For years, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has advocated for policies that deny due process to those accused of sexual misconduct. Now, he wants New Yorkers to disregard his earlier statements and give him the benefit of the doubt he didn’t want others to receive.
It’s rarely surprising when those who advocated for firmly believing accusers without mentioning anything about evidence or investigation are accused of sexual misconduct themselves. Cuomo is the latest example of how those most vocal on the subject would often have had their lives upended if they were forced to follow the rules they imposed on others.
In 2014, shortly after then-California Gov. Jerry Brown, another Democrat, signed a law mandating harmful “affirmative consent” or “yes means yes” policies on state colleges and universities, Cuomo signaled he wanted the same policies to apply to New York college and university students as well. In 2015, Cuomo signed into law the “Enough is Enough” law, which made affirmative consent on college campuses a reality.
As I have written countless times before, affirmative consent policies essentially deem all sex as rape without evidence to the contrary. That’s not how it’s explained, of course, but that is what it actually does. If two students have sex, the woman’s account is automatically believed, forcing the burden of proof onto the accused, who almost never has any way of proving a negative, hence why the legal system traditionally places the burden of proof on the accuser.
If the man says the woman specifically said “yes,” she can say she was too drunk, without having to prove she was “incapacitated,” as these policies describe. She merely has to say she was “intoxicated,” and she magically becomes too drunk to consent. The fact that alcohol lowers inhibitions apparently means nothing, with lowered inhibitions on the part of women now grounds for an accusation.
Yet Cuomo championed these policies, speaking at events and demanding that women be believed and the accused be punished. Until he himself was accused – or one of his Democrat pals like Joe Biden – due process never mattered.
That mentality was on full display during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, when he was dubiously accused of sexual assault by a woman who couldn’t even prove she had ever been in the same room as him, not to mention the fact that she was accusing him of doing something some 30 years earlier. The glaring silence of her parents throughout the ordeal should have been seen as a red flag, yet these discrepancies, and others, were widely ignored because the Left wanted to destroy Kavanaugh.
Cuomo joined other Democrats in condemning Kavanaugh even without a shred of evidence outside of Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations. The Daily Wire’s Amanda Prestigiacomo reminded us what Cuomo did during the Kavanaugh hearings:
“Why won’t [Kavanaugh] take a polygraph?” Cuomo asked President Donald Trump in a statement released at the time. “Dr. Ford did. If he does not take a polygraph test, it is the ultimate, ‘he said, she said.’ It is the one powerful piece of evidence that seriously damages his credibility and the credibility of his Republican supporters, including yourself.”
“You can and should ask him to take the test,” Cuomo continued. “If he refuses, you should pull the appointment. It will show at least a modicum of fairness on your part. If you do not insist that Judge Kavanaugh take a polygraph, it will be further evidence that you are putting political motivation over your constitutional obligation. Do not aid and abet a lie. Demand a polygraph.”
At the time, Cuomo also accused Republicans of not taking women’s allegations seriously.
“There is a disrespect for women that this [Trump] administration chronically exemplifies,” he said. “After the #MeToo movement, they did absolutely nothing when it came to sexual harassment. They have always diminished the charges of women — always, consistently. And they’re doing it again.”
“To cheapen or ridicule the pain a woman suffers from a sexual attack is disgusting — sexist and disgusting. To second-guess how a woman should have acted after a sexual attack is sexist and disgusting. I mean, it’s just insensitive; you don’t understand the pain, you don’t understand how the system tortures a person who wants to come forward,” he added.
Of course, now that Cuomo has been accused, he adds that due process is important.
“I never intended to offend anyone or cause any harm. I spend most of my life at work, and colleagues are often also personal friends. At work sometimes I think I am being playful and make jokes that I think are funny. I do, on occasion, tease people in what I think is a good natured way. I do it in public and in private. You have seen me do it at briefings hundreds of times. I have teased people about their personal lives, their relationships, about getting married or not getting married,” Cuomo said in a statement about the allegations.
“I mean no offense and only attempt to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business,” he continued. “I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.”
“To be clear I never inappropriately touched anybody and I never propositioned anybody and I never intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but these are allegations that New Yorkers deserve answers to,” Cuomo concluded. “That’s why I have asked for an outside, independent review that looks at these allegations. Separately, my office has heard anecdotally that some people have reached out to Ms. Bennett to express displeasure about her coming forward. My message to anyone doing that is you have misjudged what matters to me and my administration and you should stop now – period.”
Cuomo denies the allegations against him, yet Kavanaugh’s denials were just evidence of guilt.
If Cuomo were forced to live by the rules he imposed on others, he would be removed from office and branded a sexual predator for life no matter what the actual evidence shows.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.