Time’s Up Chairman Roberta Kaplan has resigned because she was accused of trying to discredit a woman who filed a sexual assault charge against the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo.
Kaplan cited her work as a practicing lawyer, saying that she was unable to publicly answer questions about her relationship with Cuomo or her former senior assistant Melissa De Rosa.
Kaplan wrote in a letter: “Therefore, I reluctantly concluded that active legal practices are no longer suitable for serving on Time’s Up’s board of directors. Support the Me Too movement for victims of sexual harassment.
A report from the Office of Attorney General Letitia James found that Cuomo had sexually harassed 11 women and claimed that Kaplan helped review the draft of a column aimed at attacking the character of Lindsey Boylan, who was the first to publicly accuse the governor of harassment Women.
Boylan, a former assistant to Cuomo, published a long article in February detailing several episodes in which she accused the governor of sexually harassing her-including one of his uninvited kisses in the Manhattan office. Case.
Kaplan refused to answer New York Times‘About whether she had consulted outside of the column for De Rosa, whom she represented in the investigation of the governor.
Investigators said that efforts to discredit Boylan’s account were led by De Rosa, who announced her resignation from the Como government on Sunday, the day before Kaplan submitted her account.
Philip Farane/Stringer
The column in which Kaplan participated has never been published, but this is part of a broader effort by the governor and his aides to seek advice from former officials such as Time’s Up CEO Tina Tchen and human rights movement chairman Alphonso David. The governor’s brother, CNN anchor Chris Cummer.
In the days after the report was released, those who were found to provide guidance to the government faced widespread criticism. In view of the mission of their organization, Kaplan and Tchen were subjected to particularly rigorous scrutiny.
In an open letter to the Time’s Up board of directors, 40 survivors and victims of sexual assault called on the organization to replace any board members or staff members found to support the perpetrator.
“TIME’S UP has abandoned the people it should support,” the letter read. “The board of directors continues to fail to notice the strong protest from the survivors. TIME’S UP is disappointing all survivors.”
The organization added: “TIME’S UP has prioritized access to power rather than mission.” “Now that the behavior of TIME’S UP board members and employees has been exposed, you cannot rewrite history. Sign the open letter To New York State Senate And the Parliament calls on them to remove Governor Cuomo from office as you actively commit to further defense behind closed doors. “
Weekly newspaper Boylan was contacted for comments, but no response was received before publication.
