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Ex-aide offers new details on Cuomo
She says the New York governor once kissed her on the lips without consent and suggested they play strip poker.
ALBANY, N.Y. — A former member of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration who previously accused him of sexual harassment offered new details Wednesday, saying he once kissed her on the lips without consent after a private meeting.
Lindsey Boylan said that during her more than three years working as an economic adviser in the administration, Cuomo “would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs,” compared her to one of his rumored ex-girlfriends and once joked they should play strip poker.
Boylan, a Democrat running for Manhattan borough president, wrote in a post on the website Medium that the kiss happened after she gave Cuomo a one-on-one briefing on economic and infrastructure projects in his New York City office.
“As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. I was in shock, but I kept walking,” she said. “The idea that someone might think I held my high-ranking position because of the Governor’s ‘crush’ on me was more demeaning than the kiss itself.”
She confirmed that she had posted the blog, but did not respond to a request to comment further.
Boylan, a former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor, tweeted in December that Cuomo sexually harassed her, but she didn’t reveal details and declined interview requests.
At the time, Cuomo denied that he did anything inappropriate.
“Look, 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 told reporters. “But it’s just not true.”
Cuomo’s spokesperson, Caitlin Girouard, said Wednesday that all of Boylan’s “claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false.”
Boylan said she initially spoke up about her experiences because of reports Cuomo was being considered as President Joe Biden’s pick for attorney general.
She decided to elaborate, she wrote, because she hoped it would empower other women to come forward. The more detailed account of her allegations against Cuomo comes amid mounting criticism about the work culture around the three-term governor and how he wields his power.
Boylan joined the administration in 2015 at Empire State Development, which runs the state’s economic development programs.
She said she first met Cuomo in person at an event at a Madison Square Garden in January 2016.
“My boss soon informed me that the Governor had a ‘crush’ on me,” Boylan said.
“It was an uncomfortable but all-too-familiar feeling: the struggle to be taken seriously by a powerful man who tied my worth to my body and my appearance.”
During an October 2017 jet flight, Boylan said, Cuomo quipped “let’s play strip poker” as they sat with a press aide and a state trooper.
She said she brushed it off with a joke, sarcastically saying, “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” but privately found the comment upsetting.
The governor’s office confirmed that Boylan flew with the governor on four occasions in October 2017, but released a statement from four people who were on those flights who said the joke about strip poker never happened.
Boylan claimed that besides her own experiences, the governor created a culture of pervasive sexual harassment.
“His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you, that you must be doing something right,” Boylan said. “He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences.”