Officials across the Mid-Hudson Valley are calling for the immediate resignation or removal of Governor Andrew Cuomo from office after an independent investigation commissioned by State Attorney General Letitia James found the governor allegedly harassed multiple women over a seven-year period from 2013-2020.
The independent investigators, Joon H. Kim and Anne Clark, released a report Tuesday after completing a five-month investigation that found that Governor Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women including former and current state employees through unwanted groping, kissing, hugging and making inappropriate statements.
“Further, the governor and his senior staff took actions to retaliate against at least one former employee for coming forward with her story,” James said. “Finally, the Executive Chamber fostered a toxic workplace that enabled harassment to occur and created a hostile work environment. The investigators find that Governor Cuomo’s actions and those of the Executive Chamber violated multiple state and federal laws, as well as the Executive Chamber’s own written policies.”
The investigation began on March 1, 2021, when the Executive Chamber made a referral for Attorney General James to select independent lawyers to investigate sexual harassment claims made against the governor. Kim and Clark were selected to lead the investigation on March 8, 2021.
“This is a sad day for New York because independent investigators have concluded that Governor Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and, in doing so, broke the law,” James said. “I am grateful to all the women who came forward to tell their stories in painstaking detail, enabling investigators to get to the truth. No man no matter how powerful can be allowed to harass women or violate our human rights laws, period.”
Local officials on both sides of the aisle called for Cuomo’s resignation or for his removal from office should he refuse to resign.
“The Attorney General’s report is clear — Governor Andrew Cuomo’s actions were not only morally reprehensible but also violated multiple state and federal laws,” Democratic Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said. “The governor is unfit for public office and must resign immediately.”
Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher, also a Democrat, called for Cuomo to resign immediately and recounted her own experience of workplace sexual harassment. “As a woman who experienced sexual harassment while working in the public sector — and spoke out about it at great personal and professional cost — I am deeply shaken by Attorney General Leticia James’s findings that Governor Cuomo engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment, particularly targeting young women in and around his office,” Gallagher said in a prepared statement. “I no longer have confidence that Mr. Cuomo can lead the 177,000 residents of Ulster County, or the great state of New York.”
State Senator Michelle Hinchey (D-Saugerties) also demanded the Governor’s resignation.
“The Attorney General’s report has confirmed that the Governor’s behavior is not only a disturbing abuse of power but also a clear violation of both state and federal law,” Hinchey said. “This proves that the Governor is unfit to hold the highest office in our state. The people of New York deserve better.” I thank the women who bravely came forward despite an environment of intimidation.”
State Senator Mike Martucci (R-C-I New Hampton) whose district covers parts of Ulster, Orange and Delaware counties, and all of Sullivan County agreed Cuomo is unfit for public office and called for the governor’s immediate resignation.
“The disturbing evidence of sexual harassment detailed by the Attorney General and her investigators at today’s press conference confirms what I already believed to be true — Andrew Cuomo is utterly unfit to continue to serve as Governor of our great state,” Martucci said in a press release. “If he has any shame he ought to resign immediately. If he refuses to do so, the State Assembly must finally do its job and impeach him.”
Senate Republican Leader Robb Ortt said the time is now to bring this “sad, tawdry and corrupt chapter in New York’s history to a close and to restore decency, honesty and accountability to our state’s highest office.”
He commended James and her team for “refusing to be intimidated by Cuomo. “From the very beginning, Andrew Cuomo and his associates attempted to bully, undercut and undermine the Attorney General — all as part of an effort to prevent her from doing her job,” Ortt said. “From attempting to block the initial referral to the Attorney General’s office, to the intimidation of potential witnesses, to the blatant attempts to smear her integrity and motivations, this Governor left no stone unturned in his efforts to prevent the truth from being discovered.”
New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta said in a prepared statement that the report shows the governor is unfit to serve in office. “The attorney general has detailed conduct that is repugnant and indefensible in any workplace and especially in the state’s highest elected office,” he said.
Multiple women came forward starting in December 2020 with allegations that Cuomo had sexually harassed them, according to James. During the course of the investigation, investigators interviewed 179 individuals including complainants current and former members of the Executive Chamber, New York State Police additional state employees and others who interacted regularly with the governor, James said.
Investigators poured over more than 74,000 documents, emails, texts and pictures as evidence during the investigation, James said. That turned up multiple or former state employees or women outside of state service who were targets of the governor’s harassing conduct, the AG said.
Cuomo also said with the interviewers and answered questions under oath.
“While the governor denied the most serious allegations, the investigators found that he did so by offering blanket denials or that he had a lack of recollection as to specific incidents,” James said. “The investigators also found that the governor’s recollection stood in stark contrast to the strength, specificity and corroboration of the complainants, recollections, as well as the reports of many other individuals who offered observations and experiences of the governor’s conduct.”
The investigation also painted a picture of the Executive Chamber as a workplace rife with fear and intimidation that allowed the harassment to occur while creating a hostile work environment. Investigators said they also found that the governor himself and the Executive Chamber engaged in retaliatory behavior by trying to discredit and disparage a former employee that shared her story of harassment.
Investigators said these actions violated federal law, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, and 42 U.S. Code 1983, in addition to the Executive Chamber’s own equal employment policies.
The AG’s office deputized Jennifer Kennedy Park, Abena Mainoo and Rahul Mukhi from the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in addition to Joon H. Kim as Special Deputies to the First Deputy Attorney General to conduct the investigation and issue the report. A number of other attorneys from both Cleary Gottlieb and Vladeck served as Special Assistants to the First Deputy Attorney General in the investigation.
The source of this campaign is foreign. Just check how many local politicians have accepted funds from FETO. The Gulen Movement has bought out the Democratic Party which is why Biden’s coronavirus response is a huge failure. Deliberately infecting people by ignoring the spread by the vaccinated which we knew would happen for 18 months is akin to this group’s influence in Stockholm where they killed ten times more seniors than their neighbors. Cuomo wins unless he chooses to quit. I’ve seen this color revolution agitprop operation before. It collapses once the foreign funding source is exposed and all the “ useful tools of Gulen” are ruined politically.
Finally! someone that gets it—-thank you! Warning: Incoming 2 cents from Bill H., the vax promoter…..
Another good example of Internet trolling, Nohns, since you were asking.
I definitely sense that the push over the last two months to reopen has been, in part, motivated by the desire to get more of the unvaccinated infected, or at least scare them. Clearly there has been knowledge that vaccinated people could still become infected, although without serious symptoms, and contribute to spreading the virus among unvaccinated. I think the naive goal was to pressure those resistant to the vaccine to change their minds out of fear of getting seriously ill or dying. Or to experience missing out on the big “return to normal” party due to feeling ostracized or unwelcome. In many covid hotspots, that is working to slightly increase vaccinations, but at extraordinary cost. I find it all very offensive. But I still put the onus on those that choose not to be vaccinated regardless of all the information available to us.
I would love to see your information sources about the following:
– The number of local politicians that accepted funds from the Fethullah Terrorist Organization
– The Gulen Movement buying out the Democratic Party
– The Gulen Movement’s role in killing seniors in Stockholm
– How any of this connects back to Andrew Cuomo and allegations fo sexual harassment
I have to admit, it is hard to swallow all these interconnected theories without any evidence to back them up.
Remove the stained Cuomo name from our Tappan Zee Bridge. This should not remain as a legacy for his corrupt administration and his disgusting acts. Please sign the petition below
http://chng.it/wg6T6X2P
Why, it is the biggest boondoggle, and waste of money, that is falling apart; A perfect legacy for the first NYS governor, too bankrupt his state. Spending, and getting crap for it, at dollars on the penny; why that’s the Coumo way. Like father, like son, both bully’s, who didn’t know what they were talking about…
He will be gone, as soon as, well; Now, but absolutely by end of next week. And, thank the holy majority, his career as a politician, and/or governing personage is completely over.
… I have been saying for years; Loser donald trump, and this a$$h01e coumo governor, though different parties and different political ideologues, are like mirror images of each other, when looking deeler at their id’s, and/or ego’s. They are both narcissistic, massaginistic, self idolized and centered, bully’s. Like twins, when you get down to it, we are a hell of a lot better off, without either creeps. Goodbye, andy, AND GOODNIGHT!
Hang in there Governor Cuomo. Don’t resign because you made several women ‘uncomfortable.
They’re after him to resign not because of these women but because he made Biden uncomfortable with superior leadership and guidance on the pandemic. Cuomo has twice Biden’s intellect and knew deductively that the ditch the mask thing was not based on science but politics. Were it not for Cuomo here in NY we would not have beaten this back. I’ve spent 18 months arguing through Cuomo about asymptomatic spread, airborne spread, contact spread and most recently spread by the vaccinated. On every count I was proven right while the CDC and NIH were proven wrong. Biden hates the fact Cuomo has more brains and is a better leader than he will ever be. All Cuomo has to do is not quit. Cancel your ActBlue and Change.org accounts. Both are now influenced by this witch hunt by card carrying members of the Gulen Movement in our government. Had Sanders or Trump won we would be following Turkey in purging these terrorist funded political figures and media hacks. Hopefully this gets turned around and these Islamic terrorist organizations are no longer able to buy Congressmen. They haven’t gotten a free trip to Turkey since ‘15. USA Today published a list of compromised political figures years ago. Another list published by Daily Sabah includes Kevin Cahill which explains why Cahill is publishing his attacks on Cuomo in the far right National Review. If you look where Gulen has influence in the world you quickly find out Stockholm Sweden killing all their seniors was this group. They currently control the largest chain of charter schools in the US employing more foreign teachers on H1B visas than Google has visas. They operate in 26 states requiring their cult members to give cash kickbacks to stay in the US which gets funneled to terrorists around the globe. Estimates are that $500,000,000 in taxpayer funds are skimmed off for terrorist purposes. The film “Killing Ed” is about this. American political figures are hired by Americans to work for Americans not foreign geo political actors who use violence to overthrow countries. They were cultivated by Graham Fuller. Fuller’s big “political Islam” plan was shown to be a threat when his nephews bombed the Boston Marathon. You might remember him from the Tom Cruise movie about the guns for narcotics in South America. He’s the guy portrayed by the actor with the red hair and mustache. The long knives for Cuomo have handles held by foreign terrorists.
Here are some facts about the Gulen movement;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BClen_movement
https://m.dw.com/en/gulen-fethullah/t-41595189
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosiegray/secretive-turkish-movement-buys-us-influence
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-02/turkey-uses-u-s-courts-to-pursue-schools-it-says-fund-dissident
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/17/668898939/trumps-says-extraditing-turkish-cleric-fethullah-gulen-is-not-under-consideratio
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/17/turkish-gulen-supporters-fleeing-crackdown-seek-asylum-new-jersey/4006257002/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36855846
… Intel, you should put the pipe down, get outside, maybe a little gardening, or maybe even take a hike. Just saying?
Here I will shorten this up for ya’……..Biden is clueless bafoon, as is Cuomo the nursing home killer….Cuomo needs to go…period…….Give the bridge name back to the Indians….we dont need to be reminded of his clown father either……
Oh There’s a buffoon (correct spelling, duh) alright! You just might want to look in the mirror thar, Jaymes/with a ‘Y’ Nohns, whilst yer’ pointing that buffoonery finger about.
BS is your screen name? Say no more, we already know…….
I reserved judgement until the other day. The results of the special investigation (of which Cuomo himself insisted we wait for (he was just buying time)), which clearly corroborates the women’s testimonies. Also,AG James concludes the same.
This process honored the women who had the courage to speak by investigating their stories. Democrats and Republicans agree (wow!) that it’s time for him to move on. All Cuomo has been able to do in his defense is draw on an Italian-American stereotype of the handsy, touchy, kisser of everyone and deny anything that does not cast that trope in a good light. He has also used his power to try to destroy these women and anyone refusing to carry out his character assassinations. It’s time for him to go before he does more damage.
I agree with Mark Smith, sounds too much like a bit of political maneuvering putting pressure on an opposing political viewpoint. It would not be fair if Trump walks for more serious offenses while Gov. Cuomo loses. Let him pay a fine and attend counseling. Trump plays softball and Cuomo hardball, I don’t think so. How do we know the women’s stories weren’t embellished with emotional politics ? How do we know that ? This is not over.
… For those of you who post thing’s, without even the slightest essence work, read a little, educate yourselves on a subject, maybe a shred of research even, before posting, as too see if what they post has the tiniest amount of merit…
… I will answer your last very ignorant question of your silly post…
… There is a whole investigation, with a final report, press release from the Attorney General’s Office, with all the answers to your silly question. Here, I will cut and paste it, for you to read, and be able to answer your own silly question…
… I will now answer why trump and andy, thou mirror images of each other, personalities speaking, ego’s or id’s if you will, are being treated differently in each own’s cases of sexual harassment, is that donald, paid his indiscretions away with his wealth, poor loser andy used his governmental powers too attack away his sexually motivated advances, dissenters, with extreme prejudice. Read the report, he emailed aides too discredit and attack them each, after they told him no. He tried, and destroy thier careers with false refrences, etc. …
… How can a person govern with a dozen civil lawsuits going on at the same time, criminal investigations, Impeachment trials and remember he used his office of the Governor of the State of New York, filed false documents, and harrased these woman, on duty, as it were, where they were underlings, and powerless, too his creepy advances…
… If he does not resign, he will be a record, as impeachments go, knowing there is not one, in opposition no not one. No one from his own party. It will be a unanimous vote, by the end of the week…
… The criminality, as the devil, is in the details, and if you wish to be uninformed and obtuse about the details, then posting silly, easy answerable questions in defense, of a creep, and an awful and, profiligate governor, I might add, is ill-advised.
https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2021/independent-investigators-find-governor-cuomo-sexually-harassed-multiple-women
I agree, BS, with your comparison of Trump and Cuomo. It is well documented that Cuomo used his governmental powers to try to destroy the women who spoke up about sexual harassment and those in office that refused to abide Cuomo’s corruption. He’s got to go. Thanks for taking the time to break it down.
Food for thought on this subject by Natasha Lennard:
https://theintercept.com/2021/08/04/andrew-cuomo-sexual-harassment/