NEW YORK — The top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul placed on leave over an allegation of sexual harassment was the subject of a prior complaint about allegedly berating junior staffers.
In early 2024, the governor’s human resources department and an outside law firm launched an investigation into Hochul’s press secretary, Avi Small, according to five people with direct knowledge of the probe, who were granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal matter.
The five people said Small has a history of yelling at younger employees in the governor’s communications shop and that, as a result, several staffers feared working with him. Four of the people who spoke with POLITICO said they witnessed Small castigate junior members of the team over mistakes in press releases or Hochul press events that didn’t go according to plan.
Two people, one of the five with knowledge of the probe, as well as a sixth granted anonymity, said that Small spoke about his sex life with them at work.
As POLITICO previously reported, Small has been accused of inappropriately touching another staffer at an Albany bar on June 16 and was placed on administrative leave nine days later. He remains on leave and did not respond to questions about the investigation and his alleged behavior.
The behavioral complaints leveled against Small — who directly managed a team of three people in the governor’s press office, with another eight under him in the organizational chart — along with the more recent allegation of sexual harassment complicate Hochul’s vow of zero tolerance for toxic workplace actions. The Democratic governor took office in 2021 after her predecessor Andrew Cuomo resigned following a state attorney general report that determined he sexually harassed 11 women. Cuomo has denied any wrongdoing.
Cuomo’s office was known for its sharp-elbowed culture and the former governor’s hard-charging style that former staffers have said would often veer into bullying behavior. Hochul promised to be different.
“At the end of my term, whenever it ends — no one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment,” she said the day Cuomo announced his resignation.
The governor’s office did not provide responses to written questions based on POLITICO’s reporting, and instead offered a brief statement.
“While we cannot comment on specifics of any individual personnel matter, any complaints made to the Executive Chamber have been reviewed according to our stated policies and appropriate actions were taken as a result of any review,” spokesperson Anthony Hogrebe said.
An additional person familiar with the outcome of the probe, who was granted anonymity to discuss confidential results, said the investigation did not result in a human resources violation. This person argued that in trying to create a better framework, Hochul instituted a system where grievances can readily lead to serious probes that can too easily tarnish the target’s reputation. The person added that high-pressure jobs often lead to strong emotions in the workplace.
Small was named press secretary in July 2023 and took charge of a team that tracked media mentions of the governor, issued news releases and orchestrated televised addresses and press conferences. He has been one of Hochul’s most loyal aides — so close she attended his 2022 wedding ceremony, photos posted to Instagram show.
The 2024 probe, like many types of personnel complaints, triggered an investigation by an outside law firm under a post-Cuomo system set up by the governor
In this case, attorneys from white-collar litigation firm Calcagni & Kanefsky conducted interviews soliciting input from staffers on Small’s behavior and concluded the probe toward the end of 2024, according to the four people who had witnessed Small allegedly castigating team members.
Several staffers from the governor’s office were concerned to learn that – weeks before the probe was to conclude – Small would be working more closely with subordinates as part of a shift in job duties in the fall of 2024 that elevated the responsibilities of deputy press secretaries, according to the four people.
After the conclusion of the investigation, around 10 staffers met with human resources to ask about a lack of information regarding the outcome of the probe, according to one of the four people who spoke with POLITICO and who was present at the sitdown.
During that meeting, a human resources representative encouraged the staffers not to discuss the accusations against Small and said the results of the investigation were being kept private — only the human resources department and a designated member of the governor’s general counsel office were privy to the findings — to protect witnesses from retaliation.
Three of the four people who spoke with POLITICO, along with a seventh person, said information was also provided to human resources about Small questioning an underling by cornering them in a supply closet.
In 2023, Hochul overhauled the state’s model sexual harassment policies and included provisions to prevent retaliation. Less than a year later, the governor and the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to sexual harassment policy changes for her office after federal officials investigated the allegations against Cuomo. The agreement included a larger human resources department — which Hochul initially created after taking office — and the implementation of new training programs. The Hochul administration was tasked with “creating mechanisms” to determine the effectiveness of the changes.
Hogrebe, the governor’s spokesperson, also noted Hochul created a hotline to report workplace sexual harassment, allowed employees to file anonymous complaints and instituted a requirement that human resources staff automatically file potential violations of workplace rules if the victim does not report it themselves.
The development comes at a delicate time for the governor, who will run for re-election next year and has middling poll numbers. Rep. Elise Stefanik, a possible Republican opponent, on X called the sexual harassment allegation against Small a “massive scandal for the Worst Governor in America.”