A few days ago, New York Governor Cuomo’s current female aide also came forward and accused Cuomo of making inappropriate comments and gestures toward her. This is the eighth woman to come forward and testify against Cuomo for sexual harassment so far. A new poll shows a significant increase in the percentage of New Yorkers who agree that the governor should resign; however, Cuomo himself has shown no signs of considering resignation.
Alyssa McGrath, 33, an aide in the governor’s office, told The New York Times that Cuomo has looked up into her shirt, called her “beautiful,” asked her about her marital status and used Italian slang for “beautiful. She believes the governor’s behavior toward her constitutes “sexual harassment,” including using Italian slang for “beauty.
Cuomo’s attorney has denied all the allegations on behalf of the governor, arguing that they are “not a big deal, although somewhat old school”; Cuomo has also repeatedly stated to the media that he has not engaged in any inappropriate behavior toward women, but has admitted that perhaps some of his words and actions have made the other party uncomfortable, for which he has only apologized.
Meanwhile, the first person to accuse Cuomo, 36-year-old Lindsey Boylan, revealed more details of the harassment in an interview with Ronan Farrow, a prominent journalist in the MeToo movement. Farrow is a journalist specializing in investigating the topic of sexual harassment of women who exposed the sexual assault case of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
“We dug up emails, text messages and a lot of internal communications from the governor’s office in which (the governor) talked about her appearance, hinted at the governor’s interest in her, and in her correspondence with Family and friends, it was evident that she was afraid of the governor …… Every single thing revealed that she was in the middle of a series of harassment .” Farrow said in a television interview on “Good Morning America” last Friday (March 19).
In an interview with The New Yorker, Boylan also mentioned the slander she received from the governor about her reputation after coming forward publicly, “There was a phase in my Life that was destroyed.”
Farrow said, “I think this is a major revelation that fits with more information that has emerged from the story and shows a pattern of behavior by the governor to weaponize information that he’s gotten from his aides and from New York political circles and then put it out to the media.”
Last Monday, a Siena College poll showed that 50 percent of New Yorkers said Cuomo should not resign and only 35 percent felt he should, while a Quinnipiac University poll last Thursday showed that the percentage of people who agreed with Cuomo’s resignation increased to 43 percent.
While Cuomo’s approval rating is declining, the number of people calling for his resignation is increasing, and leading Democratic figures, including Biden, have spoken out in support of the Cuomo investigation and said Cuomo should step down if the investigation proves the sexual harassment allegations are true, Cuomo’s own position has not budged.
An insider close to Cuomo told the New York Post that Cuomo’s inner circle has isolated him from the outside world. He doesn’t care what politicians think of him; he knows how to win voters over.
“‘I can convince voters that all I care about is the voters, not the politicians.’ — that’s the message right now.” The insider said, “So he’s going to stay in office unless there’s a change in the polls.”
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