Gov. Hochul said Thursday that she did not know about years-old sexual harassment allegations against a top adviser, Adam Sullivan, when she ousted him from her political operation last weekend.
Hochul said the allegations were “deeply troubling,” and that she had learned about them through the news media. Sullivan had also come under scrutiny in recent days over bullying accusations.
Hochul, who pledged to bring a dramatic shift to the culture of sexual harassment in Albany when she succeeded Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2021, found herself forced to explain why one of the most powerful figures in her 2022 campaign had a history of harassment allegations.
“Sexual harassment is absolutely unacceptable under all circumstances — there’s no tolerance,” Hochul, the state’s first female governor, said at a Manhattan news conference. “Had I known what I know now, there would’ve been very different circumstances.”
Two female staffers on Hochul’s campaign last year, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, told the Daily News on Thursday that Sullivan had frequently badgered them with probing questions about their romantic lives during the race.
Sullivan, 43 and a Colorado resident, had been fired in 2017 from the Hub Project, a Washington, DC-based Democratic advocacy group, after a female coworker lodged a formal sexual harassment complaint against him, the New York Times reported Wednesday. He had subjected the coworker to a lurid sexual rant at a bar, the newspaper said.
Hochul told reporters that she was unaware until Wednesday about any sexual misconduct allegations against Sullivan and about his Hub Project firing. “I believe women,” she said.
“For all the women who had endured this, it is heartbreaking to know that that occurred perhaps in an environment associated with one of my campaigns,” said Hochul, a Buffalo-area Democrat. “I want to know more.”
The governor also leaned on Sullivan during her 2018 reelection run for lieutenant governor, a successful campaign that ultimately positioned her to succeed Cuomo when a double-digit hail of sexual harassment allegations against him pushed him to resign.
Sullivan owed his perch in Hochul’s political operation to his role as her campaign manager during her 2011 run for Congress. She shocked political analysts that year, capturing a conservative district in a special election.
Sullivan has worked on campaigns for several nationally prominent Democrats, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
He did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.
New Venture Forward, the Hub Project’s parent organization, said in a statement that its “policy is to expediently, thoroughly and fairly investigate claims of impropriety among its staff.”
“In strict adherence to the policy, NVF investigated the allegations immediately, and subsequently terminated the employee,” said the statement.
The women came forward publicly after The Times published a story last week describing Sullivan’s unorthodox role leading the campaign from Colorado, and allegations that he bullied staffers.
Hochul said that was the report that led her to cut ties with Sullivan.
The governor said she was still deciding “the right approach” to the harassment allegations against Sullivan.
“I did not know any of this,” Hochul said. “Our relationships were more one-on-one. I didn’t see him in this environment.”