Embattled Scott Stringer believed Judge Kavanaugh’s accuser
Mayoral hopeful Scott Stringer is being accused of hypocrisy for having ripped public figures over the sex-harassment claims against them — while saying he deserves the benefit of the doubt in his own case.
Stringer issued scathing statements in 2018 saying he believed the accuser who claimed then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her.
Kavanaugh flatly denied the accusation and ended up being confirmed to the nation’s top court.
Stringer, currently New York City’s comptroller, also wrote a letter in late November 2019 to McDonald’s board chairman, Enrique Hernandez Jr., about the company’s handling of CEO Steven Easterbrook after Easterbrook’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Stringer, as overseer of the city’s pension funds, which include investments in McDonald’s, wrote that the company should have fired Easterbrook “with cause,” thus reducing his severance package, because he “clearly violated an express provision of the Standards of Business Conduct by entering into a sexual relationship with a subordinate.”
In addition, Stringer has called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign amid a slew of sex-harassment allegations. Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing as a state probe into his actions continues.
But critics say Stringer is now singing a different tune for himself — after former associate Jean Kim accused him of sexually mistreating her during his 2001 campaign for public advocate.
Kim, who says she was toiling as an unpaid intern for his campaign at the time, has claimed Stringer repeatedly groped her and said, “Why won’t you f–k me?”
Stringer has fired back that Kim is lying, although he says she did volunteer on his campaign and that they had a consensual relationship.
“It’s definitely a double standard that every perpetrator tries,” said Erica Vladimer of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, referring to Stringer’s alleged “Do as I say, not as I do” behavior.
“Stringer is like every other perpetrator trying to have it both ways,” said Vladimer, whose group works to expose harassment by state lawmakers.
“I believe Jean Kim,” she said, adding, “You can be sexually abused in a consensual relationship.”
Stringer’s campaign has attempted to undermine Kim’s credibility by linking her to political foe Andrew Yang’s campaign for mayor.
Kim has distributed petitions with the names of Yang and other candidates on them, but she denies being a Yang supporter or having any role in his campaign.
The Stringer campaign declined requests for comment.
