NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Two more women have come forward to New York Magazine with allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo as pressure mounts for the governor to resign over his sexual harassment and nursing home scandals.
In an op-ed published in New York Magazine on Friday, former Politico New York reporter Jessica Bakeman claims the governor inappropriately touched her in 2014 while taking a photo at a holiday party in the New York State Capitol Building.
"He took my hand, as if to shake it, then refused to let go. He put his other arm around my back, his hand on my waist, and held me firmly in place while indicating to a photographer he wanted us to pose for a picture," Bakeman writes. "Keeping his grip on me as I practically squirmed to get away from him, the governor turned my body to face a different direction for yet another picture. He never let go of my hand."
She claims he then turned to her and in front of her Albany press corps colleagues said “I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable? I thought we were going steady.”
Two years earlier, Bakeman said the governor grabbed her hand, pulled her into his body and put his arm around her shoulder during a reception for an outgoing communications staffer at the executive mansion.
"He left it there, and kept me pinned next to him, for several minutes as he finished telling his story," she wrote.
Bakeman said that the governor never let her forget that she was a woman.
Cuomo addressed the allegation on a conference call with reporters Friday.
“Is it possible that I have taken a picture with someone, who after the fact, says they were uncomfortable with the pose and the picture? Yes. And that’s what you’re hearing about," the governor said. “I have taken thousands of pictures – I never meant to make anyone feel uncomfortable. I never meant to make anyone feel awkward. There are times where I go to take a picture with a person and then I can feel that they’re standoffish or something, and I respect that. I never took a picture with a person who said, ‘I’m uncomfortable,’ and then did it anyway. But, yes, I apologize for people who I have taken pictures with and who after the fact said they were uncomfortable with that picture.”
In a second New York Magazine report published Friday, a former staffer said the governor grabbed her "in a kind of dance pose" at a 2016 fundraiser and later, when she was hired by his office, claims that she was "mentally and verbally abused" by Cuomo and his staff.
The woman, identified only as Kaitlin, said that while attending the fundraiser for the governor, hosted by the lobbying firm where she worked at the time, she felt uncomfortable and embarrassed by their encounter, calling it "the weirdest interaction I’ve ever had in my life."
That same week, the governor's office called her to interview her for a job even though she said she never gave out her contact information.
“We all knew that this was only because of what I looked like,” she told New York Magazine. “Why else would you ask someone to come in two days after you had a two-minute interaction at a party?”
She claims that once she took the job, the governor asked abouot her dating life and often made comments about her looks and clothing. She also said that the governor once threatened to end her career after losing a call that she was transfering.
She said the governor never touched her inappropriately or made any explicit sexual overtures, but does feel that she was “verbally and mentally abused by him and his staff."
At least six other women have come forward to accuse the governor of sexual harassment or misconduct and inappropriate behavior. In the most serious allegation, a female aide told the Times Union of Albany that the governor had reached under her shirt and fondled her after summoning her to his official residence.
The governor on Friday told reporters, "I did not do what has been alleged, period."
He insisted that he will not resign as more than a dozen members of New York's congressional delegation joined their colleagues in Albany in calling for the governor to step down.
The attorney general's office is coordinating an investigation into the allegations and Cuomo said, "I’m going to cooperate and wait for the reviews so we can actually have the facts, and then we can have an intelligent conversation."
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