- A former aide to Gov.
Andrew Cuomo of New York came forward with more allegations of harassment. Lindsey Boylan , who worked for Cuomo until 2018, said in an essay that he kissed her without consent.- Cuomo's office disputed Boylan's claims in a statement to Insider, calling them "false."
A former aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York expanded on her allegations of pervasive sexual harassment and abuse in Cuomo's office in an essay published on Medium on Wednesday.
Lindsey Boylan, who worked at a senior level in Cuomo's office until 2018, said that after years of unwanted sexual advances, including inappropriate touching and comments, Cuomo kissed her without her consent in late 2018, leading her to resign.
Boylan, who was a deputy secretary for economic development and special advisor to Cuomo when she left his administration, ran in the 2020 Democratic primary against Rep. Jerry Nadler and is a candidate for Manhattan borough president.
She first came forward with the allegations against Cuomo in a Twitter thread in December, saying that he harassed her and cultivated a "toxic" work environment that included making demeaning comments about women.
At the time, Boylan tweeted that she had "no interest in talking to journalists" about her allegations of mistreatment. "My worst fear is that this continues ... my second worst fear is having to talk about and relive this," she said.
In her essay, Boylan struck a different note.
"Telling my truth isn't about seeking revenge. I was proud to work in the Cuomo Administration. For so long I had looked up to the Governor. But his abusive behavior needs to stop," she wrote.
Insider's attempts to contact Boylan by phone on Wednesday went unanswered.
Cuomo's office denied the claims in Boylan's post. "As we said before, Ms. Boylan's claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false," Caitlin Girouard, Cuomo's press secretary, said in a statement to Insider.
Boylan's Medium post included a screenshot of a 2016 email in which another top aide, Stephanie Benton, wrote that Cuomo said Boylan should "look up Lisa Shields," who was rumored to be an ex-girlfriend of the governor, adding: "You could be sisters. Except you're the better looking sister."
Boylan also included screenshots of messages with her mother from 2016. In one, Boylan said she didn't trust Cuomo because he and his staff kept close track of her whereabouts. Boylan's mother responded, "He is a sexist pig and you should avoid being alone with him!"
Boylan, who is married, wrote that the governor started to make her feel uncomfortable in 2016 when she learned from her supervisor that he had a "crush" on her. From there, she said, Cuomo would find ways to touch her inappropriately and make other unwanted advances, including joking on a plane in October 2017 that they should play strip poker with a press staffer and a New York state trooper sitting next to them.
Cuomo's office disputed her account, saying that flight logs and manifests from October 2017 showed that there was no flight where Boylan was alone with the governor, a press aide, and a state trooper.
John Maggiore, a senior advisor to Cuomo; Howard Zemsky, a former commissioner of the Empire State Development Corporation; and Dani Lever and Abbey Fashouer Collins, former Cuomo press aides, said in a statement, "We were on each of these October flights and this conversation did not happen."
Boylan said the governor "made unflattering comments about the weight of female colleagues" and "ridiculed them about their romantic relationships and significant others."
"He said the reasons that men get women were 'money and power,'" Boylan added.
Boylan wrote that the last straw was when Cuomo kissed her without her consent while they were walking out of his office in New York City.
Cuomo is facing criticism of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York and allegations of abuse, harassment, and retaliation, including from Democratic Assemblyman Ron Kim, who said Cuomo threatened him.