Rape survivors the latest victims of Cuomo’s power grab

At this point, most of us are either totally disgusted or bored by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Trump-style bullying of Mayor Bill de Blasio. What’s often portrayed as a mutual clash of egos is really a one-sided obsession over control, when cooperation is what’s needed. Beyond the sheer disgrace of it lies a very real cost to the people and issues caught in the middle.

This week, the state made rape survivors its latest victim.

In a letter to New York City Human Resources Administration Commissioner Steven Banks about a homeless man who was supposedly hog-tied and raped in a city shelter, Samuel Roberts, commissioner of the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, thoughtfully copied the New York Post.

The city denied that the event had taken place, explaining that a man had been threatened with rape and removed to safety, while earlier last year a different man had been tied up during a robbery. Banks chastised the state for failing to investigate the facts before leaking a false story to the media.

There are several problems here.

First: The governor is so eager to draw blood from de Blasio that he’s willing to exploit a rape to achieve maximum political effect, without a thought to the reality of what actually happened. The state’s total lack of interest in facts doesn’t inspire much faith in its ability to manage a complicated homeless crisis.

Second: The state showed callous disregard for a man it believed to be a victim. Let’s say there was such an incident – someone should’ve gotten this man’s permission before sharing it with the media. Even then, it would’ve been advisable to consult with experts about how revictimization in the press might imperil his recovery. Instead, we now know that the state is totally fine playing someone’s personal trauma for shock value.

College students, take note before you file a complaint with Cuomo’s “first in the nation” specialized police unit, part of his “Enough is Enough” campaign ostensibly designed to encourage the reporting of campus sexual assaults.

Third: Because the state would rather set tabloid tongues ablaze rather than work with the city, taxpayers will have to pony up to investigate an event that already appears to have been sorted out. As Banks wrote: “despite the absence of any facts we will expend local police resources to investigate your allegations.”

Finally, we have a confusing example of the state conflating events into a rape, which the city said did not take place, and playing into the problem for actual victims who struggle to get their stories heard, let alone believed.

On so many levels, the governor’s behavior is off-the-charts irresponsible, and he’s not fooling anyone. Thursday’s NY1/Baruch college poll found that 49 percent of New York City residents see this “feud” for what it is: a power struggle that has nothing to do with philosophical policy differences.

To quote the governor, enough is enough.