Third Ex-Aide Of NY Governor Brings Forth Allegations Of Inappropriate Treatment -Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2021) Yet another former aide of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has accused him of inappropriate behavior, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Ana Liss, 35, who worked as a policy and operations aide to Cuomo in 2013-2015 told the newspaper on Saturday that she first perceived the governor's conduct, which included touching her on the lower back and kissing her hand, as harmless flirtations.

Over time, Liss said she started to regard Cuomo's behavior as patronizing and inappropriate.

Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Cuomo, told The Wall Street Journal on Saturday that "Reporters and photographers have covered the governor for 14 years watching him kiss men and women and posing for pictures. At the public open-house mansion reception, there are hundreds of people, and he poses for hundreds of pictures. That's what people in politics do."

On Wednesday, Cuomo apologized to former colleagues who had accused him of sexual harassment. The governor stressed that he was not going to resign without the outcome of a state probe into the allegations against him.

Two former aides came forward with sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo in February. Charlotte Bennett, who worked as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration last year, told The New York Times that the governor had asked her intimate personal questions, such as whether she "had ever been with an older man.

" Another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, detailed several harassment incidents involving the governor. She said Cuomo kissed her in his Manhattan office and asked her to play strip poker during a plane ride.

The governor has repeatedly denied all inappropriate behavior, stressing that he never intended to make anyone uncomfortable but admitting that he can be "playful" and sometimes teases people in "a good natured way."

New York Attorney-General Letitia James announced on Monday that her office was moving ahead to investigate the matter after the allegations led to calls for an independent probe, his resignation or impeachment. At the age of 63, the governor has been in office for a decade.

Aside from the accusations of impropriety, the state attorney general's office is also investigating Cuomo for his handling of New York's coronavirus outbreak, particularly the alleged coverup of the deaths of people who originally contracted the virus in state nursing homes that apparently did not receive due care.