Governor Cuomo has long portrayed himself as a model of ownership – a model of virtue, competence, leadership. However, now a totally different image of him is emerging: that of a bully, a liar and, it seems, a sexual harasser.
The latest accusation comes from his former assistant secretary for economic development, Lindsey Boylan, who is now running for the Manhattan district presidency.
In an essay of more than 1,700 words, she describes frightening details of how Cuomo looked at her from the start; went “out of his way” to touch her “lower back, arms and legs”; asked her to play strip poker while returning home on “her taxpayer-funded jet”; and blocked her from leaving her office and kissed her “on the lips” without warning.
Her article, which provided e-mail and text images to support her claims, corroborates the accusations she first made in December.
Cuomo’s abusive behavior was normal, she says. When he mentioned strip poker, “I should have been shocked,” says Boylan, “but I wasn’t.” The government “created a culture within its administration where sexual harassment and bullying are so widespread” that it is “expected”.
The governor, she adds, uses “intimidation” to silence critics. Another woman told her that she was also “afraid of what would happen” if she rejected his advances. When Boylan first presented his accusations in December, someone from Team Cuomo leaked parts of his confidential personal file “in an effort to defame me”.
Yes, they are all allegations; Cuomo has every right to tell his version of the story. On the other hand, when Christine Blasey Ford accused then-judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, the governor insisted that everyone believe her – and that Kavanaugh test the lie detector.
Okay, Governor: Take a lie detector test.
Furthermore, the pattern here is unmistakable: Congressman Ron Kim, a Democrat, says Cuomo called him at home and threatened to “destroy him” if he did not retract his accusations against the governor for crimes in the nursing home. At the time, the government started bringing charges against Kim days later.
Others also spoke out: in this week’s Post, Morgan Pehme revealed how Cuomo “terrified” him in an attempt to suppress a story that was supposed to appear at City & State, where Pehme was an editor. Karen Hinton, another former Cuomo advisor, criticizes Cuomo’s “penis policy”. Blasio’s mayor calls Kim’s account “classic Cuomo”, adding that he knows “many people” who have suffered similar abuses.
Team Cuomo’s order to send contagious COVID patients to nursing homes, fueling unnecessary deaths, is certainly enough to question his competent “leader” pose. All the more reason to accuse.