Assembly Probe Finds ‘Overwhelming Evidence’ Of Sexual Harassment By Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo
CBSNewYork ^ | November 22, 2021 at 2:08 pm | CBSNewYork Team
Posted on 11/22/2021, 2:55:54 PM by Spktyr
Investigators Also Say Cuomo Inappropriately Used Staffers To Work On His Book And Wasn't Fully Transparent Regarding Nursing Home Deaths
ALBANY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — The New York State Assembly Judiciary Committee released the findings of its investigation into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo Monday.
The investigation covered not only the sexual harassment case brought by Attorney General Letitia James, but also COVID-19 nursing home deaths, questions about whether Cuomo’s staff improperly worked on his book, and allegations he covered up safety concerns at the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.
“We conclude that there is overwhelming evidence that the former governor engaged in sexual harassment,” the investigators wrote.
They say they’ve reviewed more than 600,000 pages of documents, including text messages, emails and more.
As CBS2’s political reporter Marcia Kramer reports, it was a dramatic slap in the face for the once-powerful chief executive who rose to national prominence on the strength of his handling of the pandemic.
There are many disturbing findings in the long-awaited Assembly Judiciary Committee report: Salacious details about his workplace conduct, clear evidence he forced underlings to work on his book on company time and underreporting of nursing home deaths.
Kramer asked Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Lavine what would have happened to Cuomo had he not quit.
“I know you say that, under the constitution, since he resigned, he couldn’t be impeached. Had he not resigned, would this report have led to his impeachment?” Kramer asked.
“I believe it would have,” Lavine said.
Lavine is talking about the exhaustive report about Cuomo’s behavior in office that involved interviews and depositions from more than 200 people, ranging from the women he is accused of sexually harassing, to top aides, like secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa, whose job also included a role as “the key point person” between the governor and the publisher of his book on the pandemic.
Lavine said the combination of the sexual harassment, the controversial book deal and a finding he undercounted nursing home deaths “are all factors that result in Governor Cuomo being unfit for office.”
Although much has been made about the groping incident involving aide Brittany Commisso, equally disturbing are the details of how he harassed others who worked for him.
The report said a female state trooper told investigators that Cuomo “touched her inappropriately on multiple occasions — including by running his finger slowly down her spine, running his hand across her stomach, kissing and making numerous inappropriate and offensive comments to her.”
Cuomo then told her “not to tell ‘anyone about [their] conversations.'”
He is also accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to a doctor and former state health officials before and after the doctor gave him a COVID test during a television press event in May 2020 – some of the behavior blatantly public.
“You make that gown look nice,” Cuomo said during the event.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who moved up from lieutenant governor after Cuomo resigned, insisted her administration is not run like an old boy’s locker room.
“We’ve changed the culture from day one. A culture of transparency, accountability and ensuring that everyone feels respected in the workforce. So anyone who works for our administration knows that it’s a whole new day, and I’m proud of that,” Hochul said.
In their conclusion, the authors said Cuomo:
Engaged in multiple instances of sexual harassment, including by creating a hostile work environment and engaging in sexual misconduct
Utilized state resources and property, including work by Executive Chamber staff, to write, publish, and promote his Book regarding his handling of the COVID-19 crisis – a project for which he was guaranteed at least $5.2 million in personal profit; and at the same time
Was not fully transparent regarding the number of nursing home residents who died as a result of COVID-19.
“As noted, we are mindful of the ongoing law enforcement interests into several of the matters covered in this report. We have prepared this report with those interests in mind and we are cooperating with any such investigations,” they wrote.
Cuomo’s spokesperson issued a statement in response to the report, calling it “hypocritical” and “revisionist:”
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Any report that uses the Attorney General’s politically biased investigation as a basis is going to be equally flawed. To date we have not been allowed the opportunity to review evidence in the Assembly’s possession, despite requests to do so and due process was certainly not afforded here.
Once again, the fact that an employee entered and exited the Executive Mansion as part of her job was never in dispute and once again this report offers no evidence to support any allegation. What is interesting is that the Assembly didn’t even try to prove Tish James’ bogus “11 legal violations,” and instead only focused on two. When all the facts are fairly weighed there will be none.
To be clear, the people who volunteered to work on the book were people mentioned in the book and therefore they were involved to make sure the representations concerning them were accurate. Staff who volunteered took time off, evidencing that they were volunteering and not on state time. Any suggestion to the contrary is Assembly hype. The people who volunteered were senior members in the administration and were highly sophisticated in terms of official activities and volunteer activities and had performed both many times in the past. During the time period in question Robert Mujica, Beth Garvey, James Malatras, Melissa DeRosa, Gareth Rhodes, and Stephanie Benton, all mentioned in the book, reviewed it at no cost to the state. Junior staff working on Covid materials were not helping on the book, but were helping on the state’s Covid response.
The Assembly report is hypocritical, revisionist and damns themselves as the Assembly effectively forces employees to volunteer on their political partisan campaigns as standard practice and if they want to debate it we welcome it. Let them start by disclosing which staffers also do political work. Will the Judiciary committee members that raised the issue disclose their staff members who volunteer to work on their campaigns and if not why not?
They apparently couldn’t find a similar distraction from priority testing after we pointed out the hypocrisy that multiple Assembly members, including members of this very committee, along with staff and family members, were provided testing when asked. That’s why the matter was dropped altogether from the report. However, the Assembly’s duplicity must not be allowed to go unanswered. They must disclose what members, staff and family members received priority testing. They were highly critical of priority testing, but are now silent on who in their house received such testing. They must stop their cover-up.
The conclusions that the DOH report on nursing home COVID transmissions was accurate, that there was no evidence that the March 25 order resulted in additional fatalities and that we received constant reassurances from the Thruway Authority that the bridge was safe by no means suggests that this was a fair and balanced report.
The truth will come out.
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This is not the final chapter in the Cuomo saga. The U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn is investigating Cuomo, as are several district attorneys, including Westchester prosecutors who are reportedly looking at the allegation made by the state trooper.
Cuomo is also facing criminal charges stemming from an allegation he groped Commisso at the executive mansion in 2019.
Last week, the New York state Joint Commission on Public Ethics voted to rescind its approval of Cuomo’s $5.1 book deal.
