Former aide says Cuomo kissed her, suggested strip poker
A former member of New York Governor Andrew Cuomos administration who previously accused him of sexual harassment has offered new details, saying he once kissed her on the lips without consent after a private meeting.
Lindsey Boylan on Wednesday said that during her more than three years working as an economic adviser in the administration, Cuomo would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs, compared her to one of his rumoured ex-girlfriends and once joked they should play strip poker.
Boylan, a Democrat running for Manhattan borough president, wrote in a post on the website Medium that the kiss happened after she gave Cuomo a one-on-one briefing on economic and infrastructure projects in his New York City office.
As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. I was in shock, but I kept walking, she said. The idea that someone might think I held my high-ranking position because of the Governors crush on me was more demeaning than the kiss itself.
Boylan, a former deputy secretary for economic development and special advisor to the governor, tweeted in December that Cuomo sexually harassed her, but she didnt reveal details and declined interview requests.
At the time, Cuomo denied that he did anything inappropriate.
Look, I fought for and I believe a woman has the right to come forward and express her opinion and express issues and concerns that she has, Cuomo told reporters. But its just not true.
Cuomos spokesperson Caitlin Girouard said Wednesday that all of Boylans claims of inappropriate behaviour are quite simply false.
Boylan said she initially spoke up about her experiences because of reports Cuomo was being considered as President Joe Bidens pick for attorney general.
She decided to elaborate, she wrote, because she hoped it would empower other women to come forward. The more detailed account of her allegations against Cuomo comes amid mounting criticism about the work culture around the three-term governor and how he wields his power.
Boylan confirmed that she had posted the blog, but did not respond to a request for further comment.
Boylan joined the administration in the spring of 2015 at Empire State Development, which runs the states economic development programmes.
She said she first met Cuomo in person at an event at a Madison Square Garden in January of 2016.
My boss soon informed me that the Governor had a crush on me, Boylan said. It was an uncomfortable but all-too-familiar feeling: the struggle to be taken seriously by a powerful man who tied my worth to my body and my appearance.
In her Medium post, Boylan included a screenshot of November 4, 2016, text message exchange with her mother, in which Boylan said the governor was being creepy and has a crush on me. She also said the governors staff needlessly inquired about whether she planned to go to events he was attending.
She also posted a screenshot of a December 14, 2016, email in which an aide told Boylan the governor suggested she look up pictures of a woman he was rumoured to have dated. You could be sisters. Except youre the better looking sister, the aide wrote.
She said after a December 2016 holiday party for senior state employees in Albany, the governor had an aide summon her to his office, where he showed her a cigar box from former President Bill Clinton, under whom Cuomo served as US housing secretary.
Cuomo didnt touch me, Boylan wrote, but she said the encounter made her deeply uncomfortable.
During an October 2017 jet flight, she said Cuomo quipped lets play strip poker as they sat with a press aide and a state trooper. She said she brushed it off with a joke, sarcastically saying, Thats exactly what I was thinking, but privately found the comment upsetting.
The governors office confirmed that Boylan flew with the governor on four occasions in October 2017, but released a statement from four people who were on those flights who said the joke about strip poker never happened.
We were on each of these October flights and this conversation did not happen, said a statement attributed to former senior advisor John Maggiore, former Empire State Development CEO Howard Zemsky, Cuomos former press secretary Dani Lever and former first deputy press secretary Abbey Fashouer Collins.
Boylan said when she was offered a promotion in 2018, she initially turned the job down because she didnt want to work more closely with Cuomo. She said she agreed to take the position after the administration agreed to let her keep her old office on a separate floor.
Boylan claimed that besides her own experiences, the governor created a culture of pervasive sexual harassment, including making unflattering comments about the weight of female colleagues, ridiculing them about their romantic relationships and having roses delivered to female staff on Valentines Day.
Cuomo was in a long-term relationship with Food Network star Sandra Lee throughout the timeframe laid out in Boylans accusations. Cuomo announced his split from Lee in September 2019.
Boylan said two other former Cuomo staffers have privately confided in her that they were also sexually harassed by the governor in the workplace, including one who lived in constant fear, scared of what would happen to her if she rejected the Governors advances. She did not identify them.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)