Coming out of the woodwork, two more women accused 63-year-old Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment, one worked for Cuomo when he ran former President Bill Clinton’s Housing and Urban Development. Karen Hinton said Cuomo grabbed her in a dimly lit hotel room after a work event in 2,000, calling Cuomo’s embrace, “very long, too long, too tight too intimate. It’s not just a hug,” Hinton said. Hinton called it a “power play,” “manipulation and control,” telling a friend that she was “creeped out “ by Cuomo’s actions. Why Hinton accepted an invitation to Cuomo’s hotel room is anyone’s guess, raising questions of how much she flirted back or played games at the time with Clinton’s Housing Secretary. Waiting 20 years to talk about her experience certainly raises eyebrows. While there’s no excuse for inappropriate behvior, complaints should be filed promptly to have any effect.
Another policy aid, who worked with Cuomo from 2013-2015, Anna List said Cuomo touched her on her lower back, asking her whether she had a boyfriend. How List was dressed, whether she was wearing a nude-back dress, wasn’t stated by Wall Street Journal with whom she shared her story. List said it made her feel demeaned, “just like another skirt,” saying, “it’s not appropriate, really, in any setting.” List also waited five-or-six years to share her story, not unlike three other women that came forward recently, two employees, one not, who shared very similar stories. For one of the victims, Anna Ruch, a photo confirms that Cuomo grabbed her face in his hands, making her feel uncomfortable at a 2019 wedding. Another Cuomo aid, Charolotte Bennett, said Cuomo asked her questions about her sex life, questioning whether she was monogamous or had ever had sex with an older man.
Bennett said Cuomo told her he was open to a sexual relationship with someone in the 20s, admitting to her that he was lonely. What emerges from various unrelated bu similar reports is a man with abysmal neediness, not getting it met in a regular relationship. Cuomo divorced from his first wife Kerry Kennedy in 2005, had recently broken up in 2019 from a domestic partnership with Sandra Lee. Whatever the circumstances, it’s clear that the New York governor has unmet needs that leak into his relationship with young women staff. Unable to say not at time because of the power differential, Cuomo looks like he like to get overly friendly with female staffers, leading to potentially inappropriate relationships. Cuomo can’t simply explain away his behavior toward young women staffers as being “playful,” when he knows exploiting the power differential in work settings is strictly prohibited.
Calls for Cuomo’s resignation have been mounting with New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James looking into the mounting complaints. Former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was forced to resign Jan 2, 2018 when it surfaced he had kissed radio talk show host Leeann Tweeden, later pictured with his hand over Tweeden’s breasts. Whether or not Franken was “joking” or fooling around there was enough embarrassment to the Democrat Party to pressure him to resign. When you consider most of the women complaining about Cuomo were subordinate employees, it’s a far more egregious workplace violation that anything Franken did. Another female subordinate Lindsey Boylan, former state economic development official, said the Cuomo sexually harassed her from 2016-2018. Cuomo admitted to being “playful,” saying his banter was mistaken “unwanted flirtation.”
Showing that Cuomo’s inappropriate behavior occurred in the workplace, Cuomo’s communication director Peter Ajemian rejected Hinton’s account, calling her a Cuomo critic. “This did not happen,” Ajemian told the Washington Post. “Karen Hinton is a known antagonist of the governor’s who ‘s attempting to take advantage of the moment to score cheap points with made-up allegations from 21 years ago.” Ajemian looks like he’s playing fast-and-loose with the facts, since he wasn’t in the room with Cuomo and Hinton to make those kinds of assertions. Once the communication director begins the process of discrediting a former employee, you know that it lacks credibility. Ajemian said Hinton’s trying to score cheap political points against Cuomo. But why? What political agenda does Hinton have when she worked for Cuomo over 20 years ago? She’s not in today’s political scene.
Enough women have come forward all saying about the same things about the 63-year-old bachelor that can’t seem to hold onto a relationship. Taking advantage of young female subordinates violates every New York State law protecting women in the workplace from the kind of predatory practices seen by Cuomo. Asking young women about their sex lives or openness to having a sexual encounter with an older guy like Cuomo crosses the line for anyone in a power relationship. Whether Cuomo can say that “he never touched any of them,” doesn’t mean that he didn’t create a hostile work environment for young female employees. Getting a character reference from your communication director was bound to backfire. Attacking the young women lodging complaints shows that Cuomo is concerned that there’s mounting pressure on him to resign for creating a hostile work environment.
