Most of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s staffers are not showing up to their physical work spaces and are eager for him to step down, the New York Post reported over the weekend.
“I hear that most people aren’t even coming into work, and the offices at the Capitol are empty,” said one source who has been in touch with staffers in recent days.
“The staffers I’ve talked to are ready for him to hang up the gloves,” the source said. “Everyone feels like there is an inevitable conclusion… they just want this torture to stop.”
Another source, a former aide, said many employees are not coming into the executive offices, but instead working remotely or at vaccine sites. They are becoming more concerned that their careers are in danger, which is even more frustrating after they have been working extremely hard for many months during the coronavirus pandemic.
Rebellion among staffers increased after the governor on Friday defiantly refused to resign, with the former aide saying “I feel a level of rage toward this fake tough guy,” who is “genuinely a very small man who pretends to be big.”
Sources have said that almost all those working for Cuomo believe the seven accusers who allege sexual harassment and are eager for the governor to resign.
“There’s a deep sense within the governor’s staff that he is guilty of everything, and that is weighing on people,” the ex-aide said.
“He had that conversation with Charlotte Bennett [the 25-year-old former junior staffer who claimed Cuomo was grooming her to have sex]. Everyone knows that. Everyone believes that full stop and there’s not a single person who believes she’s telling a word that’s off. If that were anyone else – that conversation has to happen once for you to be fired… and he doesn’t seem to understand why that was an evil conversation, emblematic of a methodical approach to take advantage of her.”
Those who continue to go to work in the executive offices are finding it very difficult to function, with the ex aide explaining that “The nature of the calls in Cuomo world have changed. The leverage has completely shifted. It always felt like, when Cuomo’s people call, you must figure out how you are going to try to meet the demand in some form or fashion. Now, they call, and there’s almost an eagerness to say [an expletive] without hesitation … and the staff has to say they get it.”
Over the past two weeks, at least five staffers have announced their resignations.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said on Saturday that the claims about an exodus of the governor’s staffers are “greatly exaggerated.”
“There’s a budget to be done in two weeks, the largest vaccination effort is state history to stand up and the continued efforts to successfully fight this once in a century pandemic and that’s what the hard-working members of this administration and the state workforce are focused on – period,” he insisted.
Source: Newmax
