NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s first sexual harassment accuser slammed him over his response to the damning attorney general report into his misconduct.
Lindsey Boylan, a former executive staffer and candidate for Manhattan borough president, said Cuomo and his confidants are “gaslighting” and “revictimizing” the woman who came forward, in a Medium essay she published Monday.
“[Cuomo] continues to abuse us. As recently as Saturday, the Governor sent his attack dogs on national television to accuse me of ‘lying,’” she wrote. “He is gaslighting and revictimizing us. He is showing everyone what happens to women when they speak up about harassment and abuse in the workplace.”
The report from Attorney General Letitia James corroborated Boylan’s claims against the governor and his staff: that Cuomo sexually harassed her and was involved in a broad plan to attack Boylan’s character after she first made her accusations against the governor.
“The governor and the executive chamber actively engaged in an effort to discredit her, including by disseminating to the press confidential internal documents that painted her in a negative light,” the report found.
Cuomo has denied the allegations of harassment and abuse, characterizing the report as neither a “full” nor “fair.” He has faced intense pressure to resign as the state Assembly wraps up an impeachment probe into the governor’s behavior,
Boylan in her Medium essay wrote she often “think[s] about how close I came to being viewed as the villain of this story” had the smear campaign been a success. And she denied the idea that Cuomo’s 11 accusers were part of “some kind of twisted conspiracy against him.”
“In reality, each of us made it safer for the next woman to come forward,” Boylan wrote. “Our support of one another is the reason we’re here.”
Boylan also criticized those in power who had not come to their defense before the report was released.
“In some ways, it simply confirms that women are believed only when an investigative report is made public and the evidence is overwhelming,” Boylan added. “It’s a shame that the institutions we uphold as our protectors and advocates — government, political leaders, the media, victims’ and women’s rights organizations — still don’t believe us when a powerful man is involved.”