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| Melissa DeRosa |
Melissa DeRosa, who joined Andrew Cuomo’s staff in 2012 as director of communications, has resigned her job as top strategist to New York’s embattled governor.
The New York Times has called DeRosa "the most powerful appointed official in the state."
She figured prominently in the report issued by New York’s attorney general Letitia James that charged Cuomo with violating sexual harassment laws.
The 38-year-old DeRosa, who rose to become secretary to the governor in 2017, issued a statement, saying the past two years have been “emotionally and mentally trying.”
Known as a loyal and fierce defender of Cuomo, the James report said DeRosa was behind the release of the personnel records of a woman who alleged that Cuomo suggested they play a game of strip poker.
Team Cuomo denies that the release of the records was an attempt to smear his accuser.
DeRosa’s father, Georgio DeRosa, is a partner at the powerful New York State lobbying firm of Bolton-St Johns. He opened the firm’s Albany office in 1996 and was called “one of the best lobbyists in town,” by the Albany Times Union.
DeRosa’s husband, Matt Wing, served as Cuomo’s press secretary.
There’s a fine line between newsjacking and taking advantage, aka ambulance chasing. Our job as PR professionals is to tread it carefully.
PR firms need to be mindful of ways their work product may be protected by the attorney-client privilege whenever working with a client’s internal legal team or its external legal counsel.
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Aug. 9, 2021, by Joe Honick
This whole affair gets murkier by the day as some of the finest NYT columnists write almost orgasmic commentaries without once comparing these accusations to the much greater number of charges launched against Trump. So much of what is said about Cuomo sounds as if they echo Trump. Difference: defenders of the accusers say Cuomo did his deeds while in office. Biggest problem: at least one of the lawyers representing Cuomo accusers used to represent at least one of the ladies accusing Trump. The combination of all this augurs more for Andrew than many (including me) might orginally have thought.