GOV’S KISS OF BLECH!
Upstate flood mom: He ‘manhandled’ me
A married mother of three alleged on Monday that Gov. Cuomo grabbed, “manhandled” and forcibly kissed her while touring her flood-damaged upstate home in 2017 — the latest woman to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
“The whole thing was so strange and inappropriate and still makes me nervous and afraid because of his power and position,” Sherry Vill, 55, said at an afternoon briefing alongside lawyer Gloria Allred. “I am still afraid of him, but I am no longer willing to remain silent.”
The alleged encounter occurred in May 2017, while Cuomo was touring Greece, NY, which had recently been ravaged by floods.
Vill, whose house was among those damaged, invited Cuomo into her home and expressed dismay at its condition.
“That’s when the governor looked at me, approached me, took my hand and pulled me to him,” Vill said.
“He leaned down over me and kissed my cheek. I was holding my small dog in my arms, and I thought he was going to pet my dog.
“But instead he went to squeeze between the dog and mine and kiss me on the other cheek in what I felt was a highly sexual manner.”
Cuomo tried to explain the contact as a cultural norm, she said.
“He said, ‘That’s what Italians do, kiss both cheeks,’ ” Vill recalled.
“I am Italian, and in my family, family members kiss,” Vill said. “Strangers do not kiss.”
On his way out, Cuomo “stopped, he turned to me and said, ‘You are beautiful,’ ” according to Vill.
“That made me feel even more uncomfortable,” Vill said. “I felt as though he was coming on to me in my own home.”
Cuomo again allegedly grabbed Vill’s face and kissed her on the cheek outside the home — in front of her son, who was recording the visit and caught an image of the contact, shown at the briefing.
“I felt like I was being manhandled,” Vill said. “I felt he was acting in a highly flirtatious and inappropriate manner, especially in front of my family and neighbors.”
Vill noted that Cuomo is approximately 6 feet tall, while she stands only about 5 feet.
“He towered over me,” she said.
“There was nothing I could do.”
“I know the difference between an innocent gesture and a sexual one,” she continued. “I never felt as uncomfortable as I did the day that Gov. Cuomo came to my home.”
Cuomo’s lawyer, Rita Glavin, issued a statement arguing that the governor often kisses and embraces men and women in what’s meant to be a comforting gesture.
“During times of crisis, the governor has frequently sought to comfort New Yorkers with hugs and kisses,” Glavin said. “As I have said before, the governor has greeted both men and women with hugs, a kiss on the cheek, forehead or hand for the past 40 years.” Glavin’s statement included a link to Cuomo’s Flickr account with photos from the Greece trip, but just one of the 38 shots in the album shows Cuomo kissing someone.
Days after the interaction, a member of the governor’s staff left Vill a voicemail asking if she would like to attend an event with the governor, Vill said.
“Notably, [the staffer] did not say ‘my husband and I,’ or ‘my family and I,’ ” Vill recalled. “Only specifically me.”
She did not respond to the call.
Vill also later received a signed letter from the governor, sent along with two photographs of him shaking her hand inside the home.
The letter, too, was addressed specifically to her, although Cuomo had also met her husband and son.
Glavin’s statement noted that more than 30 people Cuomo visited in Greece received “nearly identical” letters from his office, and that it’s not uncommon for the governor to invite constituents to relevant public events.
Allred said that after the briefing, she would reach out to state Attorney General Letitia James to inform her that Vill was willing to cooperate with her ongoing investigation.
But Allred said that at this time, she did not intend to reach out to the state Assembly about its own ongoing investigation, or file a civil suit against the governor.
Vill joins nine women — most of them current or former Cuomo staffers — who have accused the governor of sexual harassment or misconduct since late February.
While Cuomo has admitted to and apologized for inappropriate workplace remarks, he has denied touching anyone inappropriately.