{"id":315945,"date":"2021-08-05T20:41:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T17:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/ex-buttigieg-strategist-pr-execs-helped-cuomo-fight-accusations\/"},"modified":"2021-08-05T20:41:48","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T17:41:48","slug":"ex-buttigieg-strategist-pr-execs-helped-cuomo-fight-accusations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/ex-buttigieg-strategist-pr-execs-helped-cuomo-fight-accusations\/","title":{"rendered":"#Ex-Buttigieg strategist, PR execs helped Cuomo fight accusations"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Ex-Buttigieg strategist, PR execs helped Cuomo fight accusations<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

CNN host Chris Cuomo isn\u2019t the only media<\/a>-savvy guru outside Albany who quietly helped his big brother fight sex-harassment allegations. <\/p>\n

Gov. Andrew Cuomo enlisted a wide range of politically connected advisers who weren\u2019t part of his staff \u2014 including Pete Buttigieg\u2019s former communications director and two executives at a top public relations firm with ties to Sen. Chuck Schumer and Google, according to the New York attorney general<\/a>\u2019s investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lis Smith, a former 2018 Cuomo campaign staffer who oversaw communications for Pete Buttigieg\u2019s failed 2020 presidential bid, was part of an \u201cinner circle\u201d of outside advisors that \u201cactively consulted\u201d with the scandal-battered governor as he responded to sexual harassment allegations, the investigation shows.<\/p>\n

In one instance, Smith \u2014 also known for dating another scandal-scarred New York governor, Eliot Spitzer \u2014 gave Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa feedback in a group chat during one of Cuomo\u2019s speeches in March, saying the governor needed to sound more \u201ccontrite\u201d in response to harassment allegations, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Smith did not immediately reply to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

In addition to Smith and Chris Cuomo, the governor\u2019s inner circle also included two executives at Kivvit, a politically connected public relations and lobbying firm that was co-founded by Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod in 2002 and has counted Google among its clients. The firm hired<\/a> former New York Gov. David Paterson last year.<\/p>\n

\"Lis
Lis Smith, who oversaw communications for Pete Buttigieg\u2019s failed 2020 presidential bid, helped Cuomo mount his defense against accusations of sexual harassment, according to the attorney general\u2019s investigation.<\/figcaption>
Tamara Beckwith\/NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Josh Vlasto and Rich Bamberger \u2014 former Cuomo staffers and current Kivvit managing directors \u2014 are both named alongside Smith throughout the damning investigative report into Cuomo\u2019s alleged misconduct released by the office of attorney general Letitia James this week.<\/p>\n

Vlasto, who served as Cuomo\u2019s chief of staff from 2013 to 2014 and has also worked for New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, first came up with the idea to leak ex-staffer Lindsey Boylan\u2019s confidential personnel records to the press after she accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct in December, Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa told investigators.<\/p>\n

Vlasto then sent the files to a New York Daily News<\/a> reporter in an attempt to \u201cdiscredit and disparage\u201d Boylan, while his Kivvit colleague Bamberger and other Cuomo allies including communications director Rich Azzopardi and Facebook communications manager Dani Lever helped distribute the documents to additional journalists, according to the report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Josh
Josh Vlasto, a former Cuomo staffer and current Kivvit managing director, allegedly came up with the idea to release Cuomo accuser Lindsey Boylan\u2019s confidential personnel files.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Boylan is planning to sue Cuomo and his inner circle for retaliating against her, Boylan\u2019s attorneys said Wednesday. Her attorney Jill Basinger did not immediately reply to a request for comment on whether the suit will specifically name Smith, Vlasto, Bamberger, Lever or other outside advisors to Cuomo. <\/p>\n

Pressed by investigators about leaking Boylan\u2019s files, Vlasto testified that he believed the files provided \u201crelevant context for the reporters \u2026 given that Lindsey [Boylan] was making accusations of harassment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Vlasto\u2019s view was that if Ms. DeRosa had made the decision to disclose the information, it was \u2018safe to say\u2019 that the decision \u2018was consistent with what the Governor wanted or had been discussed with him and he app<\/a>roved it,\u2019\u201d the report<\/a> added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even after Vlasto allegedly came up with the idea to smear Boylan, he privately told friends that Cuomo\u2019s office was a horrible place to work full of \u201cabuse and mind game<\/a>s,\u201d according to the bombshell report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe odd part about these workplace stories \u2014 it\u2019s not even close to what it was really like to work there every day. It was so much worse,\u201d Vlasto wrote in March to an unidentified friend in a message that was unearthed as part of the attorney general\u2019s investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When a friend asked, \u201cHow so?\u201d Vlasto replied, \u201cThe abuse and mind games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for me it never really bothered me. It was part of the deal,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Cuomo was faced with a fresh set of sexual harassment allegations in March, the governor approached Vlasto and asked him \u201ctake over the politics and press operation in leading the response to the assembly and all of [the] investigations,\u201d Vlasto told investigators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rich
Rich Bamberger, a former Cuomo staffer and current Kivvit managing director, helped Cuomo attempt to gather signatures for a letter in December that \u201cimpugned [the] credibility\u201d of accuser Lindsey Boylan, according to the investigation. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He declined in part because of unspecified personal reasons and also because he did not believe in the overly negative \u201cstyle\u201d the Governor and his advisors were adopting in response to the allegations, Vlasto told Investigators. <\/p>\n

For his part, Bamberger \u2014 who had served as Cuomo\u2019s communications director before joining Kivvit \u2014 helped Cuomo attempt to gather signatures for a letter in December that \u201cimpugned [the] credibility\u201d of Boylan in December and suggested that she could be working with supporters of then-President Donald Trump and a politician who wanted to unseat Cuomo as governor, according to the attorney general\u2019s investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lever, the Facebook communications manager who helped advise Cuomo, declined to sign the letter when asked because it amounted to \u201cvictim blaming,\u201d according to the report.\u00a0The letter was never released but was seen by a New York Post reporter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s investigation suggested that outside advisors like Bamberger, Vlasto, Smith, Lever and Chris Cuomo enjoyed an inappropriate level of access to the governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of them was officially retained in any capacity by the Executive Chamber or any of the individuals involved,\u201d investigators wrote of the crew. \u201cNonetheless, they were regularly provided with confidential and often privileged information about state operations and helped make decisions that impacted State business and employees \u2014 all without any formal role, duty, or obligation to the State.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vlasto declined to comment and Bamberger could not be reached. <\/p>\n

The duo were \u201cacting in their personal capacity\u201d when they advised Cuomo, Kivvit managing director Tom Meara told The Post. Meara did not answer a question about whether the two men had permission from their employer to work for their former boss on the side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kivvit has more than 100 employees in New York, Chicago and several other US cities. Axelrod sold his stake in Kivvit 12 years ago and is no longer affiliated with the company, his spokesperson Allyson Siegal told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"David
Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod co-founded Kivvit in 2002 but is no longer associated with the company. <\/figcaption>
AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other members of Cuomo\u2019s inner circle who were not state employees included Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David, communications consultant Steve Cohen and Jefrey Pollock, the founder and president of political communications firm Global Strategy Group.<\/p>\n

In addition to advising Cuomo, Pollock\u2019s website says he works with Democratic US Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ed Markey of Massachusetts \u2014 as well as New York Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, who stands to take over as governor if Cuomo steps down, and Attorney General Letitia James, whose office published the report into sexual harassment by Cuomo.\u00a0\n <\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Ex-Buttigieg strategist, PR execs helped Cuomo fight accusations” CNN host Chris Cuomo isn\u2019t the only media-savvy guru outside Albany who quietly helped his big brother fight sex-harassment allegations. Gov. Andrew Cuomo enlisted a wide range of politically connected advisers who weren\u2019t part of his staff \u2014 including Pete Buttigieg\u2019s former communications director and two executives…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":315946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/08\/cuomo-005-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[113442,70430,113510,71007,71374],"class_list":["post-315945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-5-21","tag-andrew-cuomo","tag-david-axelrod","tag-scandals","tag-sexual-harassment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}