NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo who is now leading New York state’s vaccination rollout reportedly called several county officials this month to gauge their support for the governor, who faces investigations into sexual misconduct allegations and calls for his resignation.
One Democratic county executive told the Washington Post in a report published Sunday that New York state vaccine czar Larry Schwartz had called them in recent weeks about the controversy surrounding the governor.
The New York Times reported a similar story Sunday.
“I did nothing wrong,” Schwartz told the Post. “I have always conducted myself in a manner commensurate to a high ethical standard.”
But the anonymous official told the Post, “At best, it was inappropriate (...) At worst, it was clearly over the ethical line.”
On Friday, the county executive filed a preliminary complaint with the Public Integrity Bureau at the state Attorney General’s Office over concern about the outreach, according to the report.
Schwartz, who served as secretary to Cuomo from 2011 to 2015 and returned in a volunteer capacity to run the vaccine distribution, told the Post that he made the calls but that he did so as a friend of Cuomo and that vaccines weren’t discussed.
In a statement to the Post, Schwartz said, “I did have conversations with a number of County Executives from across the State to ascertain if they were maintaining their public position that there is an ongoing investigation by the State Attorney General and that we should wait for the findings of that investigation before drawing any conclusions.”
Asked if the outreach had been directed by Cuomo, Schwartz told the Post, “It was my decision to make the calls.”