Time's Up chairwoman resigns amid backlash for effort to aid Cuomo, discredit one of his accusers
Calls for Gov. Cuomo to resign gains momentum among notable Democrats
Radio Host Tony Katz and Former Biden Campaign Surrogate Kevin Walling discuss calls for NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign and the impact of the governor’s conduct on the Democratic Party.
The chairwoman of Time’s Up, a group that supports victims of sexual harassment, resigned Monday amid backlash over revelations she helped New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in drafting a letter that smeared one of his accusers.
“Today is a very sad day,” Roberta Kaplan, who co-founded the Time’s Up legal defense fund with CEO Tina Tchen during the height of the #MeToo movement, told The New York Times. “I will so miss time spent with this board and our sisterhood. Going together, I hope they will be able to stick together and continue this important work.”
Kaplan’s resignation from Time’s Up comes after a group of survivors of sexual assault issued a Medium post declaring the organization had “prioritized its proximity to power over mission” and “abandoned the very people it was supposed to champion.”
Kaplan acknowledged the group’s criticism in her resignation letter, writing, “Unfortunately, recent events have made it clear that even our apparent allies in the fight to advance women can turn out to be abusers,” The Times reported.
Kaplan said her work as a practicing lawyer meant that she could not openly answer questions about her involvement with Cuomo or DeRosa.
“I therefore have reluctantly come to the conclusion that an active law practice is no longer compatible with serving on the Board at Time’s Up at this time and I hereby resign,” she wrote in her letter, The Times reported.
Time’s Up sent out a press release Monday morning saying, “We hold ourselves accountable” and said it was the “right and appropriate thing” for Kaplan to resign.
“The events of the last week have made it clear that our process should be evaluated and we intend to do just that. We need more transparency about our vision of change-making, and we need a more inclusive process to engage the broader survivor community, many of whom have spent years doing the noble work of fighting for women,” the release said.
“We admire those who have been on this front line for years by choice or by their own story. As an entire organization we are going to take time and evaluate how we best do this collectively or as individuals,” it continued.
The press release continued by saying they “do not ask for a pass,” but ask for “perspective.”
The organization issued a statement last week after the state AG’s report was released, saying Tchen “made no recommendations” to the governor regarding the letter. It did not mention Kaplan’s involvement.
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