Despite repeated refusals to resign, disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo may soon have no choice as disillusioned staffers are now refusing to show up to work, according to a report from the New York Post.
“I hear that most people aren’t even coming into work, and the offices at the Capitol are empty,” an insider told the Post. “He’ll fight and fight and fight, but the staffers I’ve talked to are ready for him to hang up the gloves. Everyone feels like there is an inevitable conclusion — I mean at some point will Biden call on him to step down? They [staffers] just want this torture to stop.”
A total of six women have come forward alleging sexual harassment or misconduct against the governor. The most recent allegation comes from an unnamed female aide who alleges that Cuomo aggressively groped her in a sexually charged manner. Five other women allege a pattern of sexual harassment, ranging from not-so-subtle propositions for sex to inappropriate touching and kissing. On Friday, he seemed to have suggested that he may have had sexual relationships with staffers.
A former aide reports that many staffers are choosing to work remotely or at vaccine sites, rather than show up at executive offices. A current staffer even texted the former aide on Friday saying, “He has to resign now right? (I say for the 15th time this week).”
Cuomo appears to have lost the support of his staff, and they’re eagerly awaiting what they believe to be his inevitable resignation. Five aides have resigned in the past two weeks.
“There’s a deep sense within the governor’s staff that he is guilty of everything, and that is weighing on people,” the ex-aide said. “He had that conversation with Charlotte Bennett. Everyone knows that. Everyone believes that full stop and there’s not a single person who believes she’s telling a word that’s off.”
Charlotte Bennett, 25, a former executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration, alleged that Cuomo groomed and propositioned her for sex. Bennett reported the incident to Cuomo’s chief of staff, and she was transferred to another job away from the governor.
“If that were anyone else — that conversation has to happen once for you to be fired … and he doesn’t seem to understand why that was an evil conversation, emblematic of a methodical approach to take advantage of her,” Bennett said.
Those still at the offices have discovered that Cuomo’s political capital is all but depleted, and their attempts to do state business are meeting resistance.
“The nature of the calls in Cuomo world have changed. The leverage has completely shifted. It always felt like, when Cuomo’s people call, you must figure out how you are going to try to meet the demand in some form or fashion,” the former aide explained to the New York Post. “Now, they call, and there’s almost an eagerness to say ‘F–k you’ without hesitation … and the staff has to say they get it.”
Cuomo has refused to resign on multiple occasions, scoffing at calls from within his own party to step down, and even said he’d have to be impeached in order to leave office. On Monday, New York Republicans filed an impeachment resolution against Cuomo. On Friday, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand both called on him to resign. A majority of U.S. House Democrats from New York have also called on him to resign.
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