{"id":29809,"date":"2021-08-11T13:39:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T18:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/new-york-gov-andrew-cuomo-announces-resignation-after-damning-harassment-report\/"},"modified":"2021-08-11T13:39:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T18:39:06","slug":"new-york-gov-andrew-cuomo-announces-resignation-after-damning-harassment-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/new-york-gov-andrew-cuomo-announces-resignation-after-damning-harassment-report\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Announces Resignation After Damning Harassment Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo<\/a> (D) announced on Tuesday that he would resign, following calls for his departure after an investigation by the New York state attorney general found he\u2019d sexually harassed multiple female employees, violating federal and state law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNew York tough means New York loving, and I love New York,\u201d Cuomo said at an emotional news conference, where he said he will resign from his position in 14 days. \u201cAnd I love you. And everything I have ever done has been motivated by that love. And I would never want to be unhelpful in any way. And I think that given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nine women accused the governor of sexual harassment and inappropriate comments earlier this year, sparking an independent investigation in March. The resulting report<\/a>, filed in August, painted a \u201cdeeply disturbing yet clear picture\u201d of Cuomo\u2019s behavior, New York state Attorney General Letitia James (D) said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In at least one instance, investigators found that the governor and his senior team actively retaliated against a woman who accused Cuomo of sexual harassment.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cGov. Cuomo\u2019s administration fostered a toxic workplace that enabled harassment and created a hostile work environment where staffers did not feel comfortable coming forward with complaints about sexual harassment due to a climate of fear and given the power dynamics,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo originally responded by forcefully denying the accusations<\/a>, prompting New York lawmakers, including U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand<\/a> (D-N.Y.),\u00a0to call for him<\/a>\u00a0to step down. President Joe Biden also voiced support<\/a> for Cuomo\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On Tuesday, Cuomo apologized for comments he made toward women, but denied that he sexually harassed anyone.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThere is a difference between alleged improper conduct and concluding sexual harassment,\u201d Cuomo said. \u201cNow don\u2019t get me wrong, this is not to say that there are not 11 women who I truly offended. There are. And for that I deeply, deeply apologize. I thought a hug and putting my arm around a staffer for a picture was friendly, but she found it to be too forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI have slipped and called people honey, sweetheart and darling,\u201d he added. \u201cI meant it to be endearing, but women found it dated and offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo\u2019s resignation cuts short a three-term governorship and upends the career of a onetime Democratic Party<\/a> star, marking one of the most dramatic turns of political fortune in recent U.S. history.\u00a0New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will replace Cuomo when his resignation is effective in two weeks, becoming the 57th governor of New York and first woman to hold the office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI agree with Governor Cuomo\u2019s decision to step down,\u201d Hochul said in a statement Tuesday. \u201cIt is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuomo won praise<\/a>, and even adoration<\/a>, for his reassuring daily televised press conferences.\u00a0Politics watchers who hailed his poise credited him for offering a taste of crisis leadership that then-President Donald Trump<\/a> did not provide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But instead of catapulting a regional power broker to lasting national influence, Cuomo\u2019s brief, TV-fueled rise as a folk hero \u2015 complete with an Emmy Award and a seven-figure book deal<\/a> \u2015 ended up\u00a0<\/strong>foreshadowing\u00a0<\/strong>the pride before a fall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Beneath the surface-level adulation, Cuomo\u2019s critics on the left and right had, for months,\u00a0blasted the governor<\/a> for a decision to effectively force ill-equipped nursing homes to admit COVID-19-positive patients discharged from hospitals during the first, most severe months of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo\u2019s refusal to share data about the scale of COVID-19-related deaths in those nursing homes with state lawmakers, and his decision to inoculate the homes from lawsuits related to their handling of patients during this period, only added to his skeptics\u2019 suspicion.<\/p>\n

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Cuomo\u2019s success at keeping local criticism out of national headlines came to an abrupt end in late January when James, the state attorney general,\u00a0released a report<\/a>\u00a0about his management of the nursing home crisis. James, a former Cuomo ally, concluded that due in part to a refusal to count the deaths of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 in hospitals among the official tallies of the coronavirus\u2019s impact, the Cuomo administration had been reporting 50% fewer nursing home COVID-19 deaths in the state than there had actually been.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Two weeks later, someone leaked details<\/a> of a conversation between senior Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa and state lawmakers in which she admitted that Cuomo had postponed the release of comprehensive nursing home death data for fear that the Trump administration would take advantage of it politically.<\/p>\n

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Of course, other Democratic governors targeted by Trump did not respond<\/a> by trying to concealing their states\u2019 data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And with Trump gone from office, Cuomo no longer had the Republican president as a foil. It was suddenly open season on the man whom news outlets had called \u201cAmerica\u2019s governor<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The FBI and a Brooklyn office of President Joe Biden\u2019s Department of Justice announced an investigation<\/a> into Cuomo\u2019s handling of the nursing home data. And a threatening call<\/a> from Cuomo to New York Assemblymember Ron Kim (D), who had been outspoken against the nursing home policy long before it made national headlines, elicited multiple days of negative media coverage, bringing to light a penchant for bullying<\/a> that had long been common knowledge in Albany.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo\u2019s alleged cover-up of nursing home COVID-19 deaths was already the most significant scandal of his decade-long governorship.<\/p>\n

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Then, another storm hit. In late February, Lindsey Boylan<\/a>, a former aide to Cuomo, penned a detailed account of unwanted sexual advances from the governor, including a suggestion that they \u201cplay strip poker\u201d and an unsolicited kiss on the lips. Four more women, three of them also former aides, came forward in quick succession to accuse the governor of similar conduct.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Charlotte Bennett<\/a>, a former assistant to Cuomo, recounted how the governor asked her whether she had sex with older men.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo denied the details of Boylan\u2019s story, but not those provided by Bennett.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Instead, he asked the public to withhold judgment pending an independent investigation of the incident. He initially sought to have a former judge of his choosing conduct the probe, but ultimately agreed<\/a> to let James oversee the investigation. (She tapped attorneys from third-party law firms for the task.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo also claimed he had not intended to indicate sexual interest in his accusers, even as he apologized<\/a> for giving Bennett and other women such an impression.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation,\u201d he said. \u201cTo the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The apology would not be enough to retain the support of key political allies. After two more former aides accused<\/a> Cuomo of making them uncomfortable with comments and physical gestures on March 6, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins<\/a> (D) joined calls for his resignation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo\u2019s troubles grew on March 9, when a female aide went public with an accusation that Cuomo had groped her breast\u00a0<\/strong>during an evening visit to his mansion. She was the sixth woman to accuse him of sexual misconduct. Her claim was the most serious yet; the charge was referred to the Albany police.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo denied the allegation from the unnamed aide, but faced increasingly uncomfortable questions about his refusal to resign. As governor, he has called on at least six elected officials<\/a> to resign over allegations of sexual misconduct or other impropriety, including Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D). Northam, who admitted in February 2019 to wearing blackface<\/a> in the mid-1980s, successfully resisted calls for his departure.<\/p>\n

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The dams began to break on March 11, when 59 Democratic state lawmakers in both chambers of the New York legislature called for Cuomo\u2019s resignation and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) announced the initiation of an impeachment inquiry against Cuomo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The consolidation of state legislature Democrats against Cuomo helped push Democrats who represent New York in Congress over the edge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Almost all of New York\u2019s congressional Democrats<\/a>, including progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of House Democrats\u2019 campaign arm, joined the calls for Cuomo\u2019s resignation on March 12. Gillibrand and Schumer followed shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rep. Jerry Nadler (D), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and dean of New York\u2019s congressional delegation, was also among those who concluded it was time for Cuomo to go.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe repeated accusations against the governor, and the manner in which he has responded to them, have made it impossible for him to continue to govern at this point,\u201d Nadler said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuomo initially resisted these calls, but the tide of allegations kept growing. On March 19, one of Cuomo\u2019s aides, Alyssa McGrath,\u00a0told The New York Times<\/a> that Cuomo had, on more than one occasion, made sexually suggestive remarks to her and stared down her shirt. McGrath said she considered the treatment \u201csexual harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She said she felt that Cuomo subjected her and the unnamed aide, who has accused Cuomo of unwanted groping, to consistently flirtatious innuendo. The unnamed aide confided in McGrath about the alleged groping shortly after it occurred, McGrath told the Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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McGrath came forward because she was angry at Cuomo\u2019s public declarations that he had never \u201ctouched anyone inappropriately,\u201d she told the Times.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI have no doubt in my mind that all of these accusers are telling the truth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ryan Grenoble contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

(Article originally published on HuffPost.com<\/a>: www.huffpost.com\/entry\/new-york-governor-andrew-cuomo-resigns_n_60466e3bc5b69197db28d9fa?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning%20Email%208-11-21&utm_term=us-morning-email<\/a>)<\/div>\n
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The post New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Announces Resignation After Damning Harassment Report<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced on Tuesday that he would resign, following calls for his departure after an investigation by the New York state attorney general found he\u2019d sexually harassed multiple female employees, violating federal and state law. \u201cNew York tough means New York loving, and I love <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> August 11, 2021<\/p>\n

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