Curtains for Cuomo?

A second woman has accused the governor of sexual misconduct, spurring furious responses from New York lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The “detailed accounts of sexual harassment by Gov. Cuomo are extremely serious and painful to read,” the congresswoman said Sunday. “There must be an independent investigation — not one led by an individual selected by the Governor, but by the office of the Attorney General.”

The second accuser, Charlotte Bennett, who served as an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration until last fall, claims the governor regularly harassed her with inappropriate questions about her “sex life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships and if she had ever had sex with older men,” the New York Times reports.

“Ms. Bennett,” the report adds, “said the most unsettling episode occurred on June 5, when she was alone with Mr. Cuomo in his State Capitol office. In a series of interviews this week, she said the governor had asked her numerous questions about her personal life, including whether she thought age made a difference in romantic relationships, and had said that he was open to relationships with women in their 20s — comments she interpreted as clear overtures to a sexual relationship.”

Her allegation comes not long after another former Cuomo aide, Lindsey Boylan, claims the governor “harassed her on several occasions from 2016 to 2018, at one point giving her an unsolicited kiss on the lips at his Manhattan office,” the New York Times notes.

Cuomo, who claims the things he said “have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation,” even though he acknowledges that some of his past interactions with former aides “may have been insensitive or too personal,” says he will ask New York’s attorney general and the chief judge on the state’s highest court to choose a candidate to investigate the charges. This comes after he initially proposed appointing a political ally to head the inquiry.

But even the the former media darling’s about-face regarding an investigation may not be enough to stave off angry lawmakers, many of whom are demanding a thorough and meaningful response to the allegations.

“[Cuomo] you are a monster, and it is time for you to go. Now,” Democratic New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi said Saturday evening.

New York Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice said elsewhere, “The accused CANNOT appoint the investigator. PERIOD.”

“With all due respect,” Democratic state Sen. Liz Krueger said of Cuomo’s original plan to appoint an ally to investigate the charges, “you can’t pick a federal judge who works with your good friend and decide that that’s going to be the investigator.”

The White House itself has weighed in on the issue, as President Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki called Sunday for an “independent review” of the allegations against Cuomo.

Though it appears the governor’s career may be in real jeopardy, smart money says to hold off on writing that political obituary. It’ll likely take a lot more than just two accusers to bring down this entrenched monster.

After all, Cuomo, the spiteful, petty, angry little nepot who almost certainly orchestrated the “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo” 11th-hour smear campaign against New York City mayoral candidate Ed Koch in 1977, has been accused of wrongdoing before. Nothing seems to stick. Most recently, secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa even admitted that the administration hid New York’s true COVID-19 nursing home death toll last year in an effort to prevent federal investigators from probing the state’s pandemic response, reasoning that the actual nursing home tally would “be used against us” by federal investigators.

As many as 11,000 people may have died as a direct result of Cuomo’s order forcing infectious coronavirus patients into long-term care facilities, the Associated Press reports.

DeRosa’s admission led to bad press, sure, but nothing so bad as to likely end Cuomo’s political career. If that doesn’t do him in, a few allegations of sexual misconduct almost certainly won’t.

Also, as notable as the number of New York lawmakers who’ve spoken out in response to the misconduct allegations is the number of lawmakers who have said nothing. Their silence is a gentle reminder that the governor has been through plenty before, and each time his teammates have given him a free pass.

All that said, it’s still possible the sexual misconduct allegations may indeed be the end of Cuomo’s political career, especially if more lawmakers demand full transparency and accountability.

But don’t forget the special emphasis on that word “may.”