Before New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) faced six accusations of sexual misconduct in recent weeks, he was fond of painting himself as a feminist icon.

Cuomo called on numerous elected officials to resign when they were accused of sexual harassment a standard to which he apparently does not hold himself.

And while trying to express solidarity with women facing possible restrictions on abortion rights under then-President Donald Trump, Cuomo declared in January 2017 , I am a woman seeking to control her body.

But a long-forgotten bit of theatre that Cuomo employed in 2014 may be the most remarkable instance of him using womens rights as cover for rank political games.

As Cuomo ran for re-election for the first time in 2014, the left-wing New York Working Families Party openly debated refusing to endorse him in favor of his progressive challenger, law professor Zephyr Teachout.