The Human Rights Campaign confirmed that they are trying to oust president Alphonso David over his role in assisting disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s attempted rebound from sexual harassment allegations detailed in a report, accusing him of mischaracterizing their internal investigation into his actions in a bid to keep his job.
The HRC board co-chairs Jodie Patterson and Morgan Cox sent a company-wide email Monday to staffers, addressing David’s public declaration Sunday afternoon that he will not resign from his position despite being urged to step down.
The group is the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.
“Yesterday, you received an email from Alphonso David. We were very surprised and disappointed by the inaccuracies in his portrayal of events,” the pair wrote.
“Over the past month, the boards of the Human Rights Campaign and Human Rights Campaign Foundation have undertaken a thorough investigation into Mr. David’s conduct regarding Governor Cuomo through the Board’s Executive Committees with the assistance of counsel. That investigation will soon be completed, and the Boards will then have more to say.”
“As that process was nearing its conclusion, Mr. David was offered, at the direction of the Committee, the opportunity to discuss in good faith a separation from HRC, and his lawyers began that discussion on his behalf. Mr. David’s email yesterday is unfortunate given his mischaracterizations, including the assertion that there was “no indication of wrongdoing on his part,” they added, disputing David’s claim
Sunday that the board’s inquiry into his conduct was complete and his record cleared.
Meanwhile David on Monday tweeted a statement arguing the HRC board executives should release the findings of their investigation.
He argued the request for his resignation came without “a shred of evidence” and also argued “neither my lawyers nor I ever suggested at any point that I would even consider stepping down.”
“It’s very sad to see what he is doing now, both to the organization and himself. Leaders must always look in the mirror and hold themselves accountable,” Boylan told The Post, referring to Davd’s comments.
On Sunday she tweeted that David helped “to smear me when I spoke publicly about the abusive monster we both worked for over a period of years.
New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ bombshell Aug. 3 sexual harassment report revealed David released a copy of Cuomo-accuser Lindsey Boylan’s personnel files when asked to do so by former top secretary of state, Melissa DeRosa.
David was no longer working for the Cuomo administration at the time, where he served from 2015 to 2019 as top counsel to the governor before leaving for his current post at HRC.
The documents were released in Dec. 2020 after Boylan tweeted that Cuomo had sexually harassed her “for years” when she worked as a Empire State Development staffer.
Two days after the report was published HRC staffers called for David’s resignation, excoriating his actions in a closed door company meeting.
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