Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo speaks before getting vaccinated at Mount Neboh Baptist...

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo speaks before getting vaccinated at Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem on Wednesday. Credit: Pool / Getty Images

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is confronting accusations of sexual harassment by going to his default mode of fighting back with his job and legacy on the line, according to sources close to Cuomo and executive chamber staffers.

"They are still dug in," one source said. "In his mind they are not cases of sexual harassment. That’s what’s going on in his mind."

The source is among four former Cuomo executive chamber staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak about private conversations in the chamber. Cuomo has been accused by seven women — three of them former Cuomo staffers — of unwanted sexual advances.and comments.

In separate interviews the sources spoke about the strategy Cuomo is using as he seeks to survive the sexual harassment allegations — along with eroding support from elected officials — that have quickly ended the careers of other politicians, including former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.). The sources said they never saw or experienced what they consider sexual harassment by Cuomo, but conceded that defending his behavior in the post-#MeToo world is difficult.

Inside the executive chamber, one source described Cuomo’s closest staff as exhausted and deflated. Other sources have described a "toxic" work culture, particularly for young women, of oppressive work hours and demands followed by "being read the riot act" for mistakes.

The allegations against Cuomo include a former aide who said Cuomo gave her an unwanted kiss and another former staffer who said he made unwanted advances and said he was open to relationships with younger women. A third former aide said Cuomo kissed her hand and cheek in flirtatious behavior at work. A fourth woman, who didn’t work for Cuomo, said the governor at a wedding touched her bare back and cupped her face in attempt to kiss her.

Another former aide to Cuomo when he served as secretary of housing and urban development in the Clinton administration said he forced an unwanted hug in a hotel room. The Albany Times Union reported based on an unnamed source that a sixth woman has said Cuomo groped her in the governor’s mansion last year. And The New York Times has reported that a current aide in the governor's office said Cuomo has ogled her body and made suggestive remarks.

The accusations have prompted calls for Cuomo to resign, including from Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirstin Gillibrand, most of New York's congressional delegation and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie ordered an investigation that could lead to impeachment. State Attorney General Letitia James announced two attorneys would investigate the claims against the governor.

President Joe Biden, an important ally for Cuomo, said last week that if sexual harassment is proved, Cuomo should resign. "I think he'll probably end up being prosecuted, too," Biden told ABC News.

The U.S. Justice Department also is investigating how the Cuomo administration handled COVID-19 in nursing homes.

Publicly, Cuomo was business as usual over the past two weeks making announcements before supportive audiences about the success of getting vaccines to New Yorkers. At some events, Cuomo was flanked by pastors of Black churches and upstate and Long Island politicians seeking his support as he negotiates a state budget due April 1. In events closed to the press, he talked about his mother, appeared with his daughters and Yankees and Mets stars, cracked jokes and handed out good news such as the further reopening of gyms, bowling alleys and casinos, promising an expansion of restaurant hours, and reducing the age of eligibility for a vaccination to 60 years old.

"It’s a take-it-one-day-at-a-time approach," one source said.

"He’s going to hang tough," said another.

Ultimately, the result of the attorney general’s investigation will be the key to Cuomo’s remaining term and any chance of a fourth term in 2022, said Lee Miringoff, a political scientist and director of the Marist College Poll.

"I think it’s very critical," Miringoff said. "It’s his best chance of getting out from under this, but it is certainly not a guarantee."

Cuomo's strategy has been to assert that he wasn’t making sexual overtures, but instead was engaged in caring banter, innocent flirtations and joking to break the intense pressure of the executive chamber. He also said his welcoming manner to women outside the executive chamber — a kiss on the cheek, an arm around the lower back for a photo — were just his way of greeting. He disputed that he kissed one of the women on the lips and denied the other accusations, saying, "I never touched anyone inappropriately … I never made inappropriate advances and no one told met the time they felt uncomfortable or awkward."

"Is he overly schmoozy and behind the times? Absolutely," one former senior female staffer said. "But never to assert his power."

Cuomo is now personally contacting legislators who have called for his resignation or ouster, arguing that he may have unintentionally overstepped the bounds of today’s post-#MeToo atmosphere.

Women advocates said they have heard this before.

"Gov. Cuomo is well aware that his actions are sexual harassment," said Leah Hebert, co-founder of the Sexual Harassment Working Group of current and former state staffers who banded together to push for tougher laws. She said what Cuomo describes as his "way" with women is "a poor attempt at normalizing his inappropriate behavior.

"This is part of ‘the harasser’s playbook,’" Hebert said. "It is disgusting that anyone should have to accept that their job requires that their boss and strangers are entitled to put their lips and saliva on their face. We should believe Cuomo when he says it’s just the way he is, because it means he cannot accept that placing his lips and hands on staff’s bodies is wrong."

Meanwhile, the executive branch is focused on negotiating and passing a budget by the April 1 deadline. Staffers are saying and doing little publicly out of fear of making a mistake that could compound the problem. Cuomo remains resolved to stay in office until he decides to leave.

He’s taking on the political fight of his life with the same combativeness that won him political victories over three terms, but which also resulted in a long list of angry adversaries.

"People know the difference between plain politics bowing to cancel culture and the truth," Cuomo said. "I am not going to resign … There is still a question of truth."

Increasingly isolated from the Democratic Party he leads, Cuomo is exhausted and frustrated after marking more than 365 straight days of combating the pandemic, but resolved to fight, said a source close to Cuomo.

Insiders warn that fighting harassment accusations is harder after the #MeToo movement helped set a clearer line of conduct in state and federal laws.

"Societally, there is no nuance with #MeToo," one former executive branch official said of the difficulty of Cuomo’s challenges. "It’s just black and white."

That’s part of the political downside for Cuomo. By challenging the stories of the women who accuse him, he risks offending the women voters who have been a reliable constituency.

"It’s very difficult in this climate especially in New York to survive this type of problem," said Miringoff. "The persona, politically, is damaged regardless."

"He will give ground slowly," said Gerald Benjamin, distinguished professor of political science at the State University of New York at New Paltz, "to try to solidify a base in the public through a governance focus, talk about all he has done — when possible through surrogates — and as he can, redefine the conversation. Yet at any moment this may explode … there are too many ‘unknown unknowns’ to make a reasonable prognosis."

The litany of allegations has had an impact on the governor's staff.

Cuomo’s three attempts at apologies to the women who accuse him disappointed some of his own staffers and angered some young women staffers who took it personally.

"There was still a ‘but’ after it," one source said of Cuomo’s apologies.

"People are free to make allegations," Cuomo said. "But we also have due process to get the facts … I know if customs change, then I will change customs and behaviors."

It’s a hard sell, even within Cuomo’s executive chamber.

"Some women don’t feel comfortable working there," one source said. Some continue to do their jobs but won’t participate in any task "to defend him." Other women, especially the cadre of young women, are trying to get out and fear their once-assured golden path as being a former Cuomo employee has been tarnished.

So far this year, at least eight staffers, including five women, have left the executive chamber, sometimes for other jobs in state government, according to state payroll records. In all of 2020, 13 staffers, seven of whom were women, left the executive chamber. The records provide no reasons.

Sources said more resignations are expected.

Turnover, however, has always been high in what Stewart-Cousins called a "toxic work environment" in the executive branch. She counted that atmosphere among the reasons that "Cuomo must resign."

Years of berating staffers for mistakes, motivating by fear, and pushing them has worn down some of his loyalists and created enemies of some who left, the sources said.

Cuomo calls it his "constructive impatience" to get many things done fast, and his "way" of treating women. But those statements are seen by some inside his own chamber as an extension of his egotism and arrogance, the sources said.

Benjamin said he doesn’t believe Cuomo will resign. "His entire life legacy is at stake," Benjamin said.

Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, Kendall Rodriguez; Gary Licker

Things to do now on LI Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break.

Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp, Kendall Rodriguez; Gary Licker

Things to do now on LI Rock climbing? Indoor beach volleyball? Water parks? Arts and crafts? NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday deputy lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your look at ways to spend your winter break.

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