RALEIGH — North Carolina Republican Sen. Ted Budd led a letter opposing President Joe Biden’s apparent pick for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, calling his choice “unfit.”
“Dr. Mandy Cohen is unfit for the position,” wrote Budd and the other lawmakers. “Dr. Cohen has politicized science, disregarded civil liberties, and spread misinformation about the efficacy and necessity of COVID vaccinations and the necessity of masks, during her time as the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. She also has a history of engaging in partisan left-wing politics.”
Earlier this month the Washington Post reported that Biden was considering former N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy Cohen to replace outgoing Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky.
The June 13 letter to Biden was signed by six U.S. Senators and 22 House members, including Rep. Dan Bishop (NC-08).
The letter cites Cohen as a “proponent of unnecessary, unscientific COVID restrictions on school children,” and quotes her statement from July 2021 that “Schools with students in K-8th grade should require all children and staff to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.” The lawmakers also point out she threatened legal action against school districts that didn’t comply with mask mandates.
Cohen’s recent admission that she relied on opinions of what other states were doing over scientific data was also raised in the letter.
“For instance, she recounted a conversation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services in Massachusetts, the person whom Dr. Cohen claimed she “called the most” for advice on COVID policy: “I’d be like, so when are you going to think about lightening up on masks? [she’d be like] ‘Next Monday’ and I’d be like ‘Okay! Next Monday’,” states the letter, which goes on to “further illustrate the point” by referring to Cohen donning a mask during 2020 with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s face on it.
The Budd-led letter also criticized Cohen for having an “extensive history” of partisan political activity that included campaigning for Democrats and “supporting radical, left-wing policies.” Examples given in the letter included serving as National Outreach Director for the partisan group “Doctors for Obama,” later known as “Doctors for America,” in 2009, as well as participating in a “White Coat Rally” at the White House in support of Obamacare.
The letter also accuses Cohen of hosting fundraisers for Democrats running for various offices “as recently as August 2022.”
“Given her strong affiliation with the Democrat Party and the COVID-19 lockdowns, it will be difficult for the American people to trust Dr. Cohen to run the CDC as a nonpartisan actor who makes objective decisions rooted in scientific data, and not in political expediency. Therefore, we urge you to reverse course on Dr. Cohen’s reported appointment to the Director of the CDC,” the Budd-led letter says in closing.
Cohen along with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper held near-daily virtual press briefings during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. She remained secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services up through December 2021.
After her resignation, Cohen went to work in the private sector for Aledade, a company that describes itself as a “leading physician enablement company helping independent practices, health centers, and clinics deliver better care to their patients and thrive in value-based care.”
North State Journal reached out to Aledade’s press office and Cohen for comment at the time the Washington Post broke the story she was Biden’s apparent choice for the CDC.
After the email to Cohen was returned with a message stating “Message bounced due to organizational settings,” a response was received from a third party, Crosscut Strategies, a “strategic communications firm helping venture-backed startups, Fortune 500 companies, and mission-driven visionaries grow, thrive, and succeed.”
“Neither the company nor Dr. Cohen have a comment,” Ken Baer, CEO and co-founder of Crosscut Strategies, wrote in an email response to North State Journal.
No statement on Cohen’s possible pick for the CDC spot has been issued by Cooper or Democrat Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general who is running for governor in 2024.
North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell, a Republican candidate for the 2024 governor’s race, did weigh in on the news.
“Pray for our country. As a member of the NC Council of State, my observation is that the actions of Dr. Mandy Cohen during Covid resulted in more disease, death, poverty, and illiteracy. As NC Governor, I would be hard-pressed to ever follow her lead at CDC if chosen by the POTUS,” Folwell wrote in a June 2 tweet.
