Lindsey Boylan, a Democratic candidate for Manhattan Borough President and Andrew Cuomo's former aide has accused the New York Governor of sexual harassment during the time she worked as an adviser to him.
"Yes, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years. Many saw it and watched it. I could never anticipate what to expect: would I be grilled on my work (which was very good) or harassed about my looks. Or would it be both in the same conversation? This was the way for years," Boylan said in a tweet on Sunday.
Cuomo's office a 'toxic environment'
Boylan, who describes herself as a progressive on her Twitter account, worked for the governor's administration from 2015 to 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile.
She worked for Empire State Development, the state's economic development public-benefit organization, until March 2018, when she became deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to Cuomo.
"Not knowing what to expect what's the most upsetting part aside from knowing that no one would do a damn thing even when they saw it," Boylan continued. "No one. And I 'know' I am not the only woman."
Explaining her experience of sexual harassment in a series of tweets, Boylan wrote "I'm angry to be put in this situation at all. That because I am a woman, I can work hard my whole life to better myself and help others and yet still fall victim as countless women over generations have. Mostly silently," she wrote.
"I hate that some men, like @NYGovCuomo abuse their power," she added further in the thread.
She later elucidated how her mother was sexually harassed when she got her first real office job. "She was so excited to be taken 'seriously.' Her bossed isolated her and kissed her. She never had that type of job again."
"It was then how I learned how hard it is for women. How hard this world can be for us when we are trying to be taken seriously and help our community. How easily jerks can destroy the lives of women," she said.
"And I promised myself I would never let those kinds of guys win. I would work hard my whole life to put myself in positions of power to change things. To end the violence & corruption. Give voice to the voiceless" she added.
"I am not stopping. I refuse. I will never give up."
Breach of ethics in Cuomo's reign
Cuomo, whom President-elect Joe Biden is considering for the post of Attorney General -- his office has previously been under the scanner of sexual harassment allegations as well. In November 2017, an upstate New York woman said in a federal lawsuit that she was sexually harassed by a state employee, and the governor knew but unfortunately he did nothing to stop it; allegations which the governor's office had denied.
Lisa Marie Cater had then said that former Empire State Development Corp. regional president William "Sam" Hoyt helped her get a job at the Department of Motor Vehicles and then used that as an excuse to harass and assault her starting in 2015.
Cater later admitted to accepting at USD 50,000 payment from Hoyt before he resigned in exchange for her silence, which she said she cannot hold any longer.
Nearly eight months later, in June 2018, a New York State ethics panel unequivocally dismissed the complaint in a letter to Mr Hoyt on Thursday. It said the woman, Lisa Marie Cater, had refused to cooperate with investigators and had demanded an amount from Hoyt in exchange for her silence.
"The commission does not find Ms Cater or any of her claims to be credible," the letter said.
But the decision, which was reported by The Buffalo News and shared by Hoyt's lawyers, invited immediate criticism from government reformers and politicians from both parties, who questioned whether a mostly male panel of commissioners, many of whom Cuomo appointed, could conduct an independent investigation.
