4 March 2022: Cuomo Accused of "Re-Victimizing" Women Alleging He Sexually Harassed Them with TV Ads

Cuomo team faces backlash for ad campaign that calls harassment claims "bogus"

In the latest example of Andrew M. Cuomo's desperate need for better PR people and more legal help, we find that Cuomo's $369,000 worth of television ads proclaiming his "vindication" in not being criminally charged with what all prosecutors described as "credible" allegations of the sexual harassment of multiple women is not going over well.

Former Governor Andrew Cuomo and his team continuing to face backlash for a TV ad campaign that hit the airwaves this week.

The ads, paid for from Cuomo's campaign war chest, paint Cuomo as a victim -- and point out that five district attorneys opted not to bring criminal charges following the Attorney General's report that found Cuomo sexually harassed or assaulted 11 different women. Most of those prosecutors said they actually found the women's claims to be credible.

Thursday, women's groups spoke out against the ad campaign, saying victims are being re-victimized.

Randi Bregman is with Vera House, which assists victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

She says “Sexual harassment is an offense that happens in the context of a workplace that many times may not be a crime. But not being a crime does not mean that harm was not caused.”

Bregman's "not being a crime" comment refers to what many women's groups would describe as deficiencies in New York's state laws defining what constitutes criminal sexual harassment. As New York's governor for over a decade before choosing to resign in disgrace over the allegations rather than face impeachment, Cuomo had considerable influence on shaping those laws.