James to oversee probe
Governor apologizes for being “insensitive”
Albany Less than 24 hours after a second set of sexual harassment allegations were leveled against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, the governor’s office late Sunday afternoon released a statement in which he apologized for conduct that “may have been insensitive or too personal,” and acknowledged that “some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation.”
Cuomo said he was issuing the statement to address questions that have been raised “about some of my past interactions with people in the office.” In the past week, two female former staffers have come forward with claims of inappropriate conduct by the governor.
“I never intended to offend anyone or cause any harm,” he said. “I spend most of my life at work and colleagues are often also personal friends. At work sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny. I do, on occasion, tease people in what I think is a good-natured way . ... I have teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not getting married. I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.
“I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.
“To be clear I never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to,” he said.
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, D-brooklyn, said in a series of tweets that Cuomo’s explanation was “not OK for me.”
“I have 11 staff members; 10 women. We have an intense, but friendly and fun workplace,” the lawmaker wrote. “... I would never ask them inappropriate questions about personal life and relationships that make them uncomfortable.”
Sonia Ossorio, president of the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, said she found Cuomo’s statement to be lacking in specificity about the conduct the governor was apologizing for.
Ossorio, who has worked with Cuomo on issues for years, said the advocacy community was “heartbroken” by the allegations against a governor they had counted as an ally. “It’s been a tough number of days for many of us,” she said.
The statement came after Cuomo finally acquiesced Sunday to allow state Attorney General Leticia James to use subpoena power to have an independent attorney investigate the sexual harassment allegations made against him by two former female employees. Both alleged victims have said the governor made them feel uncomfortable on multiple occasions and made inappropriate comments, with one saying the governor kissed her on the mouth when they were alone in an office without her consent.
Last week, Cuomo strongly denied aspects of the account of Lindsey Boylan, a former staffer at Empire State Development and adviser to Cuomo, that she made in an online essay published Wednesday. Boylan alleged the governor, while on a plane together with other staffers in 2017, said she and he should play strip poker together.
A statement issued by Cuomo’s office Wednesday afternoon after the essay was published said four former administration members — all of whom were aboard flights with the governor and Boylan in October 2017 — said they never overheard the conversation that she described. “We were on each of these October flights and this conversation did not happen,” their statement read.
Boylan also alleged that Cuomo had touched her lower back, arms and legs before, and had kissed her on the mouth during an unwanted encounter when they were in his New York City office in 2018. Boylan is currently running for Manhattan borough president.
On Saturday, the New York Times published an account from 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett, who said the 63-year-old governor asked about her sex life, wondered if she had slept with older men and told her he would be interested in relationships with women in their 20s. She described to a reporter that the time Cuomo spent discussing her career with her last year in retrospect felt like he was “grooming ” her for the later conversations that allegedly were laced with sexual innuendo. Bennett, who worked as an executive assistant and health policy adviser during the pandemic, said she was quickly moved to another job after recounting the alleged inappropriate comments to Cuomo’s chief of staff. She no longer works for the state.
Cuomo on Saturday evening said in regards to Bennett’s allegations that “I never made advances toward Ms. Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate.” He did not explicitly deny taking part in the conversations she described.
Cuomo’s Sunday statement ended by saying his office “has heard anecdotally that some people have reached out to Ms. Bennett to express displeasure about her coming forward. My message to anyone doing that is you have misjudged what matters to me and my administration and you should stop now — period.”