7 September 2021: HRC President/Cuomo Influence Network Member Ousted from Job, Vows Legal Retaliation Against HRC

Human Rights Campaign fires president over link to Cuomo

Well, that happened a lot faster than we expected!...

Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the United States, said it has fired President Alphonso David following the publication of a report that said he aided former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his response to sexual assault allegations.

The HRC and the HRC Foundation Boards of Directors separately voted to terminate David "for cause, effective immediately," for violating his contract with the organization, it said Monday in a statement.

The announcement of David's ousting follows a board-led investigation launched last month into his actions, which were brought to light in an early August report by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The report summarizes David's involvement with the Cuomo administration's retaliation against Lindsey Boylan after she levied charges of sexual harassment against Andrew M. Cuomo.

The attorney general's report, which completed a five-month investigation, found that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women, including former and current state employees.

It said David while president of the HRC helped Cuomo in efforts to discredit former aide Lindsey Boylan who accused the governor of sexual transgressions.

David, former counsel to the governor, had created internal documents from an investigation and counseling of Boylan concerning an unrelated matter while he was employed by the state. In December of last year while employed by the HRC, a top aide to Cuomo had asked David for that information, which was sent by Cuomo's office to reporters hours before Boylan tweeted the governor had sexually harassed her.

David is the latest member of the Cuomo influence network to be ousted from their post-Cuomo administration position.

Ex-HRC president vows legal action after his removal for aiding Cuomo's damage control

Perhaps not absorbing that his participation in the Cuomo administration's retaliation effort against Lindsey Boylan directly led to his ouster as president of the Human Rights Council LGBTQ advocacy group, Alphonso David pledged to retaliate against the organization.

Former Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David vowed late Monday to take legal action against the organization's board hours after he was fired for advising former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's during his sexual misconduct scandal.

"After I demanded truth and transparency, the HRC board co-chairs who should stand for human rights elected to hide in the darkness," said David, who led the U.S. largest LGBTQ advocacy group. "They unjustly provided notice of termination to me in order to end my fight for the integrity of the review process and for what is right. I asked for the report, they refused. They lied about producing the report."

He added, "Now that they are being called to task, they tried to shut me up. As a Black, gay man who has spent his whole life fighting for civil and human rights, they cannot shut me up. Expect a legal challenge.”

This will likely be the timeline's final coverage of David's employment situation, as the incident that led to David's firing illustrates the tactics the Cuomo administration used to suppress information it believed to be damaging to the political and legal interests of Andrew M. Cuomo.