Who is Alyssa McGrath? Cuomo aide, 33, says he looked down shirt, kissed forehead and called her 'mingle mama'
The list of women accusing New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment is increasing with each passing day. The latest woman to come forward with allegations of harassment is his current aide- Alyssa McGrath.
McGrath, 33, claimed that the governor had 'ogled body, looked down her shirt, complimented her and called her and her co-worker "mingle mamas" and enquired about her lack of wedding ring'. She is the eighth woman to have come forward with allegations of misbehavior against Cuomo.
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Who is Alyssa McGrath?
McGrath is an administrative assistant at the governor's office. She's listed on SeeThroughNY, a database of public employees maintained by the Empire Center. According to the database in 2018, she was a "confidential stenographer" who fell under the pay scale of $47,000. In 2019, she has been listed as an administrative assistant who gets pais $64,383.
DailyMail reported that on her now deleted LinkedIn and social media accounts, McGrath described herself as an Executive Assistant in The Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. McGrath has a degree in business management from Sienna Colloge, and currently resides in Troy, New York, with her son. In an interview with The New York Times, McGrath revealed that Cuomo began misbehaving with her soon after she was hired in May 2018.
McGrath revealed that in 2019, she was called to Cumo's office, where he asked her if she spoke Italian, since she is of Italian descent. When she said that she didn't, he reportedly made a comment to her in Italian. She later asked her parents what the phrase he told her menat, and her parents informed her that he was commenting about her beauty.
In another separate incident, she shared how she was called to Cuomo's office in the Capitol for a dictation. It was just him and her in the office. She recollected how she sat across from him and was aiting for him to start speaking. But he reportedly didn't speak, but was instead staring down her shirt. She said, "He didn't start speaking, so I looked up to see what was going on. And he was blatantly looking down my shirt." She told Times that the governor enquired abput a necklace which was inside her shirt, which made her feel uncomfortable.
She shared the incident with her co-worker, who is also a fellow accuser against Cumo.McGrath also accused Cumo of kissing her forehead during an office Christmas party in 2019. There's a picture of him with McGrath and another woman with his arms wrapped around the women from the night of party. McGrath's Christmas kiss story is similar to a story from another accuser Anna Ruch, who accused Cuomo of putting his hands on her lower back and asking her if he could kiss her.
Cuomo's lawyer Rita Glavin confirmed that the governor did use Italian phrases occassionally. "The governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like 'ciao bella'." she said to New York Times on Friday. Cuomo maintains that he has "never touched anyone inappropriately" and "never made any inappropriate advances", but apologized in case he made anyone feel "uncomfortable".