Editorial
Fully probe Cuomo’s nursing home fiasco
What a fi ne mess the Cuomo administration
got itself into on
the reporting of nursing home
deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, another New York newspaper
published a bombshell report on
Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor,
apologizing to New York lawmakers for
withholding from them the actual number
of nursing home fatalities related to
COVID-19.
DeRosa told the legislators that the
administration was concerned the vindictive
Trump regime would use the statistics
as part of their ongoing political vendetta
against Cuomo. She later claimed that
the state had been “comprehensive and
transparent” with the federal Department
of Justice in providing nursing home
death data, but that the regime became
sidetracked from providing full disclosure
to state lawmakers after the second wave
of the pandemic hit last fall.
We don’t blame you if this explanation
doesn’t make very much sense. We feel the
same way.
The report came weeks after state Attorney
General Letitia James released a
report acknowledging that the Cuomo
administration undercounted COVID-19
deaths in the state’s nursing homes. Since
then, the state Health Department,
trickle by trickle, has updated the death
toll from 8,711 to more than 15,000, as
of Feb. 10.
Cuomo acknowledged Monday that
mistakes were made. The question now is
whether those mistakes violated the law.
The attorney general should appoint a
special prosecutor to investigate the nursing
home fi asco. Governor Cuomo should
publicly welcome it and cooperate with the
probe.
Depending on the special prosecutor’s
fi ndings, offi cials who made egregious
errors of judgment should step down
immediately — and the state legislature
should then seek censure or impeachment
proceedings, if necessary.
Rather, it’s up to the Democrats themselves
to demonstrate that, unlike many
Republicans, they can hold their own accountable.
That means following due
process of law.
And Democrats are not nearly as servile
to Cuomo as Republicans are to Trump.
Op-ed
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Voting is an act
of choice and an
exercise of voice
BY ROBERT A. SCOTT
Many people seem to confuse democracy
and capitalism. Some
seem to think that capitalism defi
nes our system of government. However,
our governance is based on democratic
principles, including the importance of
voting. Capitalism is about economics, not
governing.
Two central characteristics of capitalism
are competition in the marketplace and the
availability of information. Competition supports
“choice” and freely available information
supports informed choice. Wander supermarkets
aisles and look upon the shelves.
In each rack there are abundant choices of
toothpaste, laundry soaps, and paper products
with descriptions of ingredients and
safety labels. Nevertheless, we as consumers
must be aware; we must determine the truth
in advertising.
Democracy as a governing system also has
informed choice as a foundational characteristic.
We can choose which political party
to prefer, which candidate to support, and
which policy proposals meet our criteria.
However, we must seek the truth and become
informed with facts. Given such choices, why
do so many fail to vote?
The 2020 Presidential election campaigns
spent almost $14 billion and turnout was
higher than any other in 120 years – yet
one-third of eligible voters stayed away.
Some were deemed ineligible, others had a
lack of access or were afraid of the unoffi
cial “marshals” monitoring voting sites, and
still others were dissuaded from voting by
disinformation spread through social media.
We need to do more to control efforts at
disinformation, reduce limitations to voting,
help voters learn the truth, and ensure the
integrity of elections. We can choose to do
more to ensure informed choices at the ballot
box. But not choosing to do so is itself a
choice, a choice that can lead to the demise
of democracy.
The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on
January 6 resulted from a disinformation
campaign of falsehoods that persists to this
day. For democracy to survive, for there to be
“a more perfect union,” we need an informed
citizenry that understands and appreciates
critical thinking, information literacy, and
the instruments of democracy. We need
objective journalism as the source of news.
We also need more fl exibility in voting to
meet the needs of our modern world. Voting
by mail and early voting are steps forward
but not the only steps we could take. Why
is general election voting limited to the fi rst
Tuesday in November? Wouldn’t it make
sense to allow voting over several days, as
in some other countries? Our vote is our
voice. Voting is an act of choice and the exercise
of our voice in expressing our values
and priorities. We should make it easier to
learn about candidates and issues, and vote.
After all, our choice of leaders and policies
is even more important than our brand of
toothpaste.
Robert A. Scott of Seniors Take Action
is the President Emeritus at Adelphi
University and author of “How University
Boards Work,” Johns Hopkins University
Press, 2018.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
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