A former member of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration offered new details Wednesday of sexual harassment claims she made against him, saying he once kissed her on the lips without consent after a private meeting. Lindsey Boylan, an economic advisor in Cuomo’s administration, said that during her more than three years working for him Cuomo “would go out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs,” amongst other accusations.
Boylan wrote in a blog post on the website Medium that the kiss happened after she gave Cuomo a one-on-one briefing on economic and infrastructure projects in his New York City office. Boylan, a Democrat running for Manhattan borough president, confirmed that she had posted the blog and said decided to elaborate because she hoped it would empower other women to come forward. She said the governor created a culture of pervasive sexual harassment, and that two other former Cuomo staffers have privately confided in her that they were also sexually harassed by the governor in the workplace.
The new detailed account of Boylan’s allegations against Cuomo comes amid mounting criticism against the Governor. Boylan had tweeted back in December that Cuomo sexually harassed her, but she didn’t reveal details and declined interview requests. At the time, Cuomo denied that he did anything inappropriate. Cuomo’s spokesperson Caitlin Girouard said Wednesday that all of Boylan’s “claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false.”
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