Cuomo comms director resigns as new scandal emerges
Jazz Shaw May 09, 2021 9:31 AM ET
Two things popped up this weekend in Cuomo-world, and while it’s unclear if they are related or not, it’s certainly a curious bit of timing. The first item was the rather sudden resignation of Peter Ajemian, Cuomo’s communications director. He’s been in that position for a couple of years and held other roles in Cuomo’s orbit prior to that. He’s being replaced by long-time senior advisor Rich Azzopardi. He has plenty of experience covering for the Governor, such as when he was recently sent out to explain how Cuomo didn’t prioritize his friends and family for early COVID testing because “we were testing all sorts of people” at the time.
Normally, seeing somebody leaving government work and heading to the private sector isn’t all that unusual, and that may be the case here. But it’s also taking place just as another story about Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the vaccination rollout is popping up in the news. The Wall Street Journal reports that Larry Schwartz, who Cuomo appointed as his “vaccine czar” until he was recently forced to resign, seemed to be doing some political wheeling and dealing in his important position. County executives from several parts of the state are saying that when they called Schwartz to ask for deliveries of COVID vaccine doses, he asked them if they planned to publicly call for the Governor’s resignation.
Investigators have interviewed at least three Democratic county executives who said they were surprised to receive calls from Larry Schwartz, a volunteer adviser who oversaw vaccine distribution for the state, asking whether they would be calling for Mr. Cuomo’s resignation, the people said.
Mr. Schwartz contacted more than a half-dozen executives in early March, executives said, as Mr. Cuomo faced mounting calls for his resignation from members of his own political party and was personally contacting state lawmakers to shore up support.
The executives said that at the time of Mr. Schwartz’s calls they were typically speaking with him about the allocation of vaccine supplies, not politics.
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https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2021/05/09/cuomo-comms-director-resigns-as-new-scandal-emerges-n388691