QUIT CALLS VS NY GOV INTENSIFY
NEW YORK: Calls for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign has intensified after a third accuser saying Cuomo made physical advances on her emerged on Monday (Tuesday in Manila).
Anna Ruch told The New York Times late Monday that she removed the Democratic governor’s hand from her back, but he said she seemed “aggressive,” promptly put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her.
“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” Ruch, now 33, told the Times, which published a photo of the encounter showing the governor’s hands on her face. “I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment.”
An email seeking comment was sent to Ruch’s photography business. Her social media accounts were private. An email was also sent to Cuomo’s administration for comment.
The account from Ruch, who worked as a photographer at the White House during Barack Obama’s second residential term, made her the second woman to accuse Cuomo of touching her without permission, and fueled broader calls for Cuomo to step down, including from some in his own party.
“The pattern of sexual harassment and predatory behavior by Governor Cuomo is unacceptable, and I believe the women coming forward,” New York City Councilman Antonio Reynoso tweeted in comments echoed elsewhere. “Governor Cuomo must resign.”
The latest accusation follows sexual harassment allegations against the governor from two women who had worked for his administration, accounts that led New York’s independently elected attorney general to say she was moving ahead with an investigation of his conduct.
Attorney General Letitia James received a letter Monday from Cuomo’s office authorizing her to take charge of the probe after a weekend of wrangling over who should investigate.
The letter enables James, also a Democrat, to deputize an outside law firm to conduct an inquiry with full subpoena power. The findings will be disclosed in a public report, the letter said.
Cuomo has maintained he had never inappropriately touched or propositioned anyone.
The former aide, Charlotte Bennett, rejected Cuomo’s attempted apology in which he excused his behavior as “playful,” saying Monday that the governor had “refused to acknowledge or take responsibility for his predatory behavior.”
Bennett, who alleges Cuomo quizzed her about her sex life and asked whether she would be open to a relationship with an older man, tweeted that “abusers — particularly those with tremendous amounts of power — are often repeat offenders who engage in manipulative tactics to diminish allegations, blame victims, deny wrongdoing and escape consequences.”
After news of Ruch’s account broke, Bennett tweeted to her: “His inappropriate and aggressive behavior cannot be justified or normalized. Thank you for your courage and strength.”
Beijing isn’t ready to follow the United States in allowing Boeing’s 737 Max back into the air after a pair of fatal crashes two years ago.
China was the first country to ground the 737 Max in 2019 after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed a total of 346 people. American regulators approved the plane in November to resume commercial flights after Boeing made technical changes and a new training regime was put into place for pilots.
“Major safety concerns” raised by Chinese regulators have not been fully resolved, said Dong Zhiyi, deputy administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, at a news conference.
Design changes must pass approval for airworthiness, pilots must receive “effective flight training” and conclusions of investigations into the two crashes must be clear, Dong said.
“The technical review has not yet entered the certification and flight test stage,” Dong said Monday. He gave no timeline for when that might happen.
China is, along with North America and Europe, one of the biggest markets for Boeing Co. and its European rival Airbus. That makes the 737 Max’s approval by Beijing important for its commercial success.
Crash investigators blamed antistall software that countered the plane’s tendency to tilt nose-up because of the size and placement of the engines. That software pushed the nose down repeatedly, overcoming the pilots’ struggles to regain control. In each case, a single faulty sensor triggered the nose-down pitch.