Opinion: Cuomo must resign, but that’s just the beginning
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Jaslin Kaur is a candidate in City Council District 23. Campaign photo
By Jaslin Kaur
I’m used to feeling empowered when I learn about people like Charlotte Bennett. Like me, she is 25 years old. Like me, she was a campus leader against sexual harassment and abuse. And like me, she believes in working in politics to win the change we need. By all accounts, she is a very smart, hard working, humane woman, trying to make the world better.
But when I first read Charlotte Bennett’s detailed account of the sexual harassment she endured from Gov. Cuomo, I didn’t feel empowered. I felt terrified. As someone just entering politics, will I be able to change — or even make a dent in — this corrosive culture?
Not that I was shocked about Cuomo, whose alleged misconduct tracks closely with the bullying and abuse of power that has characterized his political career for 35 years. It is easy to believe Lindsey Boylan, Bennett’s fellow former aide, when she describes Cuomo’s degrading remarks and inappropriate touching. It is easy to believe Assemblymember Ron Kim’s account of Cuomo’s rage and threats, to strongarm Kim into participating in his coverup of thousands of COVID deaths in nursing homes. This is the man, after all, who founded a phony “Women’s Equality Party'' in 2014 to manipulate women voters into crushing his woman opponent.
No, what is scarier than Andrew Cuomo’s abuses of power is how easily he has kept power all these years, even with his flagrant abuses on full display. It’s the system that enables and protects all the other Andrew Cuomos out there. Bennett’s friends only confirmed her story in the press under the protection of anonymity; it takes more than just one man to instill that kind of fear.
From my years of working with survivor justice organization Know Your IX, I know how much support it takes to prop up abusive environments. We fought Betsy DeVos when she rolled back our rights to Title IX, and we organized students in states across the country to hold their schools accountable for violating the law. One thing is clear: whether it's elected officials or school administrators, there is a serious lack of political will to build safe environments where abuse doesn’t fester.
In Cuomo’s case, those responsible for this unsafe environment include the press.
Morgan Pehme’s story shows how aggressively Cuomo terrorizes journalists who step out of line and try to shed light on his malfeasance and corruption. That Cuomo has successfully cowed so many journalists into writing fawning profiles is a major sign that dozens if not hundreds of people beyond Cuomo himself must step up and take accountability for his abuses of power.
What is needed isn’t merely individual accountability, but rather system change. For the youth in high schools I worked with as part of Know Your IX, that meant transforming their student misconduct codes. For New York State, it means safe workplaces free from harassment, with strong union protections for workers. It means guaranteed human rights to healthcare and housing, so patients, tenants, and homeowners are not vulnerable to abuse. It means taxing the ultra-rich who have been running the show for too long, and investing in transit, education, and the other pillars of a dignified life that everyday Queens families need. It means making sure that when New Yorkers suffer sexual assault and gender-based violence, there are real supports to lean on, not just cops to call.
I am proud to say that Eastern Queens’ Council District 23, where I’m currently running, knows something about accountability. The man I am vying to replace, Barry Grodenchik, stepped down as chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee, following allegations that he sexually harassed a staffer, and has decided not to seek re-election. But who else might be in these circles, still inflicting harm on young women like me, like Charlotte Bennett?
Andrew Cuomo is unlikely ever to take full responsibility for his harms and make amends. But whether we keep the system that propagates these harms — that is completely up to us.
Jaslin Kaur is a Democratic candidate for city council in Queens’ District 23.
