Appearing on NY1 Thursday night, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins signaled disappointment in Governor Andrew Cuomo, after one of the women accusing the governor of sexual harassment went into greater detail about those accusations.
In an interview with the CBS Evening News Thursday, Charlotte Bennett, who was the governor’s executive assistant and health policy adviser, detailed numerous encounters with Cuomo where she said he made sexually suggestive comments, including asking her about being a survivor of sexual assault and how that affected her ability to be intimate, and whether or not she felt comfortable dating older men.
Speaking with Inside City Hall host Errol Louis, Stewart-Cousins expressed sympathy for Bennett and also frustration with the fact that New York is still dealing with situations like this.
“I would have hoped that because we are who we are, that we are progressive, and that we have led on these women’s issues, that this would not be what is really our focal point right now,” Stewart-Cousins said. “It’s devastating. And, of course, this young woman — I didn’t get a chance to see the entire interview — but it’s clear that she’s traumatized in a profound way.”
Stewart-Cousins, who began her public service career in 1992, went on to explain how discouraging it is to still be enveloped in stories about sexual harassment.
“As a woman, as a mother, as somebody who has grown up in a time where sexual harassment of women was accepted somehow, to come this far and still be having this conversation and calling this type of behavior out is very disappointing. But I commend her,” she said.
The Governor’s apology on Wednesday drew mixed reactions. Bennett herself rejected it, including in her remarks to CBS. Multiple lawmakers have called for his removal from office, but others, including Stewart-Cousins, have expressed an interest in allowing the investigation to unfold in its entirety. However in another interview Thursday, Stewart-Cousins stated that she would reconsider her position if more women come forward.
When asked whether she had spoken to the governor about the allegations of sexual harassment, Stewart-Cousins said she had not, and that it had “probably been two weeks” since she last spoke with him.
With a deadline to pass the state budget looming on the horizon, the senate majority leader acknowledged that while the controversies surrounding Cuomo haven’t helped, Democrats, who hold the majority in both the Assembly and the Senate, are capable of moving forward effectively.
“Our focus is always going to be New York," she said. "It’s always going to be making sure we do the right thing for New Yorkers, and we are staying focused on that obligation.”
On the hot-button issue of including marijuana legalization in the state budget, which Cuomo called for in his State of the State, Stewart-Cousins maintained that they are pushing for it, but the exact details of implementation still need to be hammered out.
“We understand it’s a matter of not whether, but when, and of course the big issue for us is how, and we continue to say the how is the important part,” she said.
