'Worst in America': inside the very public feud between Cuomo and Stefanik
ALBANY — She calls him the “worst governor in America.” His right-hand man calls her “the worst member of Congress in America.” It didn’t used to be this way.
The vitriol between Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, and their staffers, began escalating after the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, with Cuomo and his staff criticizing Stefanik for her support of then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The incendiary rhetoric surged again last week as the details were leaked of a closed-door meeting in which the secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, admitted stonewalling the release of data on Cuomo's nursing home policies in the face of a U.S. Justice Department investigation. Many believe those policy decisions increased fatalities in the facilities. Stefanik seized on DeRosa's startling revelation and, along with many other lawmakers, demanded a federal investigation of the governor's administration.
For Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, and DeRosa, a longtime confidante of Cuomo's, the politically charged discourse is a dramatic departure from the friendly rapport the pair had enjoyed as classmates at the esteemed Albany Academy for Girls.
Read more: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Worst-in-America-inside-the-very-public-15945815.php
