New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters during a news conference at a COVID-19 pop-up vaccination site in William Reid Apartments in Brooklyn, New York City, U.S., January 23, 2021.
Mary Altaffer | Reuters
A former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo accused the governor of kissing her without her consent while she served as deputy secretary for economic development in 2018.
Lindsey Boylan, now a candidate for Manhattan borough president, released a more detailed account of her allegations against her former boss in a blog post on Wednesday. Boylan previously made public her accusations against the governor in December, though she did not go into detail about the specifics of his alleged harassment at the time.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cuomo said in December Boylan’s initial allegations were “not true.”
The new details emerged as Cuomo is fighting allegations of mishandling nursing home data and policies at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in New York last year.
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal probe into coronavirus-related nursing home deaths in the state. New York Attorney General Letitia James, Cuomo’s fellow Democrat, released a report last month saying the state had underreported Covid-19 deaths in nursing home by as much as 50%.
Cuomo’s behavior toward colleagues has seen renewed scrutiny after New York Assemblyman Ron Kim accused the governor of vowing to “destroy” him after Kim criticized Cuomo’s handling of nursing home outbreaks. Cuomo’s senior advisor denied that Kim’s allegation was true.
In her blog post Wednesday, Boylan referenced Kim’s accusations and expanded on her own, including screenshots of emails from her time working for the governor.
Boylan said after meeting the governor for the first time in 2016, her boss told her Cuomo had a “crush” on her. She said she later complained to friends that he “would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs.”
She also alleged Cuomo “made unflattering comments about the weight of female colleagues” and “ridiculed them about their romantic relationships and significant others.”
“I tried to excuse his behavior,” Boylan wrote. “I told myself ‘it’s only words.’ But that changed after a one-on-one briefing with the Governor to update him on economic and infrastructure projects. We were in his New York City office on Third Avenue. As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. I was in shock, but I kept walking.”
Boylan wrote that she was afraid a co-worker had seen the kiss and wrote, “The idea that someone might think I held my high-ranking position because of the Governor’s ‘crush’ on me was more demeaning than the kiss itself.”
Boylan said she announced her resignation in September 2018.
She also shared a screenshot of a 2016 email that appeared to be from Stephanie Benton, director of the governor’s offices, saying Cuomo suggested Boylan look up pictures of his rumored former girlfriend because “You could be sisters. Except you’re the better looking sister.”
She accused high-ranking women in Cuomo’s office of creating a culture that made the behavior by their boss “normalized,” calling out top aide Melissa DeRosa by name. She said two other women had reached out to her about their own experiences with the governor after she posted her original allegations online in December.
“One described how she lived in constant fear, scared of what would happen to her if she rejected the Governor’s advances. The other said she was instructed by the Governor to warn staff members who upset him that their jobs could be at risk. Both told me they are too afraid to speak out,” Boylan wrote.
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