New York Governor Andrew Cuomo denies allegations that he used his position to belittle and bully critics and opponents, sexually harass an assistant and suggest she ‘play strip poker’.
What do some of the country’s leading liberal women have to say about the issue in the wake of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment?
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, an outspoken advocate for women’s rights who defeated former Senate colleague Al Franken, D-Minn. -state governor.
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“There is no price for someone who wants to hold a powerful man who is good at his day job responsible,” Gillibrand, DN.Y., told a reporter in 2019, adding that one of Franken’s accused a staff member was. “But we must have the courage to do it anyway.”
Cuomo faced a storm of accusations this week that he used his political influence to bully critics and staff, following the explosion last week of a cover-up scandal surrounding the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in New York nursing homes .
Lindsey Boylan attends the 17th annual Elly Awards presented by the Women’s Forum of New York on June 17, 2019 in New York City. (Mike Coppola / Getty Images for the New York Women’s Forum)
(Getty Images)
Cuomo’s office has denied allegations of harassment by former assistant Lindsey Boylan.
But Cuomo was also accused by former journalist Morgan Pehme of threatening his career, and his former spokeswoman Karen Hinton accused both Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio of using ‘gender domination’ to exercise power over women.
The Working Group on Sexual Harassment called for an immediate independent inquiry into Cuomo.
The group was formed by seven former New York State staff members in response to sexual harassment by lawmakers and their assistants in Albany, the state capital.
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“An independent inquiry into Governor Cuomo’s workplace should be immediately launched, conducted by an entity over which Cuomo has no appointment or supervisory authority,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Those out there who are sitting with their own trauma, in any workplace, many of whom have certainly felt closer to the surface over the past week, know this: we see you, even if you feel you have to hide. We hear you, al you feel voiceless, ‘the group added.
Cuomo is also accused of bullying by de Blasio and state legislator Ron Kim, who has emerged as a leading democratic critic of Cuomo’s handling of the nursing homes.
“He abused his powers,” Kim said last week on ABC’s The View. “And abusers are cowards.”
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The White House did not respond to requests for comment from Vice President Kamala Harris, who said during the Democratic presidential campaign in 2020 that she believed women who accused then-rival Joe Biden of inappropriate touching.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a longtime Cuomo ally, did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment. Neither does House President Nancy Pelosi.
New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who joined Cuomo’s GOP critics last week to investigate the nursing home crisis, did not respond to Fox News’ requests for comment.
The National Organization for Women also detained mom.
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Zephyr Teachout, a lawyer who instituted a failed primary attempt against Cuomo in 2014, called for an investigation – but she also said prosecutors have “no serious existing investigative agency” to handle such an investigation.
Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, a Democrat from Albany, issued a statement on Wednesday demanding a timely and independent inquiry.