NEW YORK – Governor Andrew Cuomo was fighting for his political life yesterday after a third woman accused him of sexual harassment.
The Democrat has suffered a spectacular fall from grace since he became a national star last year for his handling of the state’s Covid-19 pandemic.
Many commentators had tipped him for a role in President Joe Biden’s administration, but now members of his own party are calling for his resignation.
Already facing heat over accusations he deliberately under-reported coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, Cuomo referred himself for investigation on Monday over sexual misconduct allegations by two former aides.
Hours later, Anna Ruch, 33, told the New York Times that she met the now 63-year-old at a wedding in September 2019. During the reception, he put his hand on her bare lower back – which she pushed away – and asked if he could kiss her.
“I was so confused and shocked and embarrassed,” Ruch, who did not work for Cuomo, said.
“I turned my head away and didn’t have words in that moment.”
The newspaper published a photo showing the governor holding a visibly uncomfortable Ruch by the cheeks.
Ruch’s testimony comes just days after former aide Charlotte Bennett told The New York Times that he sexually harassed her last year.
Bennett’s allegations on Saturday came just four days after another ex-aide, Lindsey Boylan, described unwanted physical contact from Cuomo.
Earlier on Monday, New York attorney general Letitia James said that Cuomo’s office has written to her granting her request to set up an independent probe into the accusations.
“This is not a responsibility we take lightly as allegations of sexual harassment should always be taken seriously,” James said in a statement.
She added that the referral letter noted that the findings of the investigation will be “disclosed in a public report”.
Inappropriate and aggressive
Cuomo said on Sunday he is “truly sorry” if his conduct has ever been “misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation”, as he faced mounting pressure over the scandal.
He has denied ever inappropriately touching or propositioning anyone.
On Sunday, Cuomo bowed to pressure to grant an independent investigation.
He initially chose a former federal judge to lead the probe but high-profile figures in his own party said that is insufficiently transparent.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday slammed Cuomo’s statement responding to the allegations.
“That’s not an apology. He seemed to be saying, ‘Oh, I was just kidding around’. Sexual harassment is not funny. It’s serious,” said de Blasio, a long-time rival of Cuomo’s.
Bennett described the governor’s response as “the actions of an individual who wields his power to avoid justice” in a Monday night statement to the Times.
“I stand with Anna Ruch,” Bennett tweeted separately.
“His inappropriate and aggressive behaviour cannot be justified or normalised.”
Boylan also tweeted her support, writing that Ruch’s account made her “feel sick”.
According to the 25-year-old Bennett, Cuomo said in June that he was open to dating women in their 20s, and asked if she thought age made a difference in romantic relationships, the Times reported.
While Cuomo never tried to touch her, “I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared”, she said.
On Wednesday, Boylan said in a blog that Cuomo had harassed her when she was working for his administration, from 2015 to 2018.
Boylan, 36, alleged that the governor had given her an unsolicited kiss on the lips, suggested that they play strip poker and went “out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs”. – AFP, March 3, 2021
