New York, NY – After a week of Trumpian antics from Governor Cuomo, Cynthia for New York released a new video this morning. The video starts with cringe-worthy comments the Governor made Saturday night, ironically, at a Women for Cuomo event in Brooklyn. As New York Magazine’s The Cut put it, “Being patronizing and downright creepy toward women — perhaps not the best way to win their vote!”

The Governor’s Trumpian comments continued this week when he lashed out at a NY1 reporter and threatened the station’s parent company because the reporter had the audacity to ask about the governor’s apparent receipt of $400,000 in straw donations. Cuomo’s actions towards the reporter were widely condemned.

“We already have a bully in the White House who doesn’t treat sexual harassment seriously and threatens the freedom of the press. New Yorkers don’t need one in Albany too,” said Cynthia spokeswoman Lauren Hitt.

Governor Cuomo drafted new sexual harassment legislation this year without a single female legislator in the room and without allowing any public testimony from the survivors. Cynthia joined women harassed and intimidated by top Cuomo officials and state legislators this week to renew their call for public hearings – following revelations that sexual harasser and senior Cuomo aide James Kiyonaga is still on the Governor’s payroll.

 

Cuomo’s Record on Women’s Issues

Cuomo Drafted New Sexual Harassment Legislation Without a Single Female Legislator In the Room, But He Did Include a Male Center Accused of Sexual Harassment. “Four men are debating New York state’s new laws concerning sexual harassment, as part of the state’s $150 billion budget negotiations happening behind closed doors in Albany. And one of the four men, state Sen. Jeff Klein, was himself accused of sexual misconduct earlier this year. Despite the fact that the talks are being led by the state’s Democratic governor, many liberals, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s primary challenger Cynthia Nixon, are up in arms about the exclusion of women, and the inclusion of an alleged perpetrator. Erica Vladimer, a former policy analyst and counsel in the senate, told the Huffington Post in January that Klein “shoved his tongue” down her throat while the two smoked outside a bar in Albany in March 2015. Vladimer, 30, resigned from her post a month later and Klein, the leader of a breakaway group of eight Democrats who vote with Republican lawmakers, has “unequivocally” denied her allegations.” [Business Insider, 3/27/2018]

Cuomo Was Notified In Writing About Unfair Treatment To Female DCJS Employees And “Did Not Take Steps To Intervene In The Plight Of The DCJS Employees.” According to the Times Union, “Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott were both notified in writing about the treatment of the female DCJS employees in late January — three weeks after the governor declared in his annual State of the State address that the nation ‘is taking a long look in the mirror as to how we treat women, and we are disgusted with what we see. And we should be.’ But the governor’s office did not take steps to intervene in the plight of the DCJS employees. The inaction occurred despite the findings of the inspector general’s investigation — which have not been made public — that sustained the harassment allegations and recommended DCJS ‘take action as you deem appropriate’ against three top officials at the agency, including a human resources director and a first deputy commissioner.” [Times Union, 3/19/18]

Victim Says Cuomo “Ignored Her Pleas To Investigate Sexual Harassment Complaints Against [Cuomo Advisor Sam] Hoyt.” According to the Buffalo News, “What began as a ‘flirty’ relationship between a state worker and a powerful official now threatens to ensnare the governor of New York. Andrew M. Cuomo is named in a federal lawsuit that Lisa M. Cater, of Buffalo, filed after she heard some of Cuomo’s top lieutenants praising Sam Hoyt upon his resignation last month as a gubernatorial confidante, even as probes into the former economic development official’s alleged sexual harassment continued. She alleges that Cuomo ignored her pleas to investigate her sexual harassment complaints against Hoyt, while Buffalo Republicans renewed their questions. ‘What did Andrew Cuomo know and when did he know it?’ Erie County Republican Chairman Nicholas A. Langworthy asked again Sunday. ‘And did he and his ranking subordinates help Sam orchestrate what was essentially hush money?’ Administration officials, however, dismissed any idea the lawsuit should enter the political arena.” [Buffalo News, 11/20/17]

 

New York Indivisible Criticized Cuomo For His Handling Of Harassment Claims Against Sen. Jeff Klein And For Calling For Investigations But “[Offering] No Details On Who Would Handle It.” According to the New York Times, “Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who has worked closely with the Independent Democratic Conference, and has been accused of facilitating the group’s partnership with Mr. Flanagan, has twice called for an investigation, but has offered no details on who would handle it. That has not satisfied some activists and protesters who feel that the governor should be more outspoken, particularly considering the national reckoning over sexual harassment in the workplace — something Mr. Cuomo has promised will be a major part of his 2018 agenda. ‘He has said the bare minimum to slip away from any responsibility,’ said Heather Stewart, of the group Empire State Indivisible, calling Mr. Cuomo a ‘poor champion for justice.’” [New York Times, 12/13/17]

Cuomo Forced to Apologize to Female Reporter after She Challenged his Record on Sexual Harassment. Cuomo also made headlines for trying to “teach” a woman reporter, Karen Dewitt, about sexual harassment. In a cringe-inducing video, Cuomo refuses to answer Dewitt’s questions about the Hoyt case, telling her that sexual harassment “is about you” and that her question did “a disservice to women.” He was ultimately forced to apologize. [Splinter, 12/13/17]

Cuomo Founded the Women’s Equality Party Not to Advance Women’s Equality But In Order to Defeat His 2014 Primary Opponent, Zephyr Teachout, Who Would Have Been New York’s First Female Governor.  “During the 2014 election, Mr. Cuomo drove around the state in a bus called the Women’s Equality Express, which had a pink stripe adorning its side. Some found the entire enterprise craven and patronizing — and an obvious effort to peel off votes from the W.F.P. (Working Families Party), which had been fighting for paid sick leave and other causes vital to women’s lives for many years. Others found it duplicitous, given the rampant culture of sexual harassment that had been permitted to fester for so long in the state capital. During that race, Mr. Cuomo was challenged by an unknown law professor, Zephyr Teachout, who wound up, to great surprise, receiving a third of the vote. In the wake of former Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman’s downfall over allegations that he had physically abused four women he had been dating, Ms. Teachout announced this week that she will be running to replace him. But given the history, she is as likely to receive the backing of the W.E.P. as Noam Chomsky is of getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump. It seems a lot like a political shell company. When it was founded, the W.E.P. was financed largely through a loan from Mr. Cuomo’s 2014 campaign. A second loan, from his current campaign, came several months ago, according to Rachel Gold, the state’s former deputy commissioner of labor and the party’s treasurer.” [New York Times,5/27/2018]

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