A version of this column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated August 13, 2021
Last week in this column, I wrote about Governor Cuomo’s history of hypocrisy with respect to sexual harassment, having vocally called for zero tolerance for it for years while perpetrating it himself, and I again reiterated my opinion from four months prior that he must resign. On Tuesday, August 10, a day after media reports stated that people close to Cuomo said he was prepared to fight, he announced his resignation, effective August 24.
At one point during his press conference where he announced he was stepping down, the PowerPoint presentation that is always displayed on the split screen alongside him read, “I can’t do this anymore,” as if this has been so hard on him. Eleven women were brave enough to share their stories of how Cuomo groped, kissed or made suggestive comments to them, but it is quite evident that many more than just eleven women who worked around him found themselves saying at some point, “I can’t do this anymore.”
Shortly before Cuomo announced his resignation, his personal lawyer, Rita Glavin, had held a press conference, refuting the claims of sexual harassment, at one point offering that “The Governor did not mean to grope her” as a defense against one of the allegations. That press conference of Glavin’s, just prior to Cuomo revealing he was stepping down, was a continuation of her presentation four days earlier, again attacking the women who had been at the receiving end of the Governor’s terrible behavior, insinuating that they all fabricated their stories and that Attorney General Tish James had acted improperly, so as to get Cuomo.
“Those in his inner circle who abetted his actions need to be held accountable because it is clear the workplace culture he fostered was enabled by aides who allowed it…”
After Cuomo’s lawyer had refuted one allegation of sexual assault against him by claiming that since the woman continued working for hours with the governor and others after that, joking, and eating snacks, “the timeline disproves the report’s narrative,” survivors shared their stories of how they acted following sexual assaults. Among the many women who recounted in graphic detail their painful memories, Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou tweeted, “After my teacher assaulted me, after I was screaming and crying…I went to my next class and then had lunch. Where he approached me again.”
The reason why so many women who have been sexually assaulted or raped have these similar stories about how their actions immediately following would not convey to anyone what they had just experienced is the same reason so many predatory men feel they can get away with it; because for far too long, women have not been believed and these men have been able to get away with it.
Cuomo’s resignation is not the end of this. Those in his inner circle who abetted his actions need to be held accountable because it is clear the workplace culture he fostered was enabled by aides who allowed it, whether through their direct assistance or negligent silence.
State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has announced that impeachment proceedings will be suspended, but as Cuomo faces three separate criminal investigations in Albany, Manhattan, and Westchester, the Assembly must continue the impeachment process. Cuomo should have resigned immediately. There is no need for the Governor to give two weeks’ notice before leaving. If he plans to string this out for fourteen additional days, impeachment should move ahead, in which case it could lead to him being prohibited from ever running for office in New York again. He likely counted on the Assembly dropping impeachment, which should not be happening.
After four months of holding out, it took only one week for Cuomo to announce his resignation, following the report released by Attorney General Letitia James, New York’s first woman to hold that office. And two weeks after his resignation announcement, Kathy Hochul will be the 57th person to be sworn in as the Governor of New York, and the first woman to ever hold that office.
The women that are most important in all of this are Lindsey Boylan, Charlotte Bennett, Anna Ruch, Ana Liss, Alyssa McGrath, Virginia Limmiatis, Kaitlin (an aide whose last name has been withheld), Brittany Commisso, and the state trooper and two state employees who remain unnamed. Their courage to share their painful experiences and speak out against someone with a great deal of power is inspiring.
