Et tu, Andrew?
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My story of working with Governor Cuomo
“Let’s play strip poker.”
I should have been shocked by the Governor’s crude comment, but I wasn’t.
We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost touched. His press aide was to my right and a state trooper behind us.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I responded sarcastically and awkwardly. I tried to play it cool. But in that moment, I realized just how acquiescent I had become.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected. His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you, that you must be doing something right. He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences.
That’s why I panicked on the morning of December 13.
While enjoying a weekend with my husband and six-year-old daughter, I spontaneously decided to share a small part of the truth I had hidden for so long in shame and never planned to disclose. The night before, a former Cuomo staffer confided to me that she, too, had been the subject of the Governor’s workplace harassment. Her story mirrored my own. Seeing his name floated as a potential candidate for U.S. Attorney General — the highest law enforcement official in the land — set me off.I had complained to friends that the Governor would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs. His senior staff began keeping tabs on my whereabouts. “He is a sexist pig and you should avoid being alone with him!” my mother texted me on November 4, 2016.
I was escorted into the Governor’s office, past the desks of administrative assistants and into a room with a large table and historical artifacts. The door closed behind me. It was my first time in his Albany office. The Governor entered the room from another door. We were alone.
As he showed me around, I tried to maintain my distance. He paused at one point and smirked as he showed off a cigar box. He told me that President Clinton had given it to him while he served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The two-decade old reference to President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky was not lost on me.I tried to excuse his behavior. I told myself “it’s only words.” But that changed after a one-on-one briefing with the Governor to update him on economic and infrastructure projects. We were in his New York City office on Third Avenue. As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. I was in shock, but I kept walking.
Will he follow the Cuomo Standard?
During Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings in 2018, Cuomo issued an official statement that called the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford — who accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly attacking her when they were high-school students in 1982 — “very compelling.”
“Here is one basic fact that badly hurts Judge Kavanaugh: Why won’t he take a polygraph? Dr. Ford did,” Cuomo said at the time.
“If he does not take a polygraph test, it is the ultimate, ‘he said, she said.’ “
Cuomo also urged then-President Donald Trump to “demand” that Kavanaugh undergo the exam and later called Kavanaugh’s confirmation “a sad day for this country.”
@george-k said in Et tu, Andrew?:
My story of working with Governor Cuomo
“Let’s play strip poker.”
I should have been shocked by the Governor’s crude comment, but I wasn’t.
We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost touched. His press aide was to my right and a state trooper behind us.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” I responded sarcastically and awkwardly. I tried to play it cool. But in that moment, I realized just how acquiescent I had become.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected. His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you, that you must be doing something right. He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences.
That’s why I panicked on the morning of December 13.
While enjoying a weekend with my husband and six-year-old daughter, I spontaneously decided to share a small part of the truth I had hidden for so long in shame and never planned to disclose. The night before, a former Cuomo staffer confided to me that she, too, had been the subject of the Governor’s workplace harassment. Her story mirrored my own. Seeing his name floated as a potential candidate for U.S. Attorney General — the highest law enforcement official in the land — set me off.I had complained to friends that the Governor would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs. His senior staff began keeping tabs on my whereabouts. “He is a sexist pig and you should avoid being alone with him!” my mother texted me on November 4, 2016.
I was escorted into the Governor’s office, past the desks of administrative assistants and into a room with a large table and historical artifacts. The door closed behind me. It was my first time in his Albany office. The Governor entered the room from another door. We were alone.
As he showed me around, I tried to maintain my distance. He paused at one point and smirked as he showed off a cigar box. He told me that President Clinton had given it to him while he served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The two-decade old reference to President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky was not lost on me.I tried to excuse his behavior. I told myself “it’s only words.” But that changed after a one-on-one briefing with the Governor to update him on economic and infrastructure projects. We were in his New York City office on Third Avenue. As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. I was in shock, but I kept walking.
Will he follow the Cuomo Standard?
During Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings in 2018, Cuomo issued an official statement that called the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford — who accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly attacking her when they were high-school students in 1982 — “very compelling.”
“Here is one basic fact that badly hurts Judge Kavanaugh: Why won’t he take a polygraph? Dr. Ford did,” Cuomo said at the time.
“If he does not take a polygraph test, it is the ultimate, ‘he said, she said.’ “
Cuomo also urged then-President Donald Trump to “demand” that Kavanaugh undergo the exam and later called Kavanaugh’s confirmation “a sad day for this country.”
Heck, will they follow the Kamala standard?
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https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/nyregion/cuomo-charlotte-bennett-sexual-harassment.html
A second former aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is accusing him of sexual harassment, saying that he asked her questions about her sex life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships and if she had ever had sex with older men.
The aide, Charlotte Bennett, who was an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration until she left in November, told The New York Times that the governor had harassed her late last spring, during the height of the state’s fight against the coronavirus.
Ms. Bennett, 25, said the most unsettling episode occurred on June 5, when she was alone with Mr. Cuomo in his State Capitol office. In a series of interviews this week, she said the governor had asked her numerous questions about her personal life, including whether she thought age made a difference in romantic relationships, and had said that he was open to relationships with women in their 20s — comments she interpreted as clear overtures to a sexual relationship.
Mr. Cuomo said in a statement to The Times on Saturday that he believed he had been acting as a mentor and had “never made advances toward Ms. Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate.” He said he had requested an independent review of the matter and asked that New Yorkers await the findings “before making any judgments.”
Ms. Bennett said that during the June encounter, the governor, 63, also complained to her about being lonely during the pandemic, mentioning that he “can’t even hug anyone,” before turning the focus to Ms. Bennett. She said that Mr. Cuomo asked her, “Who did I last hug?”Ms. Bennett said she had tried to dodge the question by responding that she missed hugging her parents. “And he was, like, ‘No, I mean like really hugged somebody?’” she said.
Mr. Cuomo never tried to touch her, Ms. Bennett said, but the message of the entire episode was unmistakable to her.
“I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” Ms. Bennett said. “And was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job.”
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Rocked by a second aide's allegations, embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has asked an ex-federal judge to investigate whether he sexually harassed subordinates, rejecting the wishes of prominent Democrats who believed State Attorney General Letitia James should lead the probe.
Cuomo late Saturday named former U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones, a former law partner of one of the governor's closest advisers, to review his conduct after Charlotte Bennett became the second former Cuomo aide in a week to allege she was sexually harassed by the governor.
Prominent Democrats, including state Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, had urged Cuomo to follow the state's tradition and refer the probe to James.
"As has become standard practice in the State of New York when allegations relate directly to the Executive, Governor Cuomo should refer the matter to the Attorney General, who should, in turn, appoint an independent investigator," Nadler said.
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He’s toast but let’s not pretend that his replacement will be any better in terms of policy or behavior.
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Why do we always elect the worst people?
Good people don't go into politics?
I have yet to see one.
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Why do we always elect the worst people?
Good people don't go into politics?
I have yet to see one.
@mark said in Et tu, Andrew?:
Good people don't go into politics?
Mark, I think you know the answer. 5555
I think you are a good person. Would you WANT to go into politics? LOL
The best people for the politics jobs are those that would not want to run.
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It is two different games.
The high moral character game is nothing like the political game.
It's like saying an NFL lineman doesn't seem like a good family man, because he is bashing everyone.
When a politician is politicking he usually isn't playing the high moral character game, although he might pretend to play that game.
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Why do we always elect the worst people?
Good people don't go into politics?
I have yet to see one.
@mark said in Et tu, Andrew?:
Why do we always elect the worst people?
Good people don't go into politics?
I have yet to see one.
You're still breathing.
Run.
You've got my vote.
