NEW YORK (AP) – A second former aide has filed sexual harassment allegations against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who responded Saturday with a statement that he never made any progress toward her and never wanted to be inappropriate. .
Charlotte Bennett, a health policy adviser in the Democratic governor’s administration until November, told The New York Times that Cuomo asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life, including whether she had ever had sex with older men.
Another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, a former deputy secretary of economic development and the governor’s special adviser, recently accused Cuomo of subjecting her to an unwanted kiss and inappropriate comments. Cuomo denied the allegations.
Cuomo said in a statement Saturday that Bennett was a “hardworking and valued member of our team during COVID” and that he “has every right to speak.”
He said he intended to mentor Bennett, who has 25 of them.
“I never advanced towards Ms. Bennett nor did I intend to act in any way that was inappropriate,” Cuomo’s statement said. “The last thing I ever wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported.”
Cuomo, however, said he had authorized an external review of Bennett’s allegations.
The governor’s special counsel, Beth Garvey, said the review would be done by a former federal judge, Barbara Jones.
“I ask all New Yorkers to wait for the conclusions of the review so that they know the facts before any judgment is pronounced,” Cuomo said. “I will not have any further comments until the review is complete.”
Bennett told the Times that her most disturbing interaction with Cuomo happened last June 5 when she was alone with him at his Albany office. He said Cuomo began asking him about his personal life, his thoughts on romantic relationships, including whether age was a factor, and said he was open to relationships with women in their twenties.
Bennett said he also dodged a question from Cuomo about hugs saying he missed hugging his parents. He said Cuomo never touched her.
“I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me and I felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” Bennett told the Times. “And I was wondering how I was going to get out of it and I was supposed to finish my job.”
Bennett said he informed Cuomo’s chief of staff, Jill DesRosiers, of the interaction less than a week later. She said she was moved to another workplace on the opposite side of the Capitol. In late June, he said he also testified to a special lawyer for Cuomo.
Garvey acknowledged that the complaint had been filed and that Bennett had been moved as a result to a position in which he was already interested.
Bennett told the newspaper that he finally decided not to push for any further action by the administration. He said he liked his new job and that he “wanted to move on.”
The allegations did not lead to any action against Cuomo at that time.
Jones, who will oversee the investigation, was appointed to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1995. As a judge, he overturned a portion of the Marriage Defense Act that denied federal recognition of same-sex marriage in a sentence. subsequently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
After retiring, he joined the law firm Bracewell LLP, where his work focuses on business compliance and research.
His refereeing work included a 2014 ruling over the suspension of Ray Rice by the NFL for punching his fiancé in an elevator in a video-recorded attack.