Andrew Cuomo Faces Sexual Harassment Accusations

While New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was praised because of how he handled the coronavirus throughout the pandemic, as of late he has been hit with two major scandals that he has handled far less smoothly. Cuomo and his administration were accused of intentionally obscuring the number of nursing home deaths in New York to make it seem as if there were fewer. More recently, though, five former women on his staff accused Cuomo of sexual harassment.

On February 24th, 2021 Lindsey Boylan published an essay for Medium, detailing her experiences working with Cuomo, making her the first woman to speak out against him. She said he made numerous unwanted sexual advances and comments towards her, eventually resigning in 2018 after the governor kissed her on the lips without consent. In her essay, Boylan writes, “Andrew Cuomo abused his power as Governor to sexually harass me, just as he had done with so many other women.”

Only a few days after Boylan’s claims, Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year old former aide to the governor, came forward with even more recent allegations. Bennett claims he made unwanted sexual advances towards her throughout the spring of 2019. Cuomo supposedly asked deeply personal questions about her personal and sex life, specifically, if she was interested in older men in a romantic way. He then repeatedly made strange comments about her experience as a sexual assault survivor. 

Anna Ruch, another former aide to Cuomo, came forward 2 weeks ago claiming he acted inappropriately when they met for the first time at a wedding in September of 2019. He allegedly placed a hand on her bare lower back and called her “aggressive” when she removed it. Ruch says he then placed his hands on her cheeks and asked if he could kiss her despite her negative reactions earlier. The photo below pictures Cuomo and Ruch with the governor’s hands on Ruch’s cheek, just as she described.

Within another week, Karen Hinton, a former press aide, said that after a work event in Los Angeles in 2000, Cuomo invited her to his dimly lit hotel room. Allegedly, he embraced Hinton as she tried to leave and then pulled her back toward him when she tried to pull away. However, Peter Ajemian, Cuomo’s director of communications, said in a recent statement that Hinton is a known conspirator against the governor and would use this time to take advantage of him by fabricating allegations. 

Ana Liss is the latest woman to speak out about her experiences with Cuomo. Liss alleges he touched her on her lower back and asked if she had a boyfriend or a partner. Also, he repeatedly called her “sweetheart,” and one time kissed her hand. Liss worked as a policy and operations aide to Cuomo from 2013 to 2015. 

Cuomo made his first public statement since the sexual harassment allegations arose. On March 16th, 2021, Cuomo made an appearance at the Senate Capitol, claiming that he is embarrassed by his actions and apologized, but that he would not resign from office.