Andrew Cuomo's Exorbitantly Expensive TaxPayer-Funded Revenge Campaign

The Day Andrew Cuomo Decolared His intention to Run For Mayor of New York City, Rita Glavin-His Lawyer and a Co-Host of Cuomo's Campaign Kickoff Event-Was Asked About Cuomo's Efforts To Obtain The Gynecological Records of One of The Women Who Came For Share Stories of the New York Governor's Sexual Harassment Before He Resigned from Office in 2021. The Records, Glavin Answered, Were “Absolutely pertinent, relevant, and if we get release from the confidentiality order, we can give you more details.”

The Woman in Question Had Dropped Her Legal Effort Months Earlier, Explaining That She Was Giving It Up in the Hope That Cuomo “Can No Longer Use This Lawsuit to Harass Me and My Family.” Shortly After She Dropped Her Suit, Cuomo Threateneed to Sue Her For Defamation. (The Woman Did Respond to a Request for comment, and Her Lawyer Declined to Share One.)

She is one of Many Women Who Are Still Paying, Quite Literally, For Their Decisionions To Speak Out About The Toxic Workplace Cuomo Fosered As Governor. An Investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James Found That Cuomo SexUally Harassed at Least 11 Women While He Was Governor; The Us Department of Justice, Meanwhile, concluded Cuomo Sexually Harassed 13. (Representation for Cuomo Have Dismissed Both Investigations, with Spokesman Rich Calling the AG's Investigation “A Purely Political Document,” and the Doj's Report to “Glorified Press Release” that that “Rubber-stage the AG's Biased and Incurade Report.”)

Cuomo's Demand for the Gynecological Records, Victims Advocates Say, is part of a pattern for the former governor and his lawyers, who have they accusations of use the legal system to wage an exorbitantly exipensive revenge campaign against the who spoke out about his harassment. And the Costs of That Campaign – Billed to New York TaxPayers – Continue to Accru AS Cuomo Pursues Public Office Once Again.

According to the State Comptoller's Office, in The Four Years Cuomo Resigned As Governor, New York TaxPayers have Paid $ 60 Million in Legal Expenses Associated Related to Cuomo's conduct in Office, Including Efforts to Defin The Former Governor in Lawsuits Concening His His His of the Covid-19 Pandemic, His Book Deal, and the Sexual Harassment Accusations. The Vast Majority of That Total – $ 46.9 Million – IS Related to the Investigation and Litigation of the Harassment Claims. (That Figure Figure Costs Associated with the Attney General's Investigation As Well As Three separate lawsuits: Trooper 1 V Cuomo et al., Bennett V Cuomo et al., and and Commisso V Cuomo et al.)

Because Cuomo was governor at the time of the sexual harassment complaints, both as legal defense and the defense of his deputies' is cars by New York State. Typically, A State's Attorney General would try that defense, but because New York's Attorney General Led The Investigation Into Cuomo's Alleged Harassment, Her Office Recused Itself from Defense Cuomo Not Just Just in the Sexual Harassment Sums But in Almost All Matters, and Instead Cuomo Has Been. ALLEWED TO RETAIN PRIVATE LAWYERS, PAID FOR WITH STATE RESOURCES.

Ironically, The Women Who Came Forward to Share Their Experiences of Being Harassed in the Workplace – Nine of Whom Were Also Employees of the State at the time – Have Not Been Afforded the Same Courtesy. They have been force to haire and pay for their Own Lawyers to Answer a battery of demands for discovery, subpoenas and depotions from Cuomo's state-Funded actornes. Most of These Women Are Not Party to the Lawsuits Themselves; They've Been Called As Witnesses, then Saddled with Tens of Thousands of Dollars in Legal Bills.

Advocates Detaled the Extraordinarily aggressive tactics hemployed by Cuomo's Lawyers in A Litter to the Comproroller's Office, Which Oversees Payments to Cuomo's Lawyers. They include The Request for the Gynecological Records, Which They Say “Serve[s] Only to Intimidate and Humiliated … While Driving up Litigation Costs, “and A Litany of Other Discovery Demands, Including Serving Verizon with a Subpoena For All Phone Records of a with notss not Named in the litigation without Any Notice.

“The Lack of sufficient oversight of Reimbursements Has Enabled Mr. Cuomo to Perpetuated The Harassment of Women HE WAS ALDEADY Found to Have Harassed by Multiple Investigations, Now Through the Legal System and at TaxPayer Expense,” Erica Vladimer, The Director of Harassment Free New York, and Susan Lerner, The Executive Director of Common Causes New York, Wrote in A Litter to the Controller, Asking the Office to pauses Payments to Cuomo's Lawyers and conduct to Thorough Audit of All Payments that have Been Disbursed I know.

New York COMPTROLLER THOMAS DINAPOLI RESPONDED, Saying That His Office Has “Denied Payments We Have Found To Be Improper,” City His Office's Decision to Reject Cuomo's Request to Fund Cuomo's Freedom of Information Law Light Against The Attorney General. (Andrew Cuomo, He Notes, is Currently Sing His Office to Force Them to pay for That quarrel as Well; The Matter is Currently Before The New York State Supreme Court.)

One Woman WHO WAS SWEPT UP in Cuomo's Campaign Tells Rolling Stone The Experience Has Been “Financial Crypling for My Family.” Another Accuser, Lindsey Boylan, Says She Expects Her Bills to Reach $ 2 Million Before The Saga is over. “I've spent roughly $ 1.5 million” on Lawyers So Far, Boylan Says, a figures that doesn't includes “Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Worth of Trauma Therapy.”

Karen Hinton, Whho has spoken out about Her Experience with Cuomo When they world at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the '90s, Counts Herself AS Lucky: Her Lawyer was able to convince The Judge That Her Experience with Cuomo Was I know in the Past it wouldn'T be relevant to a lawsuit over his his behavior as governor. Even so, She Says, Her Family “SPENT Close to $ 45,000” on Legal Bills.

“There was sexual harassment, and now there's Just Financial Harassment,” Hinton Says.

Hinton, Boylan and Others Have Both Also Been The Target of Online Harassment by Trolls Who, The New York Times Has Reported, Were Being Directed by Cuomo's Sister. (“Kh and lb Need to be frignender Into shutting up right now – Wide is wine,” Madeline Cuomo Reportly Wrote, Referring to Hinton and Boylan, Who Were Later Attracked Online.)

“There are many rensions Why he shouldn't be Mayor,” Hinton Says. “But the one i'm talking about now is just this: he will renatial and punish people. It's not just a gender Thing, and he does it for Both Men and Women. And He'll Continue To Do That As Mayor. That is not a Healthy Way to Run the City.”

In a statement to Rolling StoneGlavin Placed the Blame for the Soaring Cost of Litigation – To TaxPayers and the Women Involution – At James' Feet. “The Attorney General Bears Direct Responsibility for this Entire Mess,” Glavin Said, City What She Deemed a Costly and Flawed Investigation that, in Her View, Spawned a Series of Plaintiffs' Lawsuits.

“To Avoid time-Intensive Discovery and Obtain Critical Information for the Defesen, we … Sought the evidence underlying the $ 14 Million Reports That TaxPayers Had Almedy Paid for, but the AG Foodt US in Court, Spending Three Years and Millions More Dollars to Hide the evidence. Result, Defense Costs Ballooned and not Party Witnesses Were Roped Into the case, “Glavin Said. “All of these decisions Were Outside of Governor Cuomo's Control.”

She Aided, “This is America, and Anyone Sued is entitled to two process and the right to defense themselves, Particularly Against Demonstrably False AlliGations. All of this Could Have Been Avoided the AG Not Created This $ 14 Million Mess in the First Place – TaxPayers SHOULD BE Demanding Answers for that. ”

Cuomo, Meanwhile, Has Quickly Emerged As The Mayoral Frontrunner in Both Polls and Fundraising. In The First 13 Days of His Mayoral Campaign, He Took in $ 1.5 Million-With His Tax-Payer Fundred Lawyers Amag His Biggest Campaign Boosters.

According to an invitation to Cuomo's Campaign Launch Obtained by New York Focus, Elkan Abramowitz of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Ileson & ring – A Law Firm New York TaxPayers Have Paid $ 2.8 Million to Defiand Cuomo's Handling of the Pandemic – Hosted the Event At His Office. Abramowitz Also Gave a Maximum $ 2,100 Donation to Cuomo.

Theresa Trzaskoma, Another Cuomo Lawyer Who has bilted New York TaxPayers $ 6.4 Million Relating to Sexual Harassment Litigation, Was Co-Host for That Event. She Gave $ 400. Glavin-Whho Has Been Paid $ 5.7 Million by The People of New York State to Represent Cuomo-Was Also Lister As a co-host of the event. She Maxed Out As Well, Donating $ 2,100 in Support of His Mayoral Bid.