By Arya Hodjat
Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, says she resigned in 2018 after he forcibly kissed her during a meeting.
Boylan — who is running for Manhattan Borough President — had previously accused Cuomo of repeated harassment, but she didn’t offer many details until she published a Medium post on Wednesday.
“My boss soon informed me that the Governor had a ‘crush’ on me,” Boylan wrote. “It was an uncomfortable but all-too-familiar feeling: the struggle to be taken seriously by a powerful man who tied my worth to my body and my appearance.”
Boylan alleged that Cuomo had compared her to a former girlfriend, and asked her to play strip poker. “Telling my truth isn’t about seeking revenge. I was proud to work in the Cuomo Administration. For so long I had looked up to the Governor. But his abusive behavior needs to stop,” she wrote.
The allegations come at a moment of political peril for the longtime governor, once a liberal darling for his Emmy-winning TV hits at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. He’s under fire for his handling of COVID-19 in nursing homes and clouded by allegations of bullying and strong-arming legislators, while a bipartisan group of state lawmakers are seeking to curb his emergency powers.
According to Boylan, the kiss occurred “after a one-on-one briefing with the Governor to update him on economic and infrastructure projects.”
“We were in his New York City office on Third Avenue. As I got up to leave and walk toward an open door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips,” she wrote.
After the kiss, Boylan said, she walked by the desk of a fellow Cuomo staffer, Stephanie Benton. Boylan’s Medium post also included a 2016 screenshot, purportedly from Benton, stating that the governor wanted Boylan to know she “could be sisters” with alleged Cuomo ex Lisa Shields, “except you’re the better-looking sister,” the screenshot read.
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