For some women, the job for Cuomo is the ‘worst place to be’

In Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s office, there are usually two annual holiday parties: one near the New York State Capitol for all executives and another at the Governor’s Mansion.

The smaller gathering is mostly attended by senior administration officials and agency heads, but some assistants – often young women – also receive invitations.

The end-of-year guessing game over who can make invitations has long fueled resentment and speculation, especially among women, who sometimes wondered whether younger assistants are only invited when they enter an office culture still rooted in the ‘ Mad Men ‘era. – including the expectation that they will wear high heels to work.

Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, is now being investigated by outside attorneys overseen by the Attorney General, and is the subject of an indictment investigation into a series of accusations of inappropriate behavior, from unwanted sexual advances to unsolicited kisses and, this week, touching.

But while investigators are investigating the specific allegations, a generation of government officials working under Mr. Cuomo worked, expressing their concern about the cultural issues that permeated the state’s most powerful workplace on a daily basis.

In interviews over the past week, more than 35 people who worked in Cuomo’s executive room described the office as very chaotic, unprofessional and toxic, especially to young women.

It is a workplace, said current and former employees, where tasks are not assigned on the basis of job titles, but on which Cuomo and his top assistants hold.

The interviews interviewed described an environment in which senior management regularly ridiculed junior workers, tested their commitment to the governor, and allowed them to compete to earn his love and avoid his anger.

The workers mostly said they had not personally witnessed overt sexual harassment. But many have said that they believe that Mr. Cuomo and other officials seem to focus on what employees look like and how they dress. Twelve young women have said they are under pressure to wear make-up, dresses and heels, as rumor has it the governor.

One high-ranking current official and two former assistants said they felt they were denied opportunities because they did not attract the preference.

The workplace culture described by employees is not uncommon in Albany, a state capital with a long history of sexual misconduct scandals and a reputation for mixing after-hours among lobbyists, elected officials and their staff at pubs and fundraisers. But the issues are noteworthy for a governor who saw himself as a champion for workers and women.

Cuomo’s office denies many of the issues raised by employees, saying New Yorkers chose Cuomo several times because “they know he works for them day and night.”

“There is no secret that this is difficult work, and the work is demanding,” Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser, said in a statement. “But we have a leading team with a lot of employees who have been here for years and a lot of others who leave and return because they know the work we do is important. It’s underlined throughout Covid.”

Almost all of the current and former employees have spoken out about the condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation from Mr. Cuomo, who is known for threatening critics, and whose office has released staff information on defendants over the past few weeks.

“People are honestly still recovering from their experience working there, and they are terrified of expressing their opinion,” said state senator Alessandra Biaggi, a former assistant and a fierce critic.

Me. Biaggi worked in the executive room for seven months in 2017. She said she could not stand the culture, a refrain repeated by several other women that lasted less than a year. “If you’re a woman you want to focus on at work, this is the worst place to be,” Ms Biaggi said.

Some current and former assistants call their time at the office a rewarding experience, appreciating the governor and criticizing how he has been portrayed by the news media.

Others who see the culture of the workplace as problematic said that they feel contradictory to Mr. Cuomo to work. They said they still have a deep pride in the work, and they wondered if the treatment they were enduring was the price to be paid for effective public service.

Yet many others said it was not worth it.

According to more than two dozen current and former staff members, Cuomo and his top assistants regularly hire employees to compete against each other. Some say they get a job and later discover that a colleague has been sent to the same job.

Several remembered that they had to cut short vacations or missed children’s birthday parties for seemingly minor tasks, such as the transcript of television interviews with local politicians in other states that Mr. Cuomo feared one day becoming political rivals.

The assistants also said Mr. Cuomo and their assistants, including his current secretary, Melissa DeRosa, would shout and curse at subordinates over minor obstacles, such as misspellings. Some said they cried in the office almost every week.

Beneficiaries who benefit from Cuomo sit at larger desks, may travel with him and are invited to pool parties, Super Bowl parties and other events, employees said.

The division is evident in the governor’s office in the Capitol building, four former assistants said. There are the employees who enjoy the preference – and meet the dress code – on one side of the office, in Mr Cuomo’s point of view. Others sit on the other side.

Mr. Azzopardi said workflow decisions are based on “what is organizationally meaningful”, noting that some offices are traditionally reserved for specific appointments.

Mr. Azzopardi said workers were not hired on the basis of their appearance, and that “there was no longer an expectation now to wear certain clothes or high heels.”

Current and former employees said that women – and especially young women – face a variety of additional challenges in the office, starting with the hiring process, which, according to several assistants, benefits women who are tall, thin and blonde.

Peter Yacobellis, who served as deputy director of administrative services for governor between 2011 and 2014 and helped oversee rent in the Manhattan office, said he often heard inappropriate jokes about the kind of women the governor has. wanted to rent.

Mr. Yacobellis said there was no significant training on sexual harassment during his tenure. He said gaps helped promote an environment where senior officials did not know what was appropriate, and junior assistants did not know how to report issues.

After working at the governor’s office, Mr. Yacobellis helped lead the human resources training team at American Express. He said he was surprised by the serious differences, and realized how important it is for public officials to increase sexual harassment training.

“Training could have been the antidote to cure a toxic environment for many women in the governor’s office,” he said.

The harassment of the office was not always obvious. Several former employees said that regular comments are made about what assistants look like and who they go out with, among others from mr. Cuomo.

One former assistant said she once heard that Mr. Cuomo learns that another assistant was pregnant and then said with joy, “I am not the father!”

Five current and former employees said Cuomo called them ‘sweetheart’ or ‘beloved’. Some described it as charming, but others said it made them feel uncomfortable.

The assistants said on Valentine’s Day that Mr. Cuomo sometimes sends roses to their helpers.

Mr. Cuomo apologized for the behavior of employees and said he had never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable.

Ana Liss, who worked in the office as a policy adviser between 2013 and 2015, said she arrived excited to work on economic development issues, but quickly believed that Mr. Cuomo appreciates her for her looks, rather than for her work. Me. Liss is one of several former assistants who have publicly accused the governor of inappropriate behavior.

The governor, she said, paid extra attention to her and regularly stopped by her desk to talk and kissed her hand once. Others take note: at least three colleagues, including a top assistant at the time, joked about how the governor found her attractive, she said.

“They said, ‘Oh, he likes you, ‘”she said.” I considered it an honor, but then I thought it was a little rude. I thought I would go there to advance my career as a thinker. I did not want that do not play strange game. ”

Liss added, “Most women can know when a man is looking at them and for what reason.”

Several women who for Mr. Cuomo worked, defended him. Three former assistants who worked closely with him, including in one-on-one environments, said he never made them feel uncomfortable.

Susan Del Percio, a special adviser from 2014 to 2015, said she had never seen sexual harassment, even though she had seen an ‘intense environment, a demanding environment, a harsh environment’.

Yet many women who have not experienced harassment have said they believe the women who have emerged in recent weeks. Several said the allegations did not surprise them.

The current and former assistants also said they saw other examples of insensitivity towards women, such as Cuomo’s assistants who asked pregnant women to sleep at the office during budget negotiations and that they did not have enough rooms for breastfeeding mothers.

Three former employees – among them Mrs. Liss – said they had been warned by colleagues that they should dress as Cuomo would like if they were to be among the favorites receiving special attention. Nine others said it was implicitly understood.

A young former assistant who adhered to the dress code said she was surprised to receive regularly high assignments. She said that on occasion she was told she was given a job because she was attractive.

Me. Liss said the culture made her feel isolated and intimidated.

“If you work in the belly of the beast, it’s a scary place to be, especially if you’re young, feminine, naive and without much connection,” she said. “I’m very sorry I did not call it that, because I know there are so many other women who have had it worse than I have.”

Emma G. Fitzsimmons, J. David Goodman and Jesse McKinley reported. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.