SUNY big in peril for sliming Cuo accuser
There’s blood in the water for another ally of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the heels of CNN’s firing of his brother Chris.
A growing bipartisan chorus of state politicians is demanding that Andrew Cuomo’s handpicked SUNY chancellor, James Malatras, either resign or get the boot over newly surfaced texts that show him trashing one of the disgraced exgov’s sex-harass accusers.
“I believe he should resign or be terminated by the SUNY board,” state Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx), who serves on Albany’s higher-education panel, told The Post.
“The only reason he got that gig was because he was a toxic enabler of the departed [Cuomo],’’ Rivera said of Malatras, who is accused of bashing Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to publicly accuse Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, in 2019 while president of the Rockefeller Institute.
Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), also a member of the education panel, tweeted, “SUNY trustees must oust Jim Malatras whose only road to becoming chancellor last year was being Andrew Cuomo henchman.”
Malatras, who once served as the former governor’s state operations director, assumed the helm of the massive State University of New York system in 2020. He earns around $450,000 annually.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani asserted that the Boylan texts were just the “last straw” for Malatras — citing the SUNY president’s involvement with editing the state Health Department nursing home report that lowballed coronavirus deaths as well as editing Cuomo’s $5.1 million COVID memoir.
Malatras’ text messages targeting Boylan were included in a document dump by state Attorney General Letitia James’ office last week involving the sexual-harassment probe of Andrew Cuomo.
The newly released documents proved damning to Chris Cuomo and included texts by Malatras to Cuomo aides.
“Malatras to Boylan: Go f **k yourself,” Malatras wrote in one text.
The SUNY chief added in another text, “Let’s release some of her cray emails!”
Malatras also forwarded Cuomo aides a picture of a nuclear explosion with the word “kaboom” while discussing Boylan.
A year later, the Cuomo camp released portions of Boylan’s personnel file to try to undercut her harassment claims.
Cuomo resigned as governor in August amid a slew of sexual-misconduct complaints, including Boylan’s. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Malatras issued an apology late Friday over the texts, saying, “My words were inappropriate, disrespectful and wrong.’’
But many lawmakers weren’t buying it.
State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx), who previously served briefly with Malatras in the Governor’s Office, said, “Don’t believe Chancellor Jim Malatras, who claims he was acting out of character by discrediting the women harassed by Cuomo.
“He never respected women.” Biaggi said Malatras mocked a suggestion in 2017 of having “New York being the first state to address access to menstrual products . . . in schools.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Hochul has refused to say whether she supports Malatras or his removal.
“Governor Hochul committed to New Yorkers that no one who was mentioned in the Attorney General’s investigation performing inappropriate conduct that contributed to a culture of harassment would be a member of her Executive Chamber, and she has delivered on that promise,” Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays said in response to questions from The Post.
Technically, Cuomo appointees on the SUNY Board hired Malatras.
They issued a statement Friday night sticking with him. SUNY board chairwoman Merryl Tisch said keeping Malatras as chancellor is in the best interests of the 64campus public university system.
“Jim gave a full-throated apology which I thought was sincere,” Tisch said. “I hope she [Boylan] can find [it] in her heart to accept his apology.”