The Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Andrew Cuomo Just Intensified

The following article includes allegations of sexual and workplace harassment.

Only days after Bloomberg reporter Valerie Bauman became the next in a growing number of women to go public with allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate misconduct against current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, two more have come forward. And unlike the five women before Bauman — all of whom are former aides to the governor's office, and who shared their stories of Cuomo's untoward behavior towards them when they were under his employ — the two latest women to most recently accuse Cuomo of similar impropriety currently serve as members of Cuomo's staff. 

In a March 19, 2021, exclusive published by The New York Times, Alyssa McGrath, a 33-year-old aide to Cuomo, described a slew of incidents in which the New York politician purportedly "[ogled] her body, [remarked] on her looks, and [made] suggestive comments to her and another executive aide." While McGrath stated that the governor had never touched her in a suggestive or sexual manner, she also asserted that cumulatively, she regarded his actions as a pattern amounting to sexual harassment against her as a female employee.

So what made McGrath come forward? And was she aware of Cuomo's alleged behavior against other coworkers? Read on to find out.

While Alyssa McGrath is the only current aide so far to come forward to disclose her full identity, The New York Times noted that another aide currently employed by Andrew Cuomo shared her story in Albany's regional newspaper the Times Union on March 10, though did so under the promise of anonymity. Per the Times Union, the unidentified staffer stated that in 2020, Cuomo had groped her at the Executive Mansion in the New York state capital, where Cuomo lives part time, under the guise of having her assist with a technical issue on his mobile phone. 

"She froze when he started doing that stuff to her," McGrath said of the incident, which the unnamed staffer had previously disclosed to her. She then added that Cuomo had "told her specifically not to tell" McGrath of the incident.

McGrath also relayed how, in her purview, Cuomo was able to seemingly get away with the inappropriate behavior she and his other accusers had reportedly experienced. "He has a way of making you feel very comfortable around him, almost like you're his friend," described McGrath. "But then you walk away from the encounter or conversation, in your head going, 'I can't believe I just had that interaction with the governor of New York.'" Per McGrath, Cuomo used this ability to create and sustain a "demeaning office culture, particularly for young women who worked closely with the governor," per The New York Times.

The account current staffer Alyssa McGrath gave to The New York Times in March 2021 about the alleged harassment she has endured as a female employee of Gov. Andrew Cuomo is seemingly, strikingly similar to the stories other women have shared within the past few weeks. 

Lindsey Boylan (pictured above), the first of Cuomo's accusers, described incidents redolent of McGrath's NYT communiqué, first chronicled in a series of tweets late last year, and later in a bombshell February 2021 essay published on Medium. While Cuomo has continued to deny the mounting allegations against him since Boylan's essay went live, the sexual harassment allegations made by eight women at the time of this writing has spurred notable figures within the Democratic party, of which Cuomo is a member, to call for his resignation. 

While Cuomo has yet to step down from office (if he ever does), an ongoing impeachment investigation approved by the New York State Assembly might have the governor facing a possible trial (though Boylan herself has called the inquiry a "sham"). Despite this, McGrath's attorney, Mariann Wang, made it clear that the current Cuomo scandal serves as a reminder for the ways in which Cuomo's reported behavior created a toxic environment for his female employees. "The women in the executive chamber are there to work for the State of New York," said Wang. "Not serve as his eye candy or prospective girlfriend."