Cuomo accused of harassment, 'hostility' and 'dirty tricks' against woman while HUD chief
Cuomo told HUD's then-Inspector General Susan Gaffney that his top aides saw her as the "embodiment of evil," she told senators.
By Susan Katz Keating
Updated: March 2, 2021 - 9:32am
Two decades before being accused of misconduct against women while he was New York governor, a younger Andrew Cuomo was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint from a government official who claimed that Cuomo — serving at the time in Bill Clinton's cabinet — also hounded her with "a series of attacks and dirty tricks."
Susan Gaffney filed the 2000 complaint against Cuomo while he was secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and she was the department's inspector general.
In the complaint, which included other top HUD officials, Gaffney told the Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity that she was sexually harassed and discriminated against in retaliation for her stance against fraud at HUD, and that Cuomo verbally abused her during weekend phone calls.
The complaint followed years of conflict between Gaffney and Cuomo, recounted in part during Gaffney's 1998 appearance before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. In her testimony, Gaffney described being targeted with whisper campaigns and accusations, and of being set up to look like a racist who discriminated against minorities.
The decades-old clash offers an early look at the management style of Cuomo, who currently is embroiled in two high-profile probes into his behavior while governor of New York. One Justice Department investigation centers on how Cuomo handled nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic; the other involves claims from women that he sexually harassed them.
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https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/cuomo-was-accused-using-dirty-tricks-harangue-woman-while-he-served