Edited by: TJVNews.com
Now that CNN’s Chris Cuomo has been suspended from his nightly news program due to the influence he wielded for his brother Andrew during the sexual harassment scandal that eventually led to the latter’s resignation as New York State governor, it now appears that another Andrew Cuomo ally is feeling the heat for his support of the embattled former governor.
The New York Post has reported that SUNY Chancellor James Malatras, who was a Cuomo appointee, is being asked to resign his post by the New York College Democratic and Republican clubs for bad mouthing Lindsey Boylan, the first woman who stepped forward in accusing Andrew Cuomo of sexual misconduct.
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday released a voluminous amount of documentation related to the investigation that her office conducted on the harassment allegations against Cuomo. Malatras’ comments concerning Boylan were revealed when James released the documents.
The Post reported that having tendered his resignation in August under the threat of impeachment in the aftermath of the investigative report that James’ office released, Cuomo denied culpability in the harassment allegations. James’ report concluded that the former governor had “mistreated as many as 11 women and harassed or committed misconduct against several staffers — including a state trooper assigned to his security detail.”
Malatras had worked in the capacity of aide and advisor to Cuomo for many years before the former governor requested that he assume the position of SUNY Chancellor, according to the Post report. The documents released by the attorney general include e-mails written in May 2019 from Malatras in which he denigrates Boylan in an argument on conditions in the workplace in the governor’s office. His e-mails were written about a year-and-a-half prior to the sexual harassment claims that she made against Cuomo.
When texting other aides of Cuomo, Malatras said: “Malatras to Boylan: Go f**k yourself.”
After Boylan critiqued what she perceived as the toxic workplace conditions at Cuomo’s office, Malatras wrote to a staffer in the former governor’s inner circle, “Let’s release some of her cray emails!,” as was reported by the Post. Cray is an abbreviation of crazy.
The Post reported that the documents indicate that Malatras also said he wanted to “drive her (Boylan) nuts “.
Moreover, the Post reported that Stephanie Benton who was Cuomo’s officer director posted in a text thread, “When do we release the nuclear crazy file, I’m ready to testify.”
In an attempt to discredit Boylan’s sexual harassment claims, the Post reports that a year later, Cuomo’s team of loyalists decided to release portions of Boylan’s personnel file.
Back in March, the Post reported that Twitter feud had been unfolding between Malatras and Boylan. Malatras, however, in the internal chats about Boylan has exuded a very nasty tone.
After assessing the documents that James’ office released, the New York College Democrats and Republican clubs concluded that the mean spirited comments that Malatras made as well as his questionable behavior warranted them to demand that he resign his post with SUNY forthwith, as was reported by the Post.
Speaking to the Post, Savannah Chadwick, president of the College Democrats of New York said that Malatras’ nasty statements about Boylan were “extremely inappropriate” and “illustrate the chancellor’s pattern of toxic, unprofessional and inexcusable behavior.”
Chadwick added that, “We find the chancellor unfit to lead our great SUNY system, which must uphold itself as an inclusive space for all students and faculty. College Democrats of New York call on the SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras to resign from his position, and strongly encourage Governor Hochul and the SUNY Board of Trustees to remove Malatras and to conduct a thorough nationwide search for a chancellor should he fail to cooperate.”
The Post reported that Augustus LeRoux, president of the New York Federation of College of Republicans agreed with Chadwick’s organization, as was reported by the Post.
LeRoux said, “The malicious words written by Malatras rum counterproductive to the mission of higher education institutions. In addition to his resignation, Chancellor Malatras must issue a formal apology for his works. In attacking Lindsey Boylan, the chancellor also issued an indirect attack on all victims. “Students within the SUNY system deserve morally and ethically sound administrators.”
In addition to the imbroglio that Malatras now finds himself in, the Post has reported that Malatras edited the controversial July 2020 Health Department report for Cuomo. After the edited report surfaced it concluded that the number of people who died in nursing homes in New York (which were ordered to take in Covid patients during the height of the pandemic) was lower than originally reported. The Post also reported that Malatras edited Cuomo’s Covid-19 memoir and served on his Covid-19 response team.
The Post reported that on Tuesday, after testifying at an Assembly Higher Education Committee meeting, Malatras told reporters of the way he spoke about Boylan in his 2019 e-mails. “The truth is I’m not proud of the language that I used,” he said.
“People have disagreements in high stress jobs. I should have used different language. It’s a long time ago. I’ve got to focus on SUNY,” Malatras said.
He did say however, that he was not sorry about the position he took with Boylan on the issues they disagreed on. “I stand by the things I say. You could always say things a little better. …I could have done it in a more collaborative manner. Lessons learned,” he told reporters, as was reported by the New York Post.
“There is a lot of work to be done. I love the system. SUNY is the best system in the United States of America,” said Malatras, a SUNY at Albany graduate.
