At first, the mayoral contenders were distancing themselves from current Mayor Bill de Blasio. But now it’s also Governor  Andrew Cuomo. It comes after more than two weeks of brutal headlines about the governor withholding critical data regarding the actual number of deaths of nursing home residents from the coronavirus.

Candidate Maya Wiley spoke to NY1 exclusively. She is calling for a full investigation on nursing homes and she’d like to see lawmakers revoke the governor’s emergency powers that were granted last year.

What You Need To Know

  • Maya Wiley calls for an investigation into nursing home deaths and rescinding the governor’s emergency powers

  • Wiley’s response to Cuomo goes a little further than some of the candidates, but not as far as those calling for Cuomo to leave office

  • Wiley responds to Cuomo’s advice from last Friday about what the candidates should be talking about

“There is no question that the powers were with the governor. Some of us were surprised by the sweeping nature of those powers. I certainly was as a lawyer and a civil rights lawyer,” Wiley said. “But what I will say is that what we know now is what should govern our decisions now.”

Of the other leading mayoral candidates, Scott Stringer called for an investigation and for the governor’s emergency powers to be revoked, just like Wiley.

Andrew Yang, Shaun Donovan, and Kathryn Garcia called for an investigation only. Eric Adams declined to comment.

Dianne Morales took it one step further, calling for Cuomo’s impeachment. And Carlos Menchaca called on Cuomo to resign.

Cuomo, in many ways, invited criticism from the mayoral candidates when he chose to give them advice at his press conference last week. 

“There is a race for mayor in New York City. And a number of people have been speaking to me about it. And here is my two cents, this is not about rhetoric. This is not about slogans. You need a real manager with a real vision who can really get things done,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo went on to say he wants the candidates to address a rise in murders in the city, and homelessness. Wiley responded to the governor’s comments. 

“I don’t believe in political grandstanding, particularly in a pandemic, but really at any time,” Wiley said. “It was unfortunate that it appeared as though we were being, or at least the city, was being used as a distraction. I think what leadership requires is we have a conversation about the problems we have and what solves them.”

A new poll shows the nursing home scandal is hurting Cuomo’s popularity. After threats from the legislature to take away those emergency powers and launch an investigation, so far the response in Albany has been rather tepid. 

Meanwhile, it appears the next mayor – whoever that is – may have a frosty a relationship with the governor, like Cuomo and de Blasio do now.