The two top Democrats in the New York legislature on Sunday withdrew their support for Governor Andrew Cuomo amid growing allegations of sexual harassment and the counting of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins became the first senior Democrat in the state to say the three-term governor should resign. The speaker of the Assembly, Carl Heastie, stopped demanding that Cuomo resign, but said in a statement that “it is time for the governor to seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of New Yorkers.” “
On Saturday, another woman who worked at Cuomo publicly accused him of inappropriate behavior over the past week.
“There is a different report every day that withdraws government affairs,” Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. “New York is still in the midst of this pandemic and is still facing the consequences of society, health and the economy. We must rule without daily distraction. To the benefit of the state, Governor Cuomo must resign. ”
Her insistence on his resignation comes shortly after a Sunday press conference where Cuomo said it would be ‘anti-democratic’ for him to retire.
“They are not dominating the will of the people, but not the election,” Cuomo said during a conference with reporters when asked about members of his own party urging him to resign. ‘I was elected by the residents of the state of New York. I was not elected by politicians. ”
Cuomo said the next six months would determine how successful New York emerged from the coronavirus pandemic. “I’m not going to be distracted because there is too much to do for the people,” he said, pointing out that the state must implement a budget within three weeks and administer another 15 million COVID-19 vaccines.
Asked about Ana Liss, who in a story published on Saturday told The Wall Street Journal that Cuomo worked as a policy assistant to the governor between 2013 and 2015, called her ‘beloved’. Cuomo, a boyfriend, said such talks were “my way of skating kindly.”
He acknowledged that social norms had developed and remarked, “I never meant to make anyone feel uncomfortable.”
Liss told the Journal she initially considered Cuomo’s behavior harmless and never filed a formal complaint about it, but it increasingly bothered her and she felt it was condescending.
“It’s not really suitable in any case,” she said. “I wish he took me seriously.”
Karen Hinton, a former Cuomo press assistant when he served as federal housing secretary under President Bill Clinton, outlined an awkward interaction with hotel rooms with Cuomo in a story published in The Washington Post on Saturday. Hinton, said she gave her a hug that was ‘very long, too long, too tight, too intimate’ when she got up to leave.
She does not describe the encounter as sexual harassment, but as a ‘power play’ for ‘manipulation and control’. At the time, she was no longer an assistant to Cuomo.
Asked about Hinton’s report on Sunday, Cuomo said it was “not true” and noted that the two had been political opponents for two years.
Cuomo’s actions in the workplace have been scrutinized over the past few days, as several women have publicly said they were sexually harassed, or at least humiliated and felt uncomfortable by him. The state’s attorney general is investigating.
Former Adviser Lindsey Boylan(36) said he made inappropriate remarks about her appearance, kissed her once on the lips at the end of a meeting and suggested a game of strip poker while sitting on a flight with other assistants . Another former assistant, 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett, said Cuomo asked if she had ever had sex with older men. and made other comments that she interpreted to measure her interest in a relationship.
Another woman, who did not work for the state, described Cuomo putting his hands on her face and asked if he could kiss her after they met at a wedding.
Cuomo denied at a news conference last week that he had ever touched anyone inappropriate, but apologized for behaving in a way he now realized upset people. He said he made jokes and asked personal questions in an effort to be playful and greeted people regularly with hugs and kisses, like his father, Mario Cuomo, when he was governor.