Thursday, December 09, 2021

9 December 2021: Cuomo Influence Network Member Embedded in Facebook to Face JCOPE Probe

Facebook staffer’s advice to ‘victim shame’ Cuomo accuser should spark probe: complaint

Months after his resignation in disgrace, members of Andrew M. Cuomo's influence network continue to face the consequences of their unethical actions to support him in power.

The latest example involves Dani Lever, formerly a press secretary for Cuomo, but now a communications director at social media giant Facebook. Now, she faces a probe by New York's Joint Committee on Public Ethics for her role in Cuomo's sexual harassment scandals. Here's an excerpt from this report on that story:

A Facebook communications manager should be investigated for secretly suggesting that Andrew Cuomo’s aides “victim shame” the woman who sparked the sexual harassment scandal that forced him from the governor’s office, a complainant says in a new filing with state ethics officials.

“Facebook/Meta senior communicator Dani Lever gifted lobbying (and) communications advice to the disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo administration,” Washington state resident Joe Kunzler wrote Friday in a sworn statement to the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.

“These acts … should trigger a formal investigation.”

JCOPE, which has the authority to impose fines for illegal lobbying and gifts to government officials, acknowledged receipt of the complaint in a Monday email to Kunzler....

Kunzler’s complaint was triggered by a Post report that revealed Lever — who was Cuomo’s communications director from November 2018 to September 2020 — sent a Dec. 13 text message to two of his top aides after former state economic development official Lindsey Boylan tweeted, “Yes, @NYGovCuomo sexually harassed me for years.”

“I think we can victim shame on the record,” Lever wrote.

JCOPE has a long history of incompetence in addressing ethics claims against Andrew M. Cuomo and members of his administration, so that in itself is an indication their probe is likely to be "bungled". That's mainly by design, as Cuomo was instrumental in instituting when JCOPE was created early in his tenure as NY Governor.

That said, here is background from the timeline on Dani Lever's role in the Cuomo sexual harassment scandals:

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