A former lobbyist’s accusation that Rep. Tom Reed drunkenly groped her in a pub four years ago threatened Friday to derail the Republican’s drive to become the next governor of New York.
“He should not be focused at this point on a governor’s race,” said Gerard Kassar, chairman of the small, but influential, state Conservative Party, which often forms a united front with the state GOP for major races.
Kassar said Reed called him during the holidays, expressing his wish to unseat Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Election Day 2022. But after Friday’s report in The Washington Post about Reed fumbling with the lobbyist’s bra and running his hand along her thigh, Kassar said Reed “should be focused on these accusations and how he is going to deal with that.”
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Reed must not be a very savvy strategist, said Doug Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at New York City’s Baruch College and a longtime observer of the state’s political scene. The congressman harshly criticized Cuomo when women complained about the governor's harassment – though Reed should have known he had poor behavior in his own past that could come to light, Muzzio said.
"There is an element of hypocrisy here," Muzzio said. “If the allegation is true in its detail, this a worse example of male sexual harassment. It’ll either totally derail him over time, or it will severely impact him in a primary race.”
In a GOP primary, Muzzio said, any opponent could tar both Reed and Cuomo with the same brush.
Robert Keis leads the Republican Party in Cattaraugus County, which sits inside Reed's Southern Tier district.
“If there is any corroborating information ... then he is no longer acceptable to run for anything,” Keis said. “This is America and you’re innocent until proven guilty. But once it’s out there, it’s out there.
"This will have to play itself out."
The chairman of the state’s Republican Party, Nicholas Langworthy, did not immediately respond to a Buffalo News request for comment, nor did Langworthy issue his own statement about the Washington Post account. Word came from GOP land late Friday that Langworthy might issue a statement Saturday.
The state GOP chairman in recent weeks has unleashed fiery rhetoric at Cuomo for the improprieties and disrespectful conduct that eight women have disclosed. Langworthy has tried to tarnish Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul with the scandal as well.
Reed, meanwhile, used strong terms late last month to respond to Cuomo’s reported misbehavior.
“These incidents of sexual harassment and pattern of abuse are abhorrent and have absolutely no place in our society, let alone the highest rungs of government,” the congressman said after a second aide accused Cuomo of harassment. “Such behavior is disturbing and unacceptable. Gov. Cuomo must be held accountable under the law to ensure justice is served.”
Reed, who is married with children, issued just eight words about The Washington Post article focused on his conduct in 2017: “This account of my actions is not accurate.”
His team did not respond to a request for elaboration.
“Often, voters can be forgiving of a single incident,” said Jim Twombly, a political science professor at Elmira College familiar with Reed's career. “But if there is more to the story, he could be coming up against the notion of hypocrisy that voters don’t tend to forgive.”
Twombly said there is a question now of whether the Republicans can put up a better candidate for governor.
Reed is not the only GOP hopeful out there. Other names swirling around as potential gubernatorial candidates are Rep. Elise Stefanik of Saratoga County, Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, who was the 2018 Republican candidate, and former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, the 2014 candidate.
“Could he survive it? Yes,” Twombly said of Reed. “Will he? It’s a matter of what else, if anything, comes out.”
Reed's accuser
Nicolette Davis told The Washington Post that when she worked as an insurance company lobbyist in 2017, she was with Reed and a group of other lobbyists at an Irish pub in Minneapolis, Minn.
After a day of ice fishing, she was seated next to the congressman and felt his hand on her back, she told The Post.
Davis then felt the hand fumbling at, and then unclasping, her bra through her blouse, The Post reported. She texted a friend and coworker: “A drunk congressman is rubbing my back” and followed that up with a text saying, “HELP HELP,” according to the newspaper’s report.
Then, with Reed’s hand moving to her thigh and inching upward, she turned to the person on the other side of her to ask for help. He pulled the congressman out of the pub, Davis told The Post.
Davis, now 29, is a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Okla., according to the newspaper. She decided to come forward, the newspaper said, to set the right example for the soldiers she will lead.
“I hope it will allow people who have endured similar experiences to feel confident enough to say something,” she told The Post.
Reed, a former mayor of Corning, has charted his way as a moderate in the Republican caucus, a co-chairman of the Problem Solvers Caucus that takes in members of both parties. But some of his positions had already caused concern within the state Conservative Party, Chairman Kassar said Friday. Kassar said that even before The Washington Post presented its story, he had talked with Zeldin about entering the race.
Keis, the Cattaraugus County chairman, didn't like Reed's decision to not challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.
“I’m a little disappointed that Tom did not object a little bit when counting the Electoral College votes,” he said.
If Reed doesn’t run for governor next year, he has few options if he wants to continue life as a highly visible elected official but still keep one of his pledges. He long ago promised to limit his time in Congress to 12 years, which would come to an end at the close of 2022.
Staff writer Robert J. McCarthy contributed to this report.
