‘Bond Girl’ Talk and Groping: Albany’s Toxic Culture for Women

As allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo put a new spotlight on sexual misconduct in New York’s capital, numerous women there described an enduring predatory and misogynistic environment.

A legislative aide in New York’s state capital grabbed the thigh of a lobbyist so hard at a fund-raiser that he left finger-shaped bruises on her skin. A top official at a state agency projected a picture of a colleague in a bikini for all to see in a meeting she was attending. Another lobbyist described a legislator touching her thighs and feeling her chest in his State Assembly office. And a state senator said a male colleague told her she looked “like a Bond girl” as they sat near each other in the chamber. The senator, Julia Salazar, who declined to identify her colleague, also recalled attending a fund-raiser just outside the Capitol in 2019 where another legislator’s staff member began commenting on her appearance. “He said, ‘You should be on a calendar,’” recalled Ms. Salazar, who was 28 at the time. “I was so embarrassed that I left.”