Gov. Andrew Cuomo talked openly Wednesday about
harassment allegations against him in what marked his first public
appearance since Feb. 22.
Three women, including two former aides, have come
forward and accused him of sexual harassment.
“I'm sorry for any pain that I caused anyone,” Cuomo
said at his briefing. “I never intended it and I will be better for this
experience.”
Even though
Cuomo acknowledged that he made the women feel
uncomfortable, he says he wants New Yorkers to wait for the facts to come out
in public before forming an opinion. Cuomo said he will “fully cooperate” with
an investigation into the allegations being overseen by the state's
independently elected attorney general, who is also a Democrat.
The governor also said he is not going to resign.
“I'm going to do the job the people of the state elected me
to do,” he said.
Victim advocates on Long Island say Cuomo's apology
wasn't convincing.
“There's a difference of an apology and an explanation,”
says Keith Scott, of Safe House, a victim's service agency that deals with
abuse and treatment.
He says it's important for these accusations to be looked into
and for a full investigation to be done.
“There are so many innuendos, so many behaviors, so many
gestures that can be perceived as sexual harassment and are sexual harassment
that we should all know by now – especially for those of us in positions of
power and authority,” says Scott.
Scott says whatever the outcome of the report is, it will
set a precedent for people in power facing sexual harassment allegations.
One of his accusers, Lindsey Boylan, took to Twitter to respond to the governor's apology.
Jesse McKinley, of the New York Times, reported that Charlotte Bennett's attorney, Debra Katz, said the governor's news conference "was full of falsehoods and inaccurate information."