Member-only story
Andrew Cuomo resigns.
Since accusations surfaced against the Governor of New York earlier this year, Cuomo had been defiant and denied any wrongdoing. He even doubled down by supporting the investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James and predicted that the investigation would exonerate him.
Earlier this week, after a five-month investigation, Letitia James announced in a 168-page report that the Governor did “engage in conduct constituting sexual harassment under federal and New York State law." This report put to rest any ambiguity over the Governor’s conduct and led to Hobson’s choice to resign or be impeached.
As a public relations practitioner, I believe that Cuomo adopted the wrong strategy. In my opinion, Cuomo’s best communications strategy to remain in power would have been to accept responsibility, offer contrition, and rely on his proven track record to keep his supporters on his side.
In a crisis, the truth is always important, and a communications strategy built around the truth will have the highest chance of prevailing. This is because, in the era of social media, we operate in a ‘perfect information’ environment with ‘citizen journalists’ on every street corner, the truth will always be revealed. Complicating this situation are the social justice warriors of the #MeToo movement who will…
