New York Attorney General Letitia James and her investigators have been probing accusations that Governor Andrew Cuomo is a Big League sex harasser who inquires about the sexual past and dating lives of underlings, and when he’s really in the mood for action, fondles and kisses them.
Now, another woman has stepped forward to bring the number of accusers to six.
Even before the latest account from an unidentified woman appeared in the state capital’s Times Union, top Democrats were demanding that Cuomo resign.
Cuomo has refused, and so GOP legislators have prepared an impeachment resolution.
But that was before the account from Accuser No. 6 surfaced.
Monkeyshines in the Mansion
The latest account comes from an unidentified member of the staff in the governor’s manse. She says Cuomo touched her inappropriately “late last year.”
The details are thin, and the weakest of the six allegations so far, not least because the newspaper did not speak directly to the woman.
Yet the claim is credible because five women are on the record about the man now called Handsy Andy. He could be called Kissin’ Cuomo, too.
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“The alleged incident took place after the woman, a member of the governor’s Executive Chamber staff, had been summoned to the mansion to assist the governor with a work-related matter,” the newspaper reported. “The woman’s supervisors recently became aware of the allegation and alerted the governor’s counsel of it on Monday.”
During a conference call with reporters, Cuomo did not deny touching the woman, the newspaper reported, but he did repeat his claim that when Andrew Cuomo touches a woman, it’s never “inappropriate.” Misunderstood, maybe. But never “inappropriate.”
“First, I’m not aware of any other claim,” Cuomo told the reporters:
As I said last week, this is very simple: I never touched anyone inappropriately.… I never made any inappropriate advances … (and) no one ever told me at the time that I made them feel uncomfortable. Obviously, there are people who said after the fact they felt uncomfortable.
The problem for Cuomo is that no one believes him, the newspaper reported:
The new allegations by the sixth woman potentially undermine that statement by Cuomo, and are certain to intensify the pressure that many lawmakers — including fellow Democrats — are putting on him to resign. They include state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who on Sunday said Cuomo should step down due to a series of scandals, and Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, who stopped short of telling Cuomo to resign but questioned whether he can remain an effective leader.
One Democrat who agrees is longtime assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who has served in the Empire State’s legislature since the Nixon administration.
Tweeted Gottfried:
Multiple and growing credible allegations of sexual harassment and recent reports detailing the cover-up of the true COVID-19 death toll in nursing homes are extremely disturbing and make it clear that Gov. Cuomo is no longer the right governor for New York. It is clear that it is best for New York for Gov. Cuomo to resign.
The other five women who have accused Cuomo are Karen Hinton, Ana Liss, Lindsey Boylan, Charlotte Bennett, and Anna Ruch.
China Virus Coverup
The latest allegation comes just after Crown Publishing Group, a subsidiary of Random House, announced it had ceased publicizing and will not reprint Cuomo’s book of “leadership lessons” from his handling the China Virus pandemic.
The publisher dumped Cuomo, and even scratched the book from its website, because of reports that Cuomo and his aides undercounted virus-related deaths in a report published in July. The report said just more than 6,000 died. The real number exceeded 9,000.
Cuomo was angling for a book deal at the time. Just after the bogus report surfaced, he announced he would write it.
Crown published the braggadocio in October. The book sold just under 50,000 copies, which raises the obvious question of how Cuomo found that many people willing to waste their time and money on his boasting and bloviations.
The answer aside, Cuomo’s in trouble.
The Democrats say he simply can’t manage New York’s affairs because his credibility and reputation are gone. They might just take up the impeachment bill Republicans will offer given that Cuomo did say he won’t leave office unless he’s forced out.
If Cuomo changes his mind and resigns, or the legislature drags him out of the executive mansion kicking and screaming, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will take his place.
