Statement from NYS Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt

With Governor Cuomo resigning in disgrace, our next Governor, Kathy Hochul, will soon be facing enormous challenges. She deserves the opportunity to confront these challenges with a clean slate, and with the support of individuals who are not besmirched and compromised by ties to this dark, corrupt chapter in our state’s history.

With this in mind, I am calling for the immediate resignation of state agency officials with direct ties to the soon-to-be former Governor and the many scandals that have plagued state government. Close Cuomo allies like Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker and Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services Linda Lacewell directly aided Andrew Cuomo’s misdeeds and have forfeited the right to serve the people of New York.

Make no mistake: the cover-up of nursing home deaths, the gross misuse of state resources for the writing of a book that personally enriched the Governor, and the cover-up -- and enabling -- of the Governor’s sexual harassment of young women, would not and could not have happened without these Cuomo appointees and other loyalists who are still employed by the people of New York they have misserved.

To ensure a fresh start for New Yorkers, these individuals should resign immediately or be removed from the state payroll by the incoming Governor.

 

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