NY AG James Receives Referral for Independent Investigator into Harassment Allegations

By Yehudit Garmaise

     Gov. Andrew Cuomo has finally provided the referral that is necessary for New York Attorney General Letitia James to launch her investigation into the harassment claims of two of the governor’s former employees.

    Yesterday, New York Attorney General Letitia James called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to provide the formal referral that would allow her to appoint an independent investigator.

   However, after Gov. Cuomo twice tried to name one of his appointees, top state appeals Judge Janet DiFiore, to choose an investigator, James immediately rejected that idea as unserious, and perhaps biased, attempt to discover the truth, and she reiterated her authority to choose an independent investigator.

    “While I have deep respect for Chief Judge DiFiore, I am the duly elected attorney general, and it is my responsibility to carry out this task, per Executive Law,” tweeted James.

    Lindsey Boylan, who worked for the state's economic development agency at the time and is now running for Manhattan borough president and Charlotte Bennett, who worked as an executive assistant and a health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration have provided to the media their many accounts of interactions with the governor that made them feel uncomfortable.

    Gov. Cuomo has denied the allegations and this morning, excuses his behavior with a lackluster apology.

    “I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted,” the governor said. “To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.”

   However, not many were buying Gov. Cuomo’s half-hearted attempts to save face.

  First, this morning Mayor Bill de Blasio dismissed the governor’s explanations that he was “just joking around.

   “That [insincerely apology] even further confirms a mindset from a whole other time that we have left behind,” the mayor said.

    Bennett, who is one of Cuomo’s accusers also was not impressed with the governor’s attempts to excuse himself.

   In a statement, she wrote, that Cuomo “has refused to acknowledge or take responsibility for his predatory behavior.”

(Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)