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Andrew Cuomo and the Cult of the Asshole Boss
The rise and fall of New York’s governor is what happens when we treat male rage and intimidation as a leadership skill
Andrew Cuomo has never tried to hide who he is: The New York governor is a famous bully. He’ll publicly berate and scream at a reporter for asking a simple question about school closures. He’ll grab a female acquaintance by the face in front of cameras. His feud with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has been called the nastiest and pettiest dispute in politics; at one point, Cuomo stuck de Blasio with a $485 million Metropolitan Transportation Authority bill just to make his rival’s life harder.
Stories from Cuomo’s early career tend to include the phrase “relentless personal vendetta” more than is strictly ideal. One New York Times investigation of his leadership style reports that state Sen. Liz Krueger, who was perplexed as to why she hadn’t been abused by Cuomo, was told by one of his aides that she’d been placed on the “do-not-yell-at list.” “I responded, ‘You people have such a list?’” Krueger told the Times. “[The aide] said: ‘It is very small.’”
Cuomo’s anger has taken on a more sinister light in recent weeks as several women have come forward to allege that he sexually harassed them. The stories — inappropriate touching, kissing, and hugging and allegations he invited one woman to play strip poker and grabbed another by the face in front of cameras — seem less a contradiction of his volatile public behavior than the logical extension of it.
“Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected,” wrote Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to come forward. “His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you. … He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences.”
Sure enough, in the wake of Boylan’s allegations, former staffers and colleagues have come forward to allege that Cuomo threatened to ruin or end their careers for any number of minor slights, from accepting a job offer with a rival to failing to properly transfer a call. State Democrats, who spent all last spring hailing…
