O’MARA SAYS CUOMO, LEGISLATIVE ALLIES ‘CIRCLING THE WAGONS’ ON NURSING HOMES SCANDAL: Reacts to today’s closed-door meeting between Cuomo administration and top legislative Democrats

Albany, N.Y., February 10—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I-Big Flats) today denounced a closed-door meeting between top Cuomo administration officials and key legislative Democrats to discuss New York’s ongoing nursing homes scandal.

O’Mara, the Ranking Member on the Senate Investigations Committee, said, “It’s called circling the wagons.  It’s called getting everybody on the same page.  It’s about making sure that everyone sticks to the same script.  It’s a perfect example of the failure of one-party government in New York State.  Top legislative Democrats going behind closed doors with the Cuomo administration to discuss the nursing homes scandal is another stonewalling session that has nothing to do with revealing the truth, only with continuing to hide it.  What legislative Democrats need to do is to call for testimony and full records from Governor Cuomo and his inner circle, under subpoena, in public.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo called a meeting late today between members of his inner circle and key legislative Democrats – including the heads of the Senate and Assembly committees on Aging, Health, and Investigations and Government Operations – to discuss the nursing homes tragedy.

In the weeks following a January 28 report from state Attorney General Letitia James that revealed significant under-reporting by the Cuomo administration on COVID-19-related nursing home deaths, O’Mara and his Senate GOP colleagues have been pushing legislative Democrats to immediately issue subpoenas to top administration officials to compel testimony and obtain all records related to the crisis.