All staffers implicated in the investigation that led to Andrew Cuomo resigning in disgrace are out of the boss’ office, Gov. Kathy Hochul claimed Wednesday.
Asked during an MSNBC appearance if she had “cleaned house,” Hochul affirmed that she had followed through on her promise to oust staffers named in the scathing sexual state Attorney General harassment probe.
“Yes, so the individuals who were named in the report are no longer part of this administration, and they know I’m walking the walk,” Hochul said on “Morning Joe.”
“I’m just saying it’s over,” she said. “None of this is going to be accepted.”
On Aug. 11, the day after Cuomo announced his intention to resign, Hochul declared that she’d get rid of staffers who AG Letitia James’ office’s report concluded acted unethically.
“No one who was named as doing anything unethical in the report will remain in my administration,” Hochul said during a press briefing in Albany. “No one will describe my administration as a toxic work environment.”
During her second day as New York’s chief executive, the state’s first woman governor — who vowed on Tuesday to mandate in-person sexual harassment training for state employees — promised to create a workplace where staffers “don’t have to worry about harassment.”
“I’ve surrounded myself with talented — particularly young women and I want them to be the role models to others that this is a place of people who want to work with their heart and passion and bring good services to the public,” she said on the morning TV show.
“But also, it’s a culture where they’re going to be okay, you don’t have to look over your shoulder,” she added. “You don’t have to worry about harassment, and that’s what I wanted to instill, and anyone who violates that is going to have to deal with me.”
Hochul, the lieutenant governor before being sworn in to her new role Tuesday, has in recent weeks distanced herself from the “toxic” work environment Cuomo fostered in his scandal-plagued Executive Chamber documented by the damning state attorney general probe.
As part of turning the chapter on the creepy, corrupt and opaque Cuomo years, the state’s Department of Health on Tuesday released, more complete revised tallies on COVID-19 deaths bringing the state’s death count in line with figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re now releasing more data than had been released before, publicly, so people know the nursing home deaths and the hospital deaths are consistent with what’s being displayed by the CDC,” Hochul said on MSNBC Wednesday morning.
“There’s just a lot of things that weren’t happening, and I’m going to make them happen,” she added. “Transparency will be the hallmark of my administration.”