A potential 2022 New York GOP gubernatorial candidate is calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo's immediate resignation amid sexual harassment allegations.
"Gov. Cuomo has earned his title as Worst Governor in America, and now every New Yorker knows that he is a criminal sexual predator," Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday.
"Gov. Cuomo must immediately resign," her statement concluded. "And any elected official who does not immediately call for his resignation is complicit in allowing a sexual predator to continue leading the great state of New York."
Stefanik's call for Cuomo's resignation comes after former Cuomo staffer aide Lindsey Boylan detailed sexual harassment allegations in an online post, tweeting:
"Today I am telling my story. I never planned to share the details of my experience working in the Cuomo administration, but I am doing so now in hopes that it may make it easier for others to speak their own truth."
The lurid details laid out by Boylan include Cuomo allegedly kissing her on the lips without warning and telling her he wanted to play "strip poker" with her.
"I was one of the first and one of the only elected officials in New York State to call for an investigation into Gov. Cuomo's sexual harassment of Ms. Boylan," Stefanik wrote in her statement. "It is an inexcusable disgrace that almost every other elected official in New York State quietly brushed this serious and credible allegation under the rug."
First-year Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., has echoed Stefanik's call for Cuomo's resignation Tuesday, the New York post reported.
"I already called for Gov. Cuomo to resign over his mishandling of nursing homes, the [death toll] coverup, and for threatening Assemblyman Ron Kim," Malliotakis told the Post. "These allegations are disgusting and, if true, are all the more reason why Cuomo needs to go."
Stefanik also rebuked the media's lack of attention to Boylan's claims.
"Sadly, much of the media in the state either ignored this matter or chose to report the sexist character and professional smears of Ms. Boylan by Gov. Cuomo's taxpayer-funded staff," Stefanik wrote.
"I have served in Congress during the height of the #MeToo movement leading to resignations and retirements of my colleagues. Sexual harassment and sexual abuse in the workplace is not a political issue, it is about right and wrong."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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