25 March 2021: Opinion - Cuomo Abuses Power with Personnel Files

In Our Opinion: Cuomo's abuse of personnel files is another scandal

This commentary by the editors of Oneonta, NY's Daily Star focuses on an underappreciated aspect of Governor Cuomo's abuse of power:

The response by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration to a series of sexual harassment allegations against the governor has brought renewed attention to one of Cuomo’s more disturbing practices: his use of the apparatus of state government as a tool to burnish his image, and to tarnish that of his perceived enemies....

In a piece for the New Yorker this month, Eric Lach notes that shortly after Boylan’s December accusation, several media outlets mysteriously came to possess state personnel files on Boylan that described her as “unprofessional” and a “bully” who belittled three Black employees. Boylan’s attorney, Jill Basinger, called the apparent smear campaign against her client “shocking and disgusting,” and said she expects James’ investigation into Cuomo’s conduct to also look into the leak of the files.

The New Yorker reported separately that former Cuomo staffer Rich Bamberger was the middleman in the leaks; Bamberger now works for Kivvit, a public relations firm that employs two other former Cuomo staffers. Longtime readers might recognize Bamberger’s name, as in 2012 he was the author of a 35-page dossier on Capital Tonight host Liz Benjamin that highlighted comments and blog posts perceived to be critical of Cuomo. At the time, Cuomo press secretary Josh Vlasto — who now works with Bamberger at Kivvit — disputed the characterization of the dossier as an “enemies list” but said it was compiled for use in a meeting with Benjamin’s bosses at YNN. Vlasto said the “meeting went well,” and that “the blogs were never discussed again, and then they were discarded. You know, I guess somebody is going through our trash these days, which is another matter that we’ll have to look into.”

Like Governor Cuomo's nursing home scandals, Governor Cuomo's abuse of power scandals took teamwork. The sooner a conclusion is reached to fully clean house in Albany, the better.