Cuomo vaccine adviser gauged loyalty of county officials amid sexual harassment claims: report

New York’s vaccine czar called county officials over the past two weeks to gauge their loyalty to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), The Washington Post reported, as the state’s top official is the subject of an investigation and impeachment inquiry for allegations of sexual harassment.

One Democratic county official told the Post that they were so unsettled by the call from Larry Schwartz, head of New York’s vaccine rollout, that they filed a notice of an impending ethics complaint with the public integrity unit of the state attorney general’s office.

“At best, it was inappropriate,” the unidentified official told the newspaper. “At worst, it was clearly over the ethical line.”

When asked for comment, Beth Garvey, acting counsel to the governor, told The Hill in an email, “Larry answered our call to volunteer in March and has since then worked night and day to ‎help New York through this pandemic, first managing surge capacity, and procuring necessary supplies for the state, setting up the contact tracing efforts, and now assisting with vaccine distribution.””

She continued, “Any suggestion that he acted in any way unethically or in any way other than in the best interest of the New Yorkers that he selflessly served is patently false.” 

Schwartz, who is working in a volunteer capacity for the state’s vaccine distribution, reportedly admitted to making the phone calls in question but said that he did so as a longtime friend of Cuomo and that he did not discuss vaccines during the discussions.

“I did nothing wrong,” Schwartz told the Post in a statement. “I have always conducted myself in a manner commensurate to a high ethical standard.”

Schwartz added that the “cordial, respectful and friendly” calls he made to county officials were separate from his role in the state’s vaccine distribution enterprise.

“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,” he wrote.

“Nobody indicated that they were uncomfortable or that they did not want to talk to me,” he added.

The calls, the Post noted, could raise questions regarding the role politics plays in the state’s public health operation.

Schwartz told the newspaper, however, that the decisions about where to establish mass vaccination sites in the state are not made by one person but by members of the governor’s vaccine task force and outside consultants “based on merit, data and facts and not politics.”

The Post spoke with several public officials who received calls from Schwartz, some of whom said they feared retribution from Cuomo if they spoke out against him and others who were not disturbed by the calls, calling it “politics as usual in the Cuomo administration.” 

The report of the calls comes days after Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) joined those calling for Cuomo to resign amid growing sexual harassment allegations against him.

“Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York. Governor Cuomo should resign,” the senators said in a statement late Friday.

Cuomo has faced allegations of groping and unwanted kissing, and women who have spoken out against him have also said he asked personal questions about their sex lives and made other inappropriate comments in the workplace.

Cuomo remained defiant on Friday, saying he would not leave office and succumb to “cancel culture.”

 Updated at 3:08 p.m.