Aide to gov accuser quits in ‘final straw’
Lindsey Boylan’s accusation that Gov. Cuomo sexually harassed her appears to have had an unintended consequence.
Her communications consultant has left Boylan’s campaign for Manhattan borough president, and, according to a source, Boylan’s handling of the accusations against Cuomo was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Boylan took to Twitter last week to blast the governor, tweeting last Sunday that Cuomo “sexually harassed me for years.”
“Many saw it, and watched,” she wrote at the time. “I could never anticipate what to expect: would I be grilled on my work (which was very good) or harassed about my looks. Or would it be both in the same conversation? This was the way for years.”
After making the shocking allegation, less than an hour later Boylan tweeted that she had “no interest in talking to journalists” about the matter.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Boylan and communications consultant Lupe Todd-Medina were “not a good fit” before the Cuomo situation erupted on social media.
“The Cuomo incident was the final straw,” the source said.
Todd-Medina did not return a call.
Cuomo denied the accusation last Monday. “I fought for and I believe a woman has the right to come forward and express her opinion and express issues and concerns that she has,” Cuomo said at the time. “But it’s just not true.”
Boylan, who recently lost a bid to topple Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) from his seat in the House of Representatives, served as deputy secretary for economic development under Cuomo and as his special adviser from 2015 until 2018, her LinkedIn page shows.
Personnel records from her time with Team Cuomo reveal that Boylan left her post under an administrative cloud.
The records, which are dated September 2018 and obtained by the Daily News, show that at least two state officials requested Boylan be “removed” from the payroll and the office for requesting the resignation of an employee without authorization and for ordering around colleagues who did not report to her.
“Additional concerns” raised in the records included her treatment of three African-American women, who reported that Boylan treated them “like children” and bullied them.
“One employee left work today after hearing that L. Boylan had requested that she provide her with administrative support,” the report states. “This same employee took time off earlier in the year to deal with health effects related to her interactions with L. Boylan.”
In a subsequent memo that’s dated Sept. 26, 2018, and outlines Boylan’s resignation, Julia Pinover Kupiec, a Cuomo administration ethics officer, wrote that Boylan admitted that she “did not follow protocol” in asking for her subordinate to be reassigned.
Boylan’s campaign did not immediately respond to messages.
In a previous tweet, Boylan described working for Cuomo as the “most toxic team environment.”
“I tried to quit three times before it stuck,” she wrote. “That environment is beyond toxic.”