Edited by: TJVNews.com
A third former aide to New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has now come forward to announce that she too was a victim of sexual harassment by the highest ranking official in the Empire State.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Ana Liss, now 35 years old, said that Cuomo asked her if she had a boyfriend, called her sweetheart, touched her on her lower back at a reception and once kissed her hand when she rose from her desk.
Liss served as a policy and operations aide to Mr. Cuomo between 2013 and 2015, according to the WSJ report. Liss told the paper that Cuomo’s overtures to her were unsolicited and took place in the first year of her employment while she sat at her desk, which was near his office in the Executive Chamber of the New York State Capitol in Albany.
Ms. Liss told the WSJ in an interview that she initially perceived Mr. Cuomo’s conduct as harmless flirtations. Over time, she said, she has come to see it as patronizing, and she added it diminished her from an educated professional to “just a skirt.” She told the WSJ that “It’s not appropriate, really, in any setting.”
Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to Cuomo said on Saturday when posed with questions about Liss: “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.”
“I understand that sensitivities have changed and behavior has changed, and I get it. And I’m going to learn from it,” Cuomo said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Liss is the third former female aide to accuse Cuomo of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment in the workplace. Two other former aides, Charlotte Bennett and Lindsay Boylan have said he sexually harassed them as well. On Wednesday, Cuomo issued an apology at the press conference for “making people uncomfortable.” He has claimed that he never touched anyone inappropriately.
“It was unintentional, and I truly and deeply apologize for it,” he said Wednesday. “I feel awful about it and, frankly, I am embarrassed.”
According to the WSJ report, Liss recalled working at a May 6, 2014, reception at the Executive Mansion in Albany, which is Cuomo’s official residence. Cuomo was in a living room on the north side of the mansion’s first floor and noticed Ms. Liss, she recalled. “He came right over to me and he was like, ‘Hey, Sweetheart!’” she said. She told the WSJ that the “governor hugged her, kissed her on both cheeks and then wrapped his arm around her lower back and grabbed her waist.” They turned to a photographer, who took a picture that shows Cuomo’s hand around her waist.