New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is denying accusations this week that he used his position to belittle and intimidate critics and opponents, sexually harass an aide and suggest that she “play strip poker”.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, what do some of the country’s leading liberal women have to say on the subject?
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a staunch defender of women’s rights who attacked former Senate colleague Al Franken, D-Minn., When he was deposed after his own allegations of misconduct in 2018, did not respond to Fox News’ requests for comment your home – state governor.
AS A CHARGE OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT FOR OLD HELP
“There is no prize for those who try to hold a powerful man who is good at his daily work,” Gillibrand, DN.Y., told a reporter in 2019, adding that one of Franken’s accusers was an employee. “But we must have the courage to do that anyway.”
Cuomo faced a storm of accusations this week of using his political influence to intimidate critics and officials after last week’s explosion of a cover-up scandal surrounding the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in New York’s nursing homes.
Lindsey Boylan attends the 9th Annual Elly Award, organized by the Women’s Forum of New York, on June 17, 2019, in New York City. (Mike Coppola / Getty Images for Women’s Forum of New York)
(Getty Images)
Cuomo’s office denied allegations of harassment by former aide Lindsey Boylan.
But Cuomo was also accused by former journalist Morgan Pehme of threatening his career, and his former spokesman Karen Hinton accused Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio of using “gender domination” to assert power over women. women.
The Sexual Harassment Working Group called for Cuomo’s “immediate independent investigation”.
The group was founded by seven former New York state legislature officials in response to sexual harassment by lawmakers and their advisers in Albany, the state capital.
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“There should be an immediate independent investigation into Governor Cuomo’s behavior in the workplace, conducted by an entity over which Cuomo has no appointment or supervisory powers,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday.
“For those who are sitting with their own trauma, in any workplace, many of whom certainly felt it closer to the surface in the past week, know this: We see you, even if you feel you need to hide. even if you feel speechless, “added the group.
Cuomo was also accused of intimidation by de Blasio and state deputy Ron Kim, who has emerged as an important Democratic critic of the way Cuomo deals with asylums.
“He abused his powers,” said Kim on ABC’s “The View” last week. “And abusers are cowards.”
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The White House did not respond to requests for comment from Vice President Kamala Harris, who said during the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign that she believed in women who accused then rival Joe Biden of inappropriate touches.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Cuomo’s longtime ally, did not respond to Fox News’s request for comment. Neither mayor Nancy Pelosi.
New York Democratic MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who last week joined critics of the Cuomo Republican Party to call for an investigation into the nursing home crisis, did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News.
The National Organization for Women also remained silent.
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Zephyr Teachout, a lawyer who mounted a failed primary effort against Cuomo in 2014, called for an investigation – but she also said that state prosecutors “had no serious investigative agency” to handle such an investigation.
Congresswoman Patricia Fahy, an Albany Democrat, issued a statement on Wednesday demanding “an independent and timely investigation”.