Andrew Cuomo’s top aide still has a lot to say about that scandal

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Oct 27, 2023 View in browser   By Sophie Gardner POLITICO illustration/Photo courtesy of Courtesy of Union Square and Co Happy Friday! I hope everyone is enjoying in last few days of October. In Boston (where I am) the high is almost 80 degrees, which is throwing me for a loop. Not exactly the crisp fall air of my dreams. Let's get into it: The Andrew Cuomo scandal was shoved back into the spotlight this week. On Tuesday, Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s former secretary to the governor, released a feather-ruffling book, What’s Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis. The book has been criticized as a revenge campaign against DeRosa’s political foes by several publications, including this one. In the book, DeRosa describes why she thinks the administration’s Covid response was a success and why Cuomo’s political career came to a screeching halt. She also largely defends Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 after New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office substantiated claims that he sexually harassed at least 11 women. DeRosa heavily implies that the accusations of sexual harassment and assault levied against him were either fabricated or were the result of “the weaponization of everyday interactions for politics.” The book also aims to explain why DeRosa, who prides herself on her record of defending women’s rights, questioned the accusations of those 11 women. DeRosa also claims she had her own #MeToo moment, which she discusses publicly for the first time in the book. In it, she accuses New York Times journalist Jesse McKinley of drinking too much wine at a one-on-one meeting at his house and grabbing her wrist to prevent her from leaving. The New York Times told Women Rule in an email, “An independent, external investigation did not substantiate Ms. DeRosa’s characterization of the events.” Since leaving the Cuomo administration, she's continued her career as a political strategist, and contributed to The Daily Beast and 77WABC radio. Here’s our conversation, which has been edited for clarity and length: Gardner: You mentioned in the book that you felt a responsibility to women while you were working in the Cuomo administration. How did that affect your work? DeRosa: I was appointed secretary to the governor when I was 34 years old. I was the first woman ever to serve in that position, and one of the youngest ever to serve in that position. I felt a real sense of importance in terms of, ‘Now I am at the table’ — and it wasn't just a woman being at the table, it was a young woman at the table. I unabashedly took on issues of importance to me and women like me. I went through a process where I was freezing my eggs, and where I wasn't sure whether or not I would be able to conceive. I learned very quickly how insanely expensive it is, and it became a labor of love for me, to make sure that we got medically necessary IVF coverage passed in New York. We fought for it and we got it done. Same thing with seed money for female venture capital funds. During COVID, when the hospitals were under tremendous strain, they were banning partners from being able to be in the delivery room. And so I intervened and the governor had my back. We did an executive order mandating that at least one support person be allowed in the room with a woman while they were giving birth. Gardner: I’m curious what that sense of responsibility looked like during the #MeToo movement. You had been very willing to draw a line when allegations were leveraged against other political people. But obviously, the allegations that were brought forward against Governor Cuomo were more complex for you. What was going on in your mind? DeRosa: When the #MeToo Movement happened I was secretary to the governor, and I was the chairwoman of the [New York State] Council on Women and Girls. And I worked incredibly closely with Time's Up, with Robbie Kaplan, with a lot of different women's groups to say, ‘We were in this moment of this reckoning, and we want to do something about it.’ And so we did, and we changed the law in New York to remove the qualifier ‘severe and pervasive’ when trying to prove sexual harassment cases in the workplace. And we also extended the statute of limitation on rape from five years to 20 years for second-degree rape and from five years to 10 years for third-degree rape. I'm happy that I had that place in that moment in time, and that it makes a difference in a lot of people's lives. At the same time, and this is where #MeToo has gotten into tricky territory. And obviously I had to deal with it. We've now entered this sort of phase where every allegation, regardless of the degree or the severity, sort of just gets labeled a number and thrown into a heap. And so kissing a woman on the cheek at a public event, putting your hand on a woman's waist for a photograph, these instances were all of a sudden being referred to almost in the same vein as rape or assault. The #MeToo movement has tried to kind of contort itself into a one size fits all box, whereas I think that there are certain offenses or certain behaviors that could be remedied with an apology or with training. Some things you should go to jail [for]; some things you should be fired [for]; but at some point along the way, the #MeToo movement lost nuance. And I think as a result of that, it's something that can be weaponized very easily in something like politics. When that happens, I think that we risk doing damage to the #MeToo movement, and ending up in a situation where severe claims aren't taken seriously. And that would be the greatest tragedy of all. Gardner: So I wanted to ask about Jesse McKinley. In the book, you write that he hit on you and grabbed your wrist while trying to convince you to stay longer. You write that it happened in 2020. Why did you decide to speak about it now? DeRosa: I really wrestled with this internally and how to deal with it. And ultimately, I decided that if I was going to tell a story, and if the public was going to really understand what was going on, that meant telling the full story, which included talking about my marriage and about my mental health issues and talking about my fertility struggles. It also meant giving the world a window into what was going on with the media, because the media played such a big role in what happened with the administration. The New York Times in particular — which was a huge driver of the #MeToo movement — when it came to Andrew Cuomo, determined that putting your hands on a woman's face at a non-employee wedding, where there's hundreds of people, including reporters there — you put his hands on a face . . . they put that on the front page of The New York Times. So in doing that they were projecting to the world that this is a front-page offense. And at the same time, they had known at the highest levels, back in July of 2020, about this encounter that I had with the Albany bureau chief — and not only had they not done anything about it, but they allowed him to take the lead on the #MeToo coverage. (DeRosa is referring to a conversation about the incident that she had with another Times reporter, which was relayed to leadership at the company. Later, in 2021, she filed a formal complaint, and though the Times’s investigation did not substantiate DeRosa’s account, the company reassigned McKinley to a new beat and supported his decision to enter a substance abuse program, according to a spokesperson.) And I think that it's time that the media also take a pretty healthy look in the mirror when it comes to dictating the rules for thee, but not for me. POLITICO Special Report Win McNamee/Getty Images “‘One of his early tests’: New speaker confronts GOP divide on abortion,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein and Meredith Lee Hill for POLITICO: “A majority of the House Republican conference backs a provision in the food and agriculture funding bill that would ban mail delivery of abortion pills nationwide, with some hard-liners even pledging to oppose any version without it. But a handful of Republican centrists who face tough reelection bids next year say federal curbs on mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill, are ‘a non-starter.’” “Republicans Are Tearing Themselves to Pieces. Elise Stefanik Isn’t Joining Them,” by Nick Reisman for POLITICO Magazine: “Everyone in the House GOP’s leadership ranks — plus a host of other rank-and-file members — has taken a shot at replacing Kevin McCarthy, with one curious exception: Elise Stefanik.” Number of the Week Read more here. MUST READS Arni Torfason/AP “Women in Iceland Go on Strike Against Gender Inequality,” by Isabella Kwai and Jenny Gross for the New York Times: “Tens of thousands of women and nonbinary people in Iceland were expected to join a one-day strike on Tuesday, which organizers called the country’s largest effort to protest workplace inequality in nearly five decades. ” “Women Will Vote at a Vatican Meeting for the First Time,” by Elisabetta Povoledo for the New York Times. "House Speaker Mike Johnson has long opposed abortion and LGBTQ+ rights,” by Amanda Becker for the 19th: “Before the newly elected U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson was in public office, the Louisiana Republican’s restrictive stances on gender identity, abortion and sexuality were honed at the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, where he served as a senior spokesperson and attorney.” “'We're wiser': US Republican women candidates steer clear of speaker fight,” by Moira Warburton for Reuters.   Enter the "room where it happens", where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO's brand-new podcast hosts conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of new episodes – click here.   Quote of the Week Read more here. on the move Maxine Burkett is now assistant director for climate, ocean and equity at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She most recently was deputy assistant secretary for oceans, fisheries and polar affairs at the State Department. Leanne Noelani Howard is now special adviser for the NATO Summit at the NSC, coordinating planning for the 75th NATO Summit in Washington next year. She most recently was senior strategy and policy adviser at NATO SOF headquarters (h/t West Wing Playbook.)   Follow us on Twitter Sophie Gardner @sophie_gardnerj   Follow us

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