Third accuser fuels calls for Cuomo’s resignation
He plans to create 2 10-player teams
NEW YORK — Calls for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation intensified late Monday after a third woman accused him of offensive behavior, saying he’d touched her face and back, and asked to kiss her moments after they met at a wedding reception.
Anna Ruch told The New York Times late Monday that she removed the Democratic governor’s hand from her back, but he said she seemed “aggressive,” promptly put his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her.
“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” Ruch, now 33, told the Times, which published a photo of the encounter showing the governor’s hands on her face. “I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment.”
An email seeking comment was sent to Ruch’s photography business. An email was also sent to Cuomo’s administration for comment.
The account from Ruch, who was a photographer at the White House during President Barack Obama’s second term, made her the second woman to accuse Cuomo of touching her without permission.
“The pattern of sexual harassment and predatory behavior by Governor Cuomo is unacceptable, and I believe the women coming forward,” New York City Councilman Antonio Reynoso tweeted in comments echoed elsewhere. “Governor Cuomo must resign.”
It could be a bridge, Brandon Mason said.
His idea is this: create a prep basketball academy in Albuquerque for post-graduate high school boys, and facilitate for them exposure to college recruiters through highvisibility competition against similar teams from neighboring states.
“What’s going on right now with seniors, a lot of scholarships will be off the table,” said Mason. “A lot of those opportunities will be gone.”
Mason, a former New Mexico State player and former Aggies and University of New Mexico assistant coach, is looking to create something similar to what occurs in Phoenix, where elite prep academies often generate huge interest in players.
“Kids will be able to play at the highest level,” Mason said.
Just last year, Deraje Agbaosi from Eldorado and Tristan Moore from La Cueva decided to attend a prep school in Arizona.
“I’m a New Mexico guy,” Mason said. “Everything I do is for New Mexico kids.”
Mason plans to create two, 10-person teams — name(s) to be determined — that are traveling in nature. He said it
would be an eight-month season with roughly 30 (so far) road games starting later this year against competition from Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California. Many of the logistics are still being worked out.
“It at least buys them another year of opportunity to get to another level,” Mason said, adding, “(This will) help them get film, games on TV or online. It’ll be run exactly like a Division I program is run. Weights, practice every day, conditioning. They’ll be able to learn how a D-1 program is run.”
Mason said he wasn’t yet ready to talk about the financial structure of the academy or costs players will incur.
Players will be able to begin earning their college degrees even as they compete; if they take 11 or fewer college credits, which is considered parttime, they won’t lose future playing eligibility in college, Mason said.
The site of the future academy is planned near St. Pius X High School on the West Side. Local businessman Josh Skarsgard is planning to open a 45,000-square-foot multi-sport facility called the “Q Sports Arena” sometime in 2021.
It would include four, high schoolsized basketball courts.