A judge denied former Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s bid to continue a taxpayer-funded court battle with a former aide who accused him of sexual assault.
Cuomo, who is running for New York City mayor as an independent, wanted to “resurrect” his public image with the continuation of the case, the judge said.
“Cuomo has not advanced any viable argument for why the taxpayers of this state should continue to foot the bill for his continued use of civil litigation discovery devices to further his efforts to resurrect his public image,” state Supreme Court Justice Denise Hartman wrote in a decision Monday.
More than a month ago, New York agreed to pay Brittany Commisso $450,000 to settle a lawsuit she filed. She alleged Cuomo groped and sexually harassed her while he was in office as New York’s governor. He resigned in 2021 under the weight of several sexual harassment allegations, which he denies.
Cuomo resisted Commisso’s request to discontinue the case, seeking to make public text messages he believed would discredit her allegations. His attorney, Rita Glavin, said it was of “enormous public interest” because the former governor was running for mayor.
The former governor announced his campaign in March this year. He was the overwhelming favorite to win until socialist Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat in the race, upset him by 12 percentage points in the June primary.
The judge allowed Commisso to discontinue the case and denied Cuomo’s motion on the texts.
A Cuomo spokesman told the Associated Press that the public deserved to see the texts.
“Governor Cuomo will continue to fight for the release of all the evidence because it shows he didn’t sexually harass anyone and further discredits the AG’s political report. Release the evidence and let the public decide,” Rich Azzopardi said in a written statement.
Commisso filed her initial lawsuit in 2023. She then filed a criminal complaint against Cuomo, which was dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
Once seen as the favorite to become New York’s next mayor, Cuomo is now one of a group of candidates looking to unseat Mamdani. The young state assemblyman has polled decisively ahead of Cuomo, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
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The other candidates have picked on Cuomo for his past sexual harassment allegations. Adams, for example, placed whistles on female reporters’ seats in case they needed to call for help while interviewing Cuomo.
Cuomo has often called on the other candidates to drop out to give him the best shot against Mamdani, but Adams and Sliwa have resisted. The former governor said he would drop out of the race if he didn’t gather enough support.
