{"id":317684,"date":"2021-08-06T22:18:02","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T19:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/execs-who-helped-cuomo-smear-accuser-work-at-firm-making-millions-from-state-contracts\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T22:18:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T19:18:02","slug":"execs-who-helped-cuomo-smear-accuser-work-at-firm-making-millions-from-state-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/execs-who-helped-cuomo-smear-accuser-work-at-firm-making-millions-from-state-contracts\/","title":{"rendered":"#Execs who helped Cuomo smear accuser work at firm making millions from state contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Execs who helped Cuomo smear accuser work at firm making millions from state contracts<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Two former Cuomo staffers who helped their old boss smear sexual harassment accuser Lindsey Boylan work for a politically connected public relations firm that is raking in millions from state contracts, according to government records and the attorney general<\/a>\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n

The PR firm Kivvit says its managing directors Josh Vlasto and Rich Bamberger \u2014 who are accused of helping Cuomo\u2019s office \u201cdiscredit and disparage\u201d Boylan \u2014 were working for the governor in a \u201cpersonal capacity\u201d at the time. <\/p>\n

But the firm also does extensive business with the state of New York and is <\/strong>responsible for distributing about $88 million in taxpayer money, <\/strong>public records show.<\/a><\/p>\n

That includes a $75 million contract for media<\/a> buying services with the state\u2019s Office of General Services. The deal began in 2018 and ends in 2024, according to the records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kivvit also has a $10 million deal with the State University of New York system for \u201cstrategic planning and media buying services\u201d that started in 2019 and runs through this December. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Kivvit \u2014 which also counts Google, Tesla, Citigroup, Lyft, Delta Airlines, Madison Square Garden, Princeton University and the US Olympic Committee among its clients \u2014 said the company charges commissions of 4 to 10 percent on media buying contracts. That means the general services and SUNY deals put at least $3.4 million and $8.5 million of taxpayer money the company\u2019s coffers. <\/p>\n

Kivvit also has an ongoing $2 million consulting contract and two other smaller marketing and public relations deals with the New York Department of Health, records show. <\/p>\n

\"\"
Kivvit managing director Rich Bamberger (left) helped Gov. Andrew Cuomo try to discredit sexual misconduct accuser Lindsey Boylan, according to the attorney general\u2019s investigation. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Asked whether Vlasto and Bamberger\u2019s personal roles advising the governor played any role in helping Kivvit secure contracts with the state of New York, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi replied, \u201cThat\u2019s the dumbest thing I ever heard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is any state contract awarded to the firm was part of a public competitively bid RFP process,\u201d a Kivvit spokesperson said. \u201cOur national team of professionals execute similar work for many states across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vlasto declined to comment and Bamberger could not be directly reached.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the attorney general\u2019s investigation, Vlasto and Bamberger were part of an\u00a0\u201cinner circle\u201d of outside advisors that \u201cactively consulted\u201d with the scandal-battered governor. The group also included CNN host Chris Cuomo, former Pete Buttigieg communications director Lis Smith, Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David and Facebook communications manager Dani Lever, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
Josh Vlasto and Rich Bamberger are managing directors at Kivvit, a public relations firm that has counted the state of New York, Google, Tesla, Citigroup, Lyft and the US Olympic Committee among its clients.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an interview with investigators, Cuomo\u2019s top aide Melissa DeRosa testified that Vlasto first came up with the idea to leak Boylan\u2019s personnel records to reporters after Boylan accused the governor of misconduct in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bamberger was then one of several people who \u201ccoordinated with some of the reporters who received the documents to let them know that the Executive Chamber would be sending them,\u201d according to the attorney general\u2019s report.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vlasto \u2014 who served as Cuomo\u2019s chief of staff from 2013 to 2014 and has also worked for New York Sen. Chuck Schumer \u2014 told investigators that he believed Boylan\u2019s files gave \u201crelevant context for the reporters \u2026 given that Lindsey [Boylan] was making accusations of harassment\u201d and added that he believed Cuomo had wanted or app<\/a>roved the leak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
Josh Vlasto (left) was accused by Cuomo top aid Melissa DeRosa (right) of coming up with the idea to leak Lindsey Boylan\u2019s confidential personnel records in what investigators called a bid to \u201cdiscredit and disparage\u201d her. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Boylan\u2019s attorneys say leaking her personnel files constitutes illegal retaliation and plan to sue the governor and his inner circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In March, when Cuomo was faced with a\u00a0fresh set of sexual harassment allegations, the governor asked Vlasto to \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

Vlasto added that he declined because of personal reasons and because he did not support the overly negative tone Cuomo\u2019s team had taken in response to the allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"
Attorneys for Lindsey Boylan say that the decision by Cuomo\u2019s advisers to leak her personnel records constitutes illegal retaliation and plan to sue the governor and his inner circle. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back in December, Bamberger \u2014 who had served as Cuomo\u2019s communications director before joining Kivvit \u2014 had helped Cuomo attempt to gather signatures for a letter in December that \u201cimpugned [the] credibility\u201d of Boylan 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

The letter was never released publicly but was reviewed by a Post reporter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2013Additional reporting by Alexandra Steigrad<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Gov. Andrew Cuomo \u2014 seen relaxing by the Governor\u2019s mansion pool yesterday \u2014 reportedly asked Josh Vlasto to take over his \u201cpolitics and press operation\u201d after a fresh set of allegations in March.<\/figcaption>
Hans Pennink<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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

“#Execs who helped Cuomo smear accuser work at firm making millions from state contracts” Two former Cuomo staffers who helped their old boss smear sexual harassment accuser Lindsey Boylan work for a politically connected public relations firm that is raking in millions from state contracts, according to government records and the attorney general\u2019s investigation. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":317685,"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-pr.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[113541,70430,74534],"class_list":["post-317684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-8-6-21","tag-andrew-cuomo","tag-public-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317684","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=317684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}