing
vortex by the day, the Queens
Democrat called upon the governor
to return the $2 million in
donations that were sent by the
Greater New York Hospital Association;
fully repeal the corporate
immunity which allows
nursing homes to not be held
accountable for deaths of 15,000
people during the COVID-19
pandemic; and provide full disclosure
all communication and
correspondence between the
hospitals and nursing home
lobbyists to be shown to the
public and media.
Kim is also calling for a congressional
oversight hearing
on this matter.
“On March 25, 2020, Cuomo
issued a mandate that said
9,000 COVID patients to unprepared
nursing homes,”
Kim said, referring to a nowinfamous
memo from the state
Health Department. “They told
the Department of Health over
and over that they could not
handle them. They didn’t have
PPE, their staff was sick with
COVID already and they were
not working. Nursing home
workers told the governor that
if they sent COVID patients
back to nursing homes they
would die. What was Cuomo’s
answer to them? He gave them
a license to kill. That is what
criminal and legal immunity
is. It is the license to kill older
adults through substandard
care knowing that they can’t go
to jail or be sued by families,”
Kim said.
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