Rebecca Traister at New York magazine wrote a long and definitive account of the “toxic workplace” that is the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. I urge you to read it in full! For our purposes here, however, I will highlight one passage in particular.
The passage comes about a quarter of the way into the piece, and it involves Cuomo and an employee named Kaitlin, who had been hired, she said, after the governor noticed her at a fundraiser.
On a different day, in Manhattan, Cuomo asked her to come into his office and look up car parts on eBay. “He sat at his desk and angled his chair around.” It was a tight space, with Kaitlin standing between the seated governor and the computer he was asking her to work on. “So I was standing there, in a skirt and heels, having to bend over his computer, with him looking at me, and me looking up car parts.” (In response, Cuomo’s spokesperson noted: “The governor is notoriously technologically inept — male and female staffers have for years assisted the governor with his computer.”)
Now, Cuomo has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, and for that he should obviously resign. But another reason he should resign is that he owns a 1968 Pontiac GTO and a 1975 Chevy Corvette, cars that are only owned by crooks, scoundrels, and fools with enough money to act on their worst desires. He could have used his wealth and position to secure something interesting, like an Oldsmobile Toronado, but that would have required taste. He should also resign because his office agrees — he’s too goddamn stupid to look for car parts on eBay without assistance.
Which also makes me question whether it is safe for Cuomo to still be driving period. Please park this man at a Mecum auction so the rest of us can forget that he exists.