Metro

‘Impeach’ billboard vents fury over Gov. Cuomo nursing home scandal

Don’t get mad, get a billboard.

An Albany gun-store owner is venting his fury over Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home scandal with a giant highway sign calling for his impeachment.

“The purpose is to demand that he be held accountable for the mass deaths at the nursing homes,” Brian Olesen told The Post. “Our original message was ‘He lied, they died,’ but the billboard company rejected it.”

The stark message — the word “Impeach!” in blood-red capital letters, next to a photo of the embattled governor — has been flashing on an electronic billboard along Interstate 787 just north of the state capital since Tuesday, Olesen said.

“I can’t believe nobody defended these people that passed away and their families,” he said. “Where were our elected officials? How did they let this go on?”

The billboard’s launch, sparked by a Cuomo aide’s admission that he had deliberately withheld the total number of nursing home residents killed by COVID-19, preceded the publication of a former staffer’s sexual harassment allegations against the governor this week.

“Combined with these sexual allegations, I think people in this state have had it,” Olesen said. “And people are going to take the initiative now to seek this guy’s removal.”

Cars driving past the Gov. Cuomo impeachment billboard on I-787 in Albany.
Cars driving past the Gov. Cuomo impeachment billboard on I-787 in Albany. Hans Pennink

His store, American Shooter Supply, has been paying the sign’s $8,500 monthly tab.

“I had customers calling up saying, ‘You obviously don’t want to stay in business,'” Olesen said. “Look at what happened to anyone with state liquor license who spoke up about the lockdowns.

“I told them, I do want to stay in business, but enough’s enough,” he said. “When you feel this huge frustration you have to stand up.”