Former Cuomo aide offers more details accusing governor of sexual harassment

(The Center Square) – A former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave details Wednesday surrounding a claim he sexually harassed her during her tenure with the administration, prompting legislative leaders to issue statements of concern about the allegations.

Lindsey Boylan published her story on the website Medium. The former chief of staff for Empire State Development said he touched her inappropriately several times. In addition, she claimed he kissed her on the lips after a one-on-one meeting she had with him in his New York City office.

Boylan, who is running for Manhattan borough president this year, said Cuomo nurtured a culture where harassment was “not only condoned but expected.” She also said Cuomo utilized bully tactics, too.

“His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you, that you must be doing something right,” she wrote. “He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences.”

She added that another Cuomo staffer disclosed her experience, and that hearing he was being considered back in December as a possible Attorney General candidate in the Biden administration led her to initially disclose her story in a series of tweets then.

Boylan’s detailed claims come on the heels of allegations the Cuomo administration mishandled nursing home policies that exposed more residents to the virus and that the administration then sought to downplay the number of deaths attributable to nursing homes in its reports.

Federal officials are investigating the nursing home claims.

In her story, she also referenced the bullying that Assemblyman Ron Kim, D-Queens, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke about in their dealings with the governor. Kim was one of the first Democrats to raise concerns about Cuomo’s handling of nursing home residents.

“I’m compelled to tell my story because no woman should feel forced to hide their experiences of workplace intimidation, harassment and humiliation – not by the Governor or anyone else,” she wrote.

Early Wednesday afternoon, a Cuomo spokesperson issued a denial to Boylan’s claims. The administration’s statement zeroed in on a plane trip in October 2017, when Boylan said Cuomo supposedly made an offhand comment about strip poker on a flight back from a western New York trip.

In the denial, Cuomo press secretary Caitlin Girouard said there was no trip when Boylan was just with a press aide and a state trooper.

“As we said before, Ms. Boylan’s claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false,” Girouard said.

Still, Boylan’s post was enough for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate President Andrea Stewart-Cousins to issue statements.

“These are serious allegations,” Heastie, D-Bronx said. “Harassment in the workplace of any kind should not be tolerated.”

Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, said she found Boylan’s claims “deeply disturbing.”

“Clearly, there is no place for this type of behavior in the workplace or anywhere else,” she said.

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