Janice Dean: COVID and Cuomo – governor decides to skip Bills playoff game after being shamed

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Cuomo ‘hasn’t taken any responsibility’ for his handling of coronavirus pandemic: Janice Dean

Fox News Senior Meteorologist Janice Dean argues New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was ‘never called to task’ by the media, says families who have lost loved ones ‘want answers and accountability.’

One thing I’ve learned over the last nine months covering New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo is that he does not do something if it doesn’t somehow benefit him.

There are many examples of this:

The poster with the cartoon COVID mountain he sold depicting the decline in the number of COVID cases in New York. He claimed he helped flatten the curve this summer. But the "curve" is now turning into a spike and the rise in the number of COVID cases is creating a second mountain.

Then there was his New York Times bestselling "leadership" book, "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic" which he wrote in 2020 and then promoted in October.

There was also the Emmy award he was given this year for best performance as a governor in a pandemic and finally his birthday celebration with celebrity pals. It was a virtual party you could only join by writing a $1,000 check made out to…  Andrew Cuomo’s reelection campaign.

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Last month, Mr. Self-Promotion announced he wanted to attend the Buffalo Bills playoff game on Saturday, January 9. Apparently, the governor is also a big Bills fan.

The game is a very big deal since it will be the team’s first home playoff game since 1996. And despite not allowing fans to attend a football game at any point during the season due to the pandemic, the governor wanted to go. So it shall happen.

During the week of Christmas, Cuomo casually mentioned during a briefing that he was working on a plan to reopen Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, New York for just one game.

When asked about this possibility during a press conference, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz seemed perturbed by reporters’ questions, saying to fans who wanted to go the game "need to get your priorities straight!"

 "If we can get fans in the stadium, great, but our priority should be on reducing the number of cases and deaths in our communities. I announced 60 people died unfortunately in the last few days and most of the questions have been about the Bills!" said Poloncarz.

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As you might imagine, Poloncarz was "taken by surprise" by the governor’s announcement suddenly that the stadium would be reopened for his truly. And although it would’ve been very brave for him to scold the governor like he did Bills fans for wanting to attend the game, he quickly changed his tune and said:

"It's getting real close. We have to have a decision by midweek next week just so we know what we have to do for staffing and security purposes, and working with the other agencies we work with, state and federal, to ensure that it's a safe and secure environment for our fans."

Cuomo also announced just before Christmas that Santa was going to be "very good to me. I can tell. I worked hard this year."

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On December 30th, the governor announced that he was going to open up Bill Stadium to over 6,700 fans for the first playoff game of the NFL season.

A gleeful Cuomo told Bills owners Kim and Terry Pegula, "I’m going to take my test, I’m going to be out there to watch the game with you, and we look forward to it." 

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The event was carefully thought out and planned -- some might argue that the governor spent more time organizing his Bills game than he did on any of the reopening plans for small businesses and restaurants that have had to close their doors because of his executive lockdown orders. 

There were rapid tests, contract tracing and socially distanced seating all in the works for the big game.

But wait, there’s more. If you were willing to spring for a really fancy ticket you could purchase and eat food without your "New York tough" mask on.

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Word about Bills Stadium opening spread like wildfire (like COVID did in nursing homes in New York in the spring) and fans were raising their concerns and their voices.

Admittedly, I was pretty angry too. I jumped on Twitter and wrote: 

Dear @BuffaloBills,

Since you’re going to allow over 6,700 fans into the stadium per @NYGovCuomo, and thousands of us never got to see our loved ones before they died, might I suggest every person wear a jersey with the name of a senior who died in a New York State nursing home? That way, @NYGovCuomo will be reminded as he watches the game that we still don’t have the total number of seniors that died and he still has to answer for the over 6,000 Covid patients he ordered into nursing homes. Thanks for your consideration. Good luck.

Many people including die-hard Bills fans agreed with me and said they didn’t want to governor coming anywhere near their stadium. 

Jeffrey Dorenzo even started an online petition and wrote:

"So Cuomo is going to attend our playoff game after telling us that we can only attend at less than 10% capacity? If he thinks he has more right to a seat in that stadium over people who have waited over 20 years for this opportunity, then people better be there to protest his entry," Dorenzo said. "This is OUR team! This is OUR home. We don’t want you here."

Over 40,000 fans signed the petition.  And because I’m a silver lining type of gal, I admitted on social media that if King Cuomo was going to attend the game, then I was hoping he’d get a big New York welcome (in boos) when he was shown with his New York tough mask on the big stadium Jumbotron.

But guess what happened next?

Suddenly, as that on-line petition went viral, Mr. "Big Bills Fan" Cuomo announced he had better things to do than go to a playoff game.  He had an….um….speech he had to work on. 

Yeah.  That’s it.  But rest assured, he would donate his ticket to a first responder.

Here’s what I want to say to the governor:

You don’t fool me or thousands of other New Yorkers. 

You’re anything but tough.

Be honest. You knew you weren’t wanted anywhere near that stadium, and wanted to save face. Tens of thousands voted to keep you away from the game.

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Now, Cuomo is a no show.

And maybe the next time people go to vote, it will be to finally replace you in office.

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