By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-03-31 23:43:03 | Updated at 2025-04-02 11:48:09
1 day ago
The former mayor of Syracuse says then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo forcibly kissed her several times when she was in office, and she angrily describes the encounters as “all about power.’’
Longtime Cuomo foe Stephanie Miner, speaking to The Post on Monday about her new book, “Madam Mayor,” recounted passages in her tome in which she claims she was kissed against her will by the then-governor while they were at loggerheads over policy issues during her two terms.
“It was clearly unwanted. It was about power with him,” the Democrat said of the encounters — while blasting Cuomo’s administration as a total “failure.”
Miner, 54, called the busses a “kiss from a bully” in her book.
“I did not find Andrew Cuomo’s kisses any more objectionable than the other ways he bullied me. It was part of the rules of engagement as a politician,” wrote Miner, who was mayor from 2010 to 2018. “I chose to be in the arena, and his kisses were the least of his control tactics.”
Miner recalled being invited to a Cuomo announcement regarding his Start-UP NY program at the SUNY Upstate Medical Center campus in 2013.
Under the program, firms could relocate tax-free, including being exempt from local property taxes — which Miner opposed because she said it deprived Syracuse of revenues to fund city services.
She had previously written an op-ed column critical of the governor, 67, and they were at loggerheads.
“I seethed. At the end of the event, the governor’s staff grabbed me and ushered me to the receiving line, ensuring the media could see the governor greet me, thus confirming my support of the program,” Miner claimed in her book, the details of which were first reported by Politico.
“I was being manipulated but had no real choice,” she said. “If I refused, it would cement me as someone who could not work with the most powerful elected official in the state. I felt like a trapped animal, and I knew my face gave away exactly how I was feeling.”
She noted that Cuomo greeted Onondaga County Executive, Joanie Mahoney, with a kiss.
“I thought, what if he tries to kiss me? When Cuomo got to me, he grabbed my hand and, with a big smile on his face, leaned in to kiss me. I instinctively leaned out, feeling myself flush red, and murmured a hello while the cameras snapped,” Miner said.
“Given that he was about six feet tall, and I was five three, he was able to easily envelop me. … To be clear, I was furious about the manipulation and the illusory economic-development promises, not the kiss,” she said.
She also recalled Cuomo delivering one of his regional State of the State policy addresses in Syracuse in 2017.
“As his cameraman furiously clicked away, Cuomo greeted everyone with a hug or a kiss. I was in the middle of the row with multiple people on either side of me. There was no escape. When he got to me, he surrounded me and kissed me,” Miner said.
“Did I want that?” Miner continued. “No. Was it clear from my body language, my facial expression, and everything he knew about me I did not want that? Yes, which is why he did it: to show his political dominance.
“With Andrew Cuomo, his kissing me was about power. I never viewed it as sexual. We were gladiators in a public ring and that’s how he showed he was boss.”
Miner, who ran as an independent candidate against Cuomo in 2018, said she never brought up the unwanted smooches from Cuomo before, not even while other women, including staffers, accused him of sexual misconduct. Cuomo, though denying the other women’s accusations, resigned from office under the threat of impeachment.
But “anyone who was familiar with the dynamic between us knew the kisses were unwanted,” Miner said.
The Cuomo camp dismissed Miner as a has-been.
“Our great city is in crisis and New Yorkers know Andrew Cuomo is the only person in this race with the experience, leadership and the proven record to take on the hard issues and make New York a safer and more affordable place for all,” said Cuomo campaign spokesman Richard Azzopardi.
“New Yorkers aren’t stupid, they have known Andrew Cuomo for decades and are not going to be swayed by an long-since retired upstate mayor who ran against him years ago, lost by 58 points, fell off the face of the earth and has now resurfaced using his name to try to sell a book.”
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