Cuomo the accused sex harasser targets comptroller foe over dog-neutering, smoking-ban suits

Yahoo

7 hours ago

Accused serial sex harasser and mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo has tried to make hay of city lawsuits involving Comptroller foe Brad Lander over issues such as dog-neutering.
Cuomo leveled his attack against Lander during Wednesday's mayoral debate, and the 15 lawsuits he tied to the city moneyman were later listed in a Thursday social-media post by his campaign.
But in all but one of the lawsuits, Lander was only a nominally listed defendant, with many of the suits filed against the City Council, a review by The Post found.
And none of the suits accused Lander of personal wrongdoing, unlike some of the accusations levied at Cuomo.
The suits tangentially involving Lander span three mayoral administrations and include legal fights over a pro-smoking group fighting smoking bans, dog-neutering laws and a pair of shelter residents filing pro-se lawsuits over asbestos allegations.
Cuomo rep Rich Azzopardi told The Post that his boss's comments on the debate stage were about Lander taking issue with the state footing the former governor's legal bills, pointing out that taxpayers have paid for suits against the comptroller, too.
Cuomo — who resigned as governor in August 2021 over sex-harassment and COVID nursing-home controversies — has denied all of the accusations against him.
'Lander has amnesia,' Azzopardi said, adding that the substance of the suits was irrelevant and that the accusations against Cuomo have faced difficulties in court.
But Lander rep Dora Pekec said substance is the issue.
'While Brad Lander got sued by the cigarette lobby for protecting our children from secondary smoke, predator Andrew Cuomo got sued by numerous employees for sexual abuse, faced looming impeachment, and forced taxpayers to spend $60 million trying to make these scandals go away,' Pekec said in a statement.
'No wonder Cuomo keeps lying about both of their records,' Pekec said.
Lindsey Boylan, one of the first of a dozen women who have accused Cuomo of sexual harassment, said, 'Cuomo will lie and smear every day of the week to serve himself.
'That's what abusers do.'
While Cuomo's debate-night comment began as a response to Lander citing the more than $60 million taxpayers have been forced to shell out for lawsuits regarding sexual harassment and COVID allegations against the ex-gov, Cuomo's comments quickly turned to the legal substance of the cited lawsuits.
'He was sued 15 times,' Cuomo said at the debate. 'He was sued by parents of the disabled. He was sued by homeless providers who said he was unaware, he didn't do anything about the safety conditions. He was sued by people who said he mismanaged the pension fund.'
Lander repeatedly said, 'False, false' as Cuomo spoke.
The only cited suit that challenged an official decision by Lander was over his move to divest the city's pension fund from fossil fuels — with a state appeal court upholding the suit's dismissal in March.
The rest of the suits have next to nothing to do with Lander as comptroller — or City Council member.
One was a challenge to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's indoor smoking ban by a pro-smoking group, whose website states their mission is to 'end the discrimination against smokers by exposing the anti-smoking lies' and insisting 'smoking is normal.'
Other suits include zoning fights, a law requiring pet stores to sell neutered pooches and a lawsuit by a disability advocacy group over emergency preparedness — which lists neither City Council nor Lander as a defendant.
When Cuomo said Lander was 'sued by the parents of the disabled,' he was referring to a pair of suits filed against the city's Education Department — a routine way to secure funding to attend a specialized school for kids with brain injuries.
And the suits by 'homeless providers' were a pair of nearly identical pro-se lawsuits filed against the city Department of Homeless Services by residents of a Fort Washington shelter over COVID-19 and asbestos claims.
In both suits, Lander is listed nominally as the comptroller, typical for lawsuits filed against the city.
A search of federal court records show that Lander has actually been sued more than 15 times — with 19 results as a civil defendant.
By comparison, Cuomo appears 1,009 times, stretching back to his time with the federal government.