Leading Polish Democrats remained silent on Thursday about allegations of sexual harassment against Governor Andrew Cuomo – although some have spoken openly about it in the past.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was among the elected officials who did not respond to requests for comment on claims made by former Cuomo aide Lindsey Boylan.
Gillibrand’s reluctance to weigh in on the escalation of the scandal came despite advocating a “zero tolerance” policy that helped force Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota to resign his Senate seat in 2017.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who also asked Franken to resign when he was a California Senate colleague, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and the generally talkative Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-The Bronx, Queens) they were also my mother after questions from The Post.
Former New York senator and failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did not respond to a similar request for comment, Fox News reported.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) issued a prepared statement in which she said: “All survivors of harassment and aggression deserve to be heard and … have their case thoroughly investigated.”
In contrast, it tweeted “#BelieveWomen” in support of Christine Blasey Ford during Senate confirmation hearings on Brett Kavanaugh’s successful 2018 appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, Boylan accused Cuomo of kissing her “on the mouth” without warning in 2018 and saying, “Let’s play strip” poker during a flight in October 2017 on his official state jet.
The allegations added details to the allegations she made for the first time in a series of tweets in December.
At that time, Cuomo denied the charges as “simply false”.
He did not personally address his latest allegations, but his press secretary, Caitlin Girouard, said on Wednesday: “As we said earlier, Boylan’s claims about inappropriate behavior are simply untrue.”
Girouard also released a joint statement from four current and past advisers – John Maggiore, Howard Zemsky, Dani Lever and Abbey Fashouer Collins – who she said joined with Cuomo for the October 2017 flights on which Boylan was also a passenger.
“We were on each of those flights in October and that conversation did not happen,” said the statement.