A former local reporter claims the way New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office treated her caused her to quit her job.
Lindsay Nielsen, whose LinkedIn says she worked for News10, a local ABC affiliate, from 2012 until 2017, released a statement conveying her allegations on Sunday evening. Her story comes days after other women accused the governor of harassment. Cuomo has apologized for certain behavior while denying other accusations.
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Nielsen said the “last time I allowed someone connected to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration to harass and manipulate me” was when someone unnamed said to her, “You have a vendetta against him, don’t you!” Nielsen explained that during “one of the many accusatory and threatening phone calls I received by his staff members,” she realized it was “never going to stop,” and she decided to quit her job shortly thereafter.
“The late night phone calls from the administration, the constant threats to call my boss, the incessant bullying to try and get me to stop doing my job and reporting specific stories…it would never end,” her statement continued. “The tactics used were deliberate yet evasive. They skimmed the line of inappropriateness ever so delicately as to make you feel like they were acceptable.”
Nielsen told the New York Post that she decided to come forward after seeing similar accusations levied against the Cuomo administration, including by Morgan Pehme, who was the editor-in-chief of City & State from 2012 to 2014.
“I don’t want another reporter to have to go through that. That’s why I did it,” Nielsen said.
News10 and Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
Last week, 36-year-old Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to the governor, accused him of sexually harassing her, alleging he forcibly tried to kiss her on the lips and asked her to play strip poker during a flight in October 2017. Cuomo’s office denied those allegations. Days later, Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old who served as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in Cuomo’s administration, accused the governor of sexual harassment, alleging he engaged in inappropriate behavior toward her last summer in his Albany office. She said she viewed the governor’s questions as sexual overtures.
Cuomo issued an apology in a statement on Sunday, saying he never intended to make anyone uncomfortable.
“At work, sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny,” he said. “I do, on occasion, tease people in what I think is a good-natured way. I do it in public and in private. … I have teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not getting married. I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.”
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Cuomo added that he understands why people may have taken his jokes as unwanted flirtation and believes some of his comments may have been too personal, and he said he is “truly sorry” if his comments made anyone feel differently than how he intended them to come across.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and the chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals will jointly select an independent and qualified lawyer in private practice without any political affiliation to review the allegations and issue a public report regarding the allegations.
