18 August 2021: Cuomo Influence Network Continues Collapse

Cuomo fallout? Two ex-governor's aides leave Kivvit consulting

This report indicates Andrew M. Cuomo's influence network, which is made up of his partisan supporters who have been embedded in various advocacy and media organizations, is continuing to collapse.

On Monday, former Cuomo chief of staff Joshua Vlasto and ex-communications director Richard Bamberger abruptly left the consulting firm Kivvit, a company that had deep connections to the governor.

According to a tweet from Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey on Monday, the two men said in a statement that they had "agreed to amicably part ways" from Kivvit, a national firm whose state operations are based in New York City.

Kivvit, whose managing partner is another high-ranking Cuomo aide, Maggie Moran, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Times Union.

While Moran was not mentioned in a scathing report issued by the state attorney general's office two weeks ago that detailed Cuomo's alleged harassment of multiple women as well his office's response to the allegations, Vlasto and Bamberger were both discussed. The Aug. 3 report led to Cuomo's resignation announcement a week later; he's scheduled to formally leave office in eight days.

The report — summarizing the investigation led by two attorneys appointed by state Attorney General Letitia James — concluded that Cuomo violated state and federal sexual harassment laws and fostered a toxic workplace, and that his staff acted illegally in retaliating against an accuser. The report also detailed how trusted former Cuomo aides, including Vlasto and Bamberger, worked in unpaid and informal roles to help strategize Cuomo's response to the first woman who accused him of sexual harassment.

This story is yet another example of former Cuomo officials placing their loyalty to Andrew M. Cuomo's interests ahead of the interests of the organizations that employ them.