A hotline to receive calls about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s conduct has received hundreds of tips, according to a member of the New York state Assembly.
Assemblyman Charles Lavine, who serves as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the hotline, which was set up by law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, has received more than 200 tips for an inquiry into sexual harassment allegations against the governor.
“In total, Davis Polk has spoken with attorneys for about 70 people who may have relevant information,” Lavine said during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the investigation on Wednesday.
The brief session allowed members of the New York state Legislature to ask questions of the attorneys handling the case.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie retained Davis Polk on March 17 to conduct an “impeachment investigation” into 10 women’s claims of sexual harassment against the governor, a move that was panned by some of Cuomo’s accusers.
“We were alarmed to learn that Speaker Heastie has hired Davis Polk to assist with the investigation, given the connection between Dennis Glazer, who spent more than 30 years as a partner at Davis Polk, and the governor,” Debra Katz, attorney for Cuomo accuser Charlotte Bennett, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “This is an unacceptable conflict of interest.”
Katz said the alleged link between Dennis Glazer, who spent 31 years as a partner at the firm, and Cuomo, who has denied the women’s claims of inappropriate touching, gave Bennett “pause” and called into question the legitimacy of the Assembly’s investigation.
“We already know the extent to which Gov. Cuomo has surrounded himself with people in the Executive Chamber who enabled his behavior and swept evidence of sexual harassment under the rug,” she continued. “If there is even a hint of political influence in the impeachment investigation, it will taint the entire proceedings.”
Bennett was the second woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment after former staffer Lindsey Boylan. Boylan and Bennett were later joined by Anna Ruch, Karen Hinton, Ana Liss, an unnamed sixth woman, and Jessica Bakeman in coming forward with accusations against the governor.
The allegations led to two investigations. In addition to the Assembly’s investigation, Attorney General Letitia James initiated an investigation into the allegations separate from the Assembly’s proceedings at the state level.
On Monday, James received a referral to conduct a criminal investigation into a separate allegation against Cuomo after liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint alleging the New York Democrat violated a law prohibiting “the use of campaign funds for personal use” when promoting his book, American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic. CREW’s complaint with the New York State Board of Elections said Cuomo’s reelection campaign violated existing laws, citing an archived email purportedly from Cuomo’s three daughters and social media posts as evidence.
Cuomo insisted that members of his staff volunteered to help with the book, but his office acknowledged there might be some “incidental” use of state resources, according to a New York Times report.
The governor is also under federal investigation for his handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic after Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa acknowledged that the governor’s office hid the state’s nursing home coronavirus death toll out of fear of political retribution from former President Donald Trump.
Cuomo has been accused of directing state health officials to give special COVID-19 testing access to members of his inner circle, claims denied by Richard Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, as an “insincere efforts to rewrite the past” in an email to the Washington Examiner.
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Despite mounting pressure from within his party to step aside, Cuomo, who is eligible to seek a fourth term in office in 2022, has vowed not to resign, saying that the allegations of impropriety against him are false.
Representatives for Davis Polk and Lavine did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
