Over the past several weeks, Governor Andrew Cuomo has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, most of whom are current or former state employees. The allegations add to the growing list of scandals involving Cuomo and his administration, including understating the nursing home death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic by nearly half. The claims should increase awareness of the insidious problem of sexual exploitation that plagues our nation, a systemic one in which government has failed to properly hold assailants accountable.

The first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment was Lindsey Boylan, an administration aide from 2015 to 2018, who first spoke out on Twitter last December. In February, Boylan published an article detailing numerous instances in which Cuomo allegedly made sexual advances in the workplace. Among these, she said he had gone “out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs,” told her they should play strip poker during a flight, and gave her an unsolicited kiss at his Manhattan office.

Charlotte Bennett, a 25-year-old former aide to the governor and a Hamilton College alumna, is the second woman to accuse the governor of sexual harassment. She reported that Cuomo, 63, inquired about her sex life and whether she was sexually interested in or experienced with older men. In another instance, he allegedly asked whether she thought age differences mattered in romantic relationships, a comment which she regarded as sexually insinuative. Bennett reported the interactions to Cuomo’s chief of staff and provided an in-depth statement to a special counsel, and was later transferred to a different job. She left her position last November.

Anna Ruch is the third woman to accuse Cuomo of inappropriate sexual behavior, in her case at a wedding they both attended in September 2019. During a conversation between them about a toast he had just made, she says, he unsolicitedly put his hand on her bare lower back, called her “aggressive” after she removed it, placed his hands on her cheeks, attempted to kiss her, and kept drawing closer as she continuously pulled away.

The fourth and fifth women to publicly accuse the governor of sexual harassment are Karen Hinton and Ana Liss. Hinton, a paid consultant to Cuomo when he was the federal Housing and Urban Development secretary, alleges that he gave her an unsolicited intimate embrace at a hotel room in 2000, repeating the motion a second time, which she again resisted. Liss, a former aide, said he made her uncomfortable after kissing her on the hand and asking intimate details about her romantic life.

The Times Union of Albany reported that one of Cuomo’s current aides, who remains anonymous, accused him of groping her in the Executive Mansion, after inviting her there to help him with a technical issue. On March 19, Alyssa McGrath, another current aide to the governor, confirmed her prior knowledge of the anonymous allegation before it was made public. She also alleged that Cuomo had gawked at her body and made sexually suggestive comments to her and the other aide.

The most recent allegation to surface publicly is by Jessica Bakeman, a former Albany reporter who described multiple instances in which she said Cuomo was physically inappropriate or publicly demeaning toward her.

Governor Cuomo’s response to the multiple allegations has been embarrassing and inadequate. Although he has issued statements acknowledging and apologizing for any discomfort that his actions may have brought his victims, he still adamantly denies the allegations. On February 28, state Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office would begin a formal investigation into the sexual harassment claims that have been made so far.

These brave survivors deserve not only to have their stories told, and heard, but even more importantly to have Cuomo held accountable. This issue is not one which can be met with silence or indifference; women have to, and continue to, overcome barriers of entry into politics, and the persistent issue of sexual misconduct at the hands of political leaders is a recurrent one which has gone improperly addressed for far too long. If Cuomo has any semblance of honesty left, he’ll resign with dignity before the state Assembly’s impeachment investigation potentially forces him to.