‘You Gotta Wear Heels’: Staffers Describe ‘The Cuomo Way’ Of Working For NY’s Governor

Current and former staffers of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo say he oversees a hyper-competitive and toxic work environment driven by his bullying style.

Nearly a dozen people who currently or used to work for the governor’s office say that Cuomo is known for his edgy and inappropriate treatment of women working in his orbit. The testimonials, given anonymously to the Gothamist, come as the governor faces public accusations of sexual harassment from three women, two of whom are former Cuomo aides.

One woman, identified by the Gothamist as Sarah, relayed a message one woman told her when she was starting a fellowship at the governor’s office in 2013. “You gotta wear heels when he’s in Albany sweetie, that’s the rule,” Sarah said she was told.

Staffers described a high-stress work environment that often ran staff ragged as they scheduled their lives around the governor. Some compared Cuomo’s staff to a “cult” and compared their then-loyalty to the governor to “Stockholm syndrome.” As the Gothamist reports:

They said they were expected to answer texts and phone calls and attend meetings at all hours of the day and night, any day of the week. They faced personal attacks on their professional worth and competence for seemingly small mistakes. And loyalty, rather than creative thinking, problem-solving, or passion for public service, was valued above all else.“There’s no right or wrong way. It’s the Cuomo way,” one former staffer said she was told when interviewing for the job. “He wants people who are literally going to fall on the sword for him, and they all will.” As Sarah told us, “We all would have taken a bullet for the governor. He was the most important person.”Some former staffers who spoke to Gothamist/WNYC had a more generous interpretation of what it’s like to work for Cuomo. So... (Read more)

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