Queens Councilman Francisco Moya is one of several members of the city’s
legislative body vying to become its next speaker, but his record when
it comes to sexual harassment could prove to be a non-starter for some —
especially given the fact that the 51-member Council will include more
than 30 women lawmakers next year.
The harassment I went through at NYCFC was so
bad that now the idea of professional sports terrifies me. Staying in
the field of athletics terrifies me,” the intern, Skyler Badillo,
tweeted on July 17, 2020. “I thought I was getting the opportunity of a
life time when I got that internship. What I got was David Villa
touching me every f---ing day and my bosses thinking it was great
comedic material.”
Villa, who
helped Spain to its only World Cup victory in 2010 and retired in 2019,
denied the accusations, saying at the time that they were “entirely
false.” But without mentioning Villa by name, NYCFC later found that
such conduct did, in fact, take place.
One incoming Councilwoman said his silence does not inspire confidence.
“This is part of why there’s a renewed push to have a woman — and specifically a woman of color — at the helm,” she said.
Among those Moya is facing in the Speaker’s race are Council members
Adrienne Adams, Carlina Rivera, Diana Ayala, Justin Brannan and Keith
Powers.
When asked about his silence on Villa, Moya claimed on Monday that he barely knew the retired striker.
“I have not spoken to David Villa in years. And I intentionally ran
against convicted sexual assaulter, Hiram Monserrate, to prevent him
from serving my community,” Moya said, referring to the former lawmaker
who was ejected from the state Senate in 2010 after being caught on tape
dragging his then-girlfriend by the hair. “This is a transparent effort
to take down a Latino frontrunner for speaker. I thought that we had
moved beyond this kind of despicable politics in our city.”
But, as Moya tries to court the support of fellow Council members
who’ll vote to choose their next Speaker after the New Year, his record
from years earlier in the state Assembly could come back to haunt him as
well.
In 2013, after the state’s
Joint Commission on Public Ethics found that then-Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver attempted to cover up sexual harassment charges against
the now-deceased and disgraced ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez, Moya
circulated a letter within the body’s powerful Black, Hispanic and
Puerto Rican caucus defending Silver.
“He’s really pushed and pushed the progressive agenda when the Senate hasn’t done anything and the governor’s been silent,” Moya said at the time.
Gov. Cuomo oversaw a toxic workplace and sexually harassed several
women, including much younger aides and advisers as well as a State
Trooper, according to a bombshell report released Tuesday by state
Attorney General James’ office.
The report details cases of harassment by the governor of current and
former employees that include unwanted groping, kissing, hugging and
inappropriate comments that accusers called “deeply humiliating,
uncomfortable, offensive, or inappropriate.”
James also accused Cuomo and his senior staff of taking actions to
retaliate against at least one former employee for going public with her
accusations against him.
The governor and Executive Chamber staff fostered a “toxic” workplace
that enabled “harassment to occur and created a hostile work
environment,” violating several state and federal laws, James said.
“This is a sad day for New York because independent investigators have
concluded that Governor Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and, in
doing so, broke the law,” James said during a briefing at her Manhattan
office. “I am grateful to all the women who came forward to tell their
stories in painstaking detail, enabling investigators to get to the
truth. No man — no matter how powerful — can be allowed to harass women
or violate our human rights laws, period.”
There’s another bombshell in the New York City mayoral race.
The woman accusing Scott Stringer of sexually assaulting her circulated nominating petitions for one of Stringer’s top opponents, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported Friday.
Stringer, New York City’s comptroller and a Democratic candidate for mayor, campaigned in Flatbush, Brooklyn
to ask New Yorkers to give him a fair hearing as he continues to
forcefully deny startling accusations he groped campaign volunteer Jean
Kim twenty years ago.
“We also have to make sure that we investigate, we listen, we look at the facts and follow the facts,” Stringer said.
There are now new facts to consider.
First, Kim collected signatures on nominating petitions to get several candidates – including Democratic primary front-runner Andrew Yang – on the ballot.
Kim, a standup comedian, also wrote a thesis for a master’s degree at
CUNY about women and their struggles to be considered funny.
“Fortunately, I have no stories about comics flashing themselves in
front of me, or of sexual groping episodes,” she wrote in 2002.
Kim says Stringer sexually assaulted her in 2001.
“Scott Stringer repeatedly groped me, put his hands on my thighs and
between my legs and demanded to know why I wouldn’t have sex with him.
He kept saying, ‘Why won’t you f*** me, why won’t you f*** me?'” Kim
said.
Stringer says it never happened. Kramer asked him how he felt about Kim carrying petitions for Yang.
“I don’t really want to speculate on those motivations,” Stringer
said. “But people should take a look at, you know she has a lot of
commonality with people who oppose me politically.”
If this story gets more legs,it will show that even nice guy Yang couldn't resist resorting to sleazy politics. At least it'll show he's a true New Yorker.
A former intern for New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer accused the politician of sexual abuse and harassment on Tuesday.
The woman, who was not named in a press release from attorney
Patricia Pastor, said Stringer repeatedly groped her when he was a
member of the New York Assembly and running for Public Advocate of NYC.
He’d allegedly offered to get the woman a role as district leader. The
woman, then an unpaid intern, accused him of telling her to keep the
alleged sexual misconduct a secret.
“It’s unfortunately all too common that women report having been
touched sexually without consent, and often men who engage this way are
in a position of power and influence over the woman,” Pastor said. “I
have great respect for women who choose to say, ‘enough is enough.’”
A spokesperson for Stringer’s mayoral campaign declined to comment on the accusations against him.
It took a while, considering how low he’s polling in the mayor’s
race, but Comptroller Scott Stringer finally got the dough to put out
his first campaign ad.
At a cost of one million dollars, which is derived from taxpayers
dollars because of the very bad matching funds law, Stringer’s ad touts
his past accomplishments in big font letters as he dramatically walks in
an apartment hallway and on the street. It climaxes with the candidate
doing an aw shucks shrug.
As with Stringer’s struggling campaign and platform which looks to
continue de Blasio’s horrendous policies (and which also is not
distinguishable from the other 6 or 7 candidates), the ad contains a
very obvious and hilarious flaw...
I have struggled in deciding whether or not to share this story publicly, but ultimately decided to be open in the hopes that it might help someone. But also because fuck men who try everything to silence you.
On Feb 16 I was served a cease and desist letter by Boris Santos. 1/
The leader of New York’s Assembly privately cast doubt on the spiraling allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo — and said his accusers will have to be interviewed “under oath,” according to a report Tuesday.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-The Bronx) — who authorized an impeachment investigation of Cuomo last week — also warned Democratic legislators not to rush to judgment, noting that “people get accused of things,” Yahoo! News said.
“These days any one of us in this place could be accused,” Heastie said.
Heastie’s remarks were recorded during a nearly four-hour video conference call with the entire Democratic Assembly conference that preceded his Thursday announcement that the Judiciary Committee would “examine allegations of misconduct” against Cuomo, Yahoo! News said.
Heastie argued against immediately drafting articles of impeachment against the three-term Democrat by saying some allegations were “based on a newspaper article or other people’s assertions.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a press conference at the New York Stock Exchange in 2020.
“We need to get witness testimony. We need to hear from people who have this information. You put them under oath,” Heastie said.
“They may have made false statements. I don’t know.”
Heastie said some interviews conducted by the Judiciary Committee “would not be made public” but added that “some people could be called in front of the committee as part of a hearing.
see also
Biden refuses to say Cuomo should resign immediately amid sex harass scandal
Heastie also said he had “no idea what the time frame is,” adding, “An outside firm is going to have to be hired that deals with this type of stuff.”
A second former aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is accusing him of
sexual harassment, saying that he asked her questions about her sex
life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships and if she had
ever had sex with older men.
The aide,
Charlotte Bennett, who was an executive assistant and health policy
adviser in the Cuomo administration until she left in November, told The
New York Times that the governor had harassed her late last spring,
during the height of the state’s fight against the coronavirus.
Ms.
Bennett, 25, said the most unsettling episode occurred on June 5, when
she was alone with Mr. Cuomo in his State Capitol office. In a series of
interviews this week, she said the governor had asked her numerous
questions about her personal life, including whether she thought age
made a difference in romantic relationships, and had said that he was
open to relationships with women in their 20s — comments she interpreted
as clear overtures to a sexual relationship.
Mr.
Cuomo said in a statement to The Times on Saturday that he believed he
had been acting as a mentor and had “never made advances toward Ms.
Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was
inappropriate.” He said he had requested an independent review of the
matter and asked that New Yorkers await the findings “before making any
judgments.”
Ms.
Bennett said that during the June encounter, the governor, 63, also
complained to her about being lonely during the pandemic, mentioning
that he “can’t even hug anyone,” before turning the focus to Ms.
Bennett. She said that Mr. Cuomo asked her, “Who did I last hug?”
Ms.
Bennett said she had tried to dodge the question by responding that she
missed hugging her parents. “And he was, like, ‘No, I mean like really
hugged somebody?’” she said.
Mr. Cuomo never tried to touch her, Ms. Bennett said, but the message of the entire episode was unmistakable to her.
“I
understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly
uncomfortable and scared,” Ms. Bennett said. “And was wondering how I
was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job.”
Ms.
Bennett said she had disclosed the interaction with Mr. Cuomo to his
chief of staff, Jill DesRosiers, less than a week later and was
transferred to another job, as a health policy adviser, with an office
on the opposite side of the Capitol, soon after that.Ms.
Bennett said she had also given a lengthy statement to a special
counsel to the governor, Judith Mogul, toward the end of June.
Ms.
Bennett said she ultimately decided not to insist on an investigation
because she was happy in her new job and “wanted to move on.” No action
was taken against the governor.
Looks like Cuomo got cocky after that "Cuomosexual" article.
I should have been shocked by the Governor’s crude comment, but I wasn’t.
We
were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his
taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost
touched. His press aide was to my right and a state trooper behind us.
“That’s
exactly what I was thinking,” I responded sarcastically and awkwardly. I
tried to play it cool. But in that moment, I realized just how
acquiescent I had become.
Governor Andrew
Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual
harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but
expected. His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation
that he liked you, that you must be doing something right. He used
intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you
would face consequences.
That’s why I panicked on the morning of December 13.
While
enjoying a weekend with my husband and six-year-old daughter, I
spontaneously decided to share a small part of the truth I had hidden
for so long in shame and never planned to disclose. The night before, a
former Cuomo staffer confided to me that she, too, had been the subject
of the Governor’s workplace harassment. Her story mirrored my own.
Seeing his name floated as a potential candidate for U.S. Attorney
General — the highest law enforcement official in the land — set me off.
In
a few tweets, I told the world what a few close friends, family members
and my therapist had known for years: Andrew Cuomo abused his power as
Governor to sexually harass me, just as he had done with so many other
women.
As messages from
journalists buzzed on my phone, I laid in bed unable to move. I finally
had decided to speak up, but at what cost?
Parts
of a supposed confidential personnel file (which I’ve never seen) were
leaked to the media in an effort to smear me. The Governor’s loyalists
called around town, asking about me.
Last
week, Assemblymember Ron Kim spoke out publicly about the intimidation
and abuse he has faced from Governor Cuomo and his aides. As Mayor de
Blasio remarked, “the bullying is nothing new.” There are many more of
us, but most are too afraid to speak up.
I’m
compelled to tell my story because no woman should feel forced to hide
their experiences of workplace intimidation, harassment and humiliation —
not by the Governor or anyone else.
I
expect the Governor and his top aides will attempt to further disparage
me, just as they’ve done with Assemblymember Kim. They’d lose their
jobs if they didn’t protect him. That’s how his administration works. I
know because I was a part of it.
I
joined state government in 2015 as a Vice President at Empire State
Development. I was quickly promoted to Chief of Staff at the state
economic development agency. The news of my appointment prompted a
warning from a friend who served as an executive with an influential
civic engagement organization: “Be careful around the Governor.”
My
first encounter with the Governor came at a January 6, 2016, event at
Madison Square Garden to promote the new Pennsylvania Station-Farley
Complex project. After his speech, he stopped to talk to me. I was new
on the job and surprised by how much attention he paid me.
My
boss soon informed me that the Governor had a “crush” on me. It was an
uncomfortable but all-too-familiar feeling: the struggle to be taken
seriously by a powerful man who tied my worth to my body and my
appearance.
Stephanie
Benton, Director of the Governor’s Offices, told me in an email on
December 14, 2016 that the Governor suggested I look up images of Lisa
Shields — his rumored former girlfriend — because “we could be sisters”
and I was “the better looking sister.” The Governor began calling me
“Lisa” in front of colleagues. It was degrading.
The Governor’s staff was directed to tell me I looked like his rumored former girlfriend.
I
had complained to friends that the Governor would go out of his way to
touch me on my lower back, arms and legs. His senior staff began keeping
tabs on my whereabouts. “He is a sexist pig and you should avoid being
alone with him!” my mother texted me on November 4, 2016.
The Governor’s senior staff member emailed my supervisor about my whereabouts.
I shared my concern with my mother at the time.
The
Governor’s behavior made me nervous, but I didn’t truly fear him until
December 2016. Senior State employees gathered at the Empire State Plaza
Convention Center in Albany to celebrate the holidays and our year’s
work. After his remarks, the Governor spotted me in a room filled with
hundreds of people waiting to shake his hand. As he began to approach
me, I excused myself from coworkers and moved upstairs to a more distant
area of the party.
Minutes
later, I received a call from an unlisted number. It was the Governor’s
body person. He told me to come to the Capitol because the Governor
wanted to see me.
I made my
way through the underground connection that linked the Plaza to the
Capitol. As the black wrought-iron elevator took me to the second floor,
I called my husband. I told him I was afraid of what might happen. That
was unlike me. I was never afraid.
I
exited the elevator to see the body person waiting for me. He walked me
down the Hall of Governors. “Are there cameras here?” I asked him. I
remembered my mother’s text warning the month before. I worried that I
would be left alone with the Governor. I didn’t know why I was there. Or
how it would end.
I was
escorted into the Governor’s office, past the desks of administrative
assistants and into a room with a large table and historical artifacts.
The door closed behind me. It was my first time in his Albany office.
The Governor entered the room from another door. We were alone.
As
he showed me around, I tried to maintain my distance. He paused at one
point and smirked as he showed off a cigar box. He told me that
President Clinton had given it to him while he served as the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development. The two-decade old reference to
President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky was not lost on me.
The
Governor must have sensed my fear because he finally let me out of the
office. I tried to rationalize this incident in my head. At least he
didn’t touch me. That made me feel safer.
His
inappropriate gestures became more frequent. He gave roses to female
staffers on Valentine’s Day and arranged to have one delivered to me,
the only one on my floor. A signed photograph of the Governor appeared
in my closed-door office while I was out. These were not-so-subtle
reminders of the Governor exploiting the power dynamic with the women
around him.
In 2018, I was
promoted to Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Special
Advisor to the Governor. I initially turned the job down — not because I
didn’t want the responsibility or work but because I didn’t want to be
near him. I finally accepted the position at the Governor’s insistence
with one requirement — I would keep my old agency office and remain on a
separate floor from him and his inner circle.
The
Governor’s pervasive harassment extended beyond just me. He made
unflattering comments about the weight of female colleagues. He
ridiculed them about their romantic relationships and significant
others. He said the reasons that men get women were “money and power.”
I
tried to excuse his behavior. I told myself “it’s only words.” But that
changed after a one-on-one briefing with the Governor to update him on
economic and infrastructure projects. We were in his New York City
office on Third Avenue. As I got up to leave and walk toward an open
door, he stepped in front of me and kissed me on the lips. I was in
shock, but I kept walking.
I
left past the desk of Stephanie Benton. I was scared she had seen the
kiss. The idea that someone might think I held my high-ranking position
because of the Governor’s “crush” on me was more demeaning than the kiss
itself.
After that, my
fears worsened. I came to work nauseous every day. My relationship with
his senior team — mostly women — grew hostile after I started speaking
up for myself. I was reprimanded and told to get in line by his top
aides, but I could no longer ignore it.
On September 26, 2018, I sent a mass email informing staff members of my resignation.
Mayor de Blasio, for whom I also worked and knew for 25 years, both at
HUD and as New York City mayor, practices a different brand of penis
politics. His charming, easygoing personality he had when we worked
together in the federal government gave way to a hectoring, inflexible
approach that bordered on sanctimony when I was his press secretary at
City Hall.
His signature move as
mayor was to dig in on an untenable position against the advice of
staff, raising the cost of an inevitable defeat. Discussions with staff
were marked by condescension, leaving the female staffers feeling
especially marginalized. It made for an uncomfortable work environment.
Although the mayor preached a philosophy of egalitarianism, the
workplace was pretty much like any other male-dominated environment I’ve
been in: Women were interrupted more often and listened to less,
whether they were a commissioner or a scheduler. By the end of his first
term, the mayor had lost twice as many senior officials who were women than men.
While they had different styles, both Cuomo and de Blasio had one thing
in common. Like many powerful men in politics, they create a public
image as champions of women’s rights and equality. Behind closed doors,
they use gender domination as one means to assert their power over
women.
My experience with penis
politics wasn’t only in the political arena. I saw it on the basketball
court in my Mississippi high school, when I got benched for running
better plays than the ones my coach, a man, wanted. I’d seen it as a
young journalist, when my male editor refused to run a controversial
story that I had well-sourced after the Jackson, Miss., mayor called to
complain. I’d seen it in working in Congress, where men tended to get
the chief of staff title and women often played receptionist, taking the
incoming phone calls placed by angry constituents.
Silence and penis politics often go hand in hand. In 1998 at HUD, I
spoke up about a clumsy pick-up attempt Bill Clinton made on me when I
was a 26-year-old campaign operative and he was governor of Arkansas. It
cost me a Senate-confirmed appointment when Cuomo quietly had the White
House pull my nomination. It was penis politics again in 2015, when
Cuomo and his “sources” threw bombs at me (and for a while, I threw them
back) and then again when de Blasio made it impossible for me to do my
job by invalidating what I said to the press on his behalf.
The men who often rule the roost in politics routinely go out of their
way to assert their dominance over other men. Over women, doing so is
second nature.
When The Blaz was queried about this article that detailed his
duplicitous manner towards and passive aggressive undermining of most of his top
female staffers, he reverted to his proclivity for identity politricks
by validating his recognition and support of women in his administration
and their impact on the city’s policies by citing his tax-boondoggle wife:
“I have not seen the piece, I’ll only talk about the history of
this administration, um, from the beginning, literally from the very
beginning, the leadership of this administration has been majority,
woman and continues to be. My number one advisor, confidante, partner in
everything everyone knows is Chirlane. My longest serving aide and
person I have depended on and worked so closely with now for over a
decade or more, Emma Wolfe.
And four out of six deputy mayors are women and throughout this history
of this administration, it’s been a female led administration in so
many ways and I have tremendous respect for the folks who have been a
part of this team”
For the Blaz, the women he appointed to work with and under him in
the high echelons in his cabinet are just woke window dressing, while
women working for Cuomo have to develop a tolerance
for misogynistic put-downs, creepy flirtations and sneaky kisses. Both
of which prove that these two ghouls are truly equals not only in
incompetent and unaccountable leadership but also continuing the
historic and cultural establishment undermining and objectifying of
women in the workplace and should be abolished from running any
executive position in government or the private sector.
A Democratic Queens legislator admitted Tuesday to sexually harassing
a female City Council staffer for more than a year — giving her so many
unwelcome hugs and kisses that she avoided meetings with him.
Councilman Barry Grodenchik agreed to undergo sexual harassment
training at his own expense and give up his chairmanship of the Parks
and Recreation Committee.
“I understand that my actions caused the council staff member to
suffer embarrassment, stress and discomfort, and emotional distress,”
Grodenchik said with his head down.
He zipped through his prepared statement, only looking up at the
assembled members of the council’s Committee on Standards and Ethics
when he finished.
“I am deeply sorry for my conduct and for any harm suffered by the council staff member as a result of my conduct,” he said.
Grodenchik hustled out of the hearing room past waiting reporters as soon as he finished.
The 59-year-old Democrat, who has represented northeastern Queens in
the council since 2015, waived a full hearing on the allegations by
admitting to “discrimination and harassment of [an unnamed] female
staffer,” according to ethics committee chair Steven Matteo (R-SI).
A Queens newspaper publisher found herself on the wrong side of a headline after authorities said she was messing with the mob.
Patricia Adams, publisher of The Forum, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of witness tampering in a bizarre offshoot of a loansharking case involving the Bonanno crime family, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors.
Instead of simply signing off on a story about the scheme, Adams became a key player, using her weekly newspaper to bully a woman out of testifying against a Bonanno associate accused of sexually harassing the woman at his Broad Channel deli.
The harassment accusation against Robert Pisani threatened the freedom he enjoyed after posting $500,000 bail in a $26 million loansharking scheme in and around Howard Beach, officials said.
Adams allegedly stepped in, and tried to make the woman’s father talk his daughter out of cooperating with federal law enforcement.
Days ahead of Pisani’s bail revocation hearing, the local newswoman played hardball with the victim’s dad and said she’d dirty up the daughter in her paper, prosecutors said.
Judge Brian Cogan agreed to release Adams late Wednesday on $150,000 bond. Adams also had to put up her house as collateral.
She’ll be under house arrest, so if she wants to go out and interview people for the paper, she’ll have to get the green light from pretrial services, Cogan said.
Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has appointed Bronx Councilman Andy King—the subject of a $1.25 million sexual harassment and wrongful dismissal claim against the city—chairman of the Committee on Libraries.
Ms. Mark-Viverito, an outspoken feminist and advocate for women’s issues, picked Mr. King to replace Queens Councilman Costa Constantinides as part of a re-shuffling to fill a vacancy left by former Councilman Mark Weprin, who left office to work for Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The new position will grant the Bronx legislator an $8,000 bonus—known in the Council as a “lulu”—on top of his regular $112,500 salary, and give him access to roughly one dozen new staffers.
The claim lodged with Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office, first reported by Capital New York, alleges Mr. King made untoward comments and advances and created a “hostile work environment” for a staffer of the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, which he currently co-chairs. The staffer’s complaint also alleges that she was not the sole recipient of unwanted sexual attention from the lawmaker.
The claim asserts that when she rebuffed his advances, Mr. King had her fired—without a full caucus vote, which the Council by-laws require.
"A woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, caught a man on film engaging in lewd and lascivious acts towards her on the F train in New York City. Sitting directly across from him, he began to sexually harass her by staring her down like a predator fixated on its prey and doing some sort of primal crotch display while wearing pantyhose. Lewd conduct should never be tolerated. If you see something, say something."
The state is shelling out $545,000 in taxpayer money to settle the sexual harassment lawsuit brought by two one-time aides of former assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic boss Vito Lopez, according to the plaintiffs’ lawyer.
The settlement ends the court proceedings against Lopez, who an Assembly panel said groped, tried to kiss, and made lecherous comments to the two women, Victoria Burhans and Chloe Rivera. Lopez is on the hook for a mere $35,000 towards the settlement.
Disgraced ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s sexual harassment scandal is socking taxpayers with a soaring legal bill, the Daily News has learned.
The state already has forked over nearly $700,000 to two law firms hired by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Assembly to defend them against lawsuits filed last year by two of Lopez’s accusers - and the trials are still months away.
The accusers, Victoria Burhans and Chloe Rivera, charged in their lawsuits that Silver was "deliberately indifferent" to Lopez's pervy ways, creating a hostile work environment.
The firm Proskauer Rose, hired by Silver to defend him against a federal lawsuit brought by the two women, received $367,443 as of July, according to data provided by the state controller's office.
And the firm Hogan Lovells, which is defending the Assembly in a similar suit brought in state court by Burhans and Rivera, has been paid $309,831.
Both firms are billing the state $500 an hour for their work.
Vito Lopez, the former assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic boss who was forced from office after being accused of sexually harassing his staffers, filed petitions to run again for his position as a district leader and state committeeman, according to Board of Elections documents. And Assemblyman Micah Kellner, the Upper East Side pol who chose not to seek re-election after his own sexual harassment scandal, also moved forward with his state committee bid after the Observer first reported his intentions in May.
Despite his fall from the Assembly, Mr. Lopez is still a district leader and state committeeman in his old Williamsburg and Bushwick-based district. The unpaid posts have relatively little power–they play a role in nominating judges and, in the case of district leader, voting for the chair of the local party. In Brooklyn, unlike other boroughs, district leaders also serve simultaneously as state committeemen.
For Mr. Lopez, remaining a district leader is a way for him to still stay relevant in local politics after his precipitous fall last year, sources say. Mr. Lopez currently has no opponent and candidates have until Thursday night to file petitions.
Like Mr. Lopez, Mr. Kellner’s political career was derailed by sexual harassment allegations that emerged last year. A front-runner for a City Council seat, Mr. Kellner fell to now-Councilman Ben Kallos and announced this year he wouldn’t run for re-election in the Assembly.
Mr. Kellner has denied all wrongdoing but Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver shuttered Mr. Kellner’s district offices and slashed all of his staff budget in June. Mr. Silver also said that Mr. Kellner hired an intern for his Manhattan office after being told he could no longer do that.
Still, sources say Mr. Kellner does not want to completely leave the Upper East Side political scene despite becoming a persona non grata there. He filed petitions to run as a state committeeman and a judicial delegate. (He is also a sitting district leader and will be up for re-election for that post next year.)
Well that explains the revitalization of Vito's club.
The state Assembly has entered into two contracts worth $205,000 for an outside counsel to handle sexual harassment policy development and investigations after a high-profile scandal.
The state comptroller’s office says Tuesday the approval is for contracts with Rossein Associates. A spokesman for Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says the firm was retained by the Ethics Committee as part of reforms announced in May.
Merrick Rossein is a law professor at the City University of New York Law School at Queens College.
At a Democratic club meeting in Queens last night, Councilman Danny Dromm said progressives should “thank God” for embattled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Speaker, not revile him.
“Thank God for Shelly Silver,” Mr. Dromm said to his group, the News Visions Democratic Club in Jackson Heights, when the discussion shifted to Albany politics. “A lot of conservative stuff that might have happened didn’t happen. I don’t know what his prospects are for the Assembly, but we’ll see.”
Mr. Silver has faced a barrage of criticism for his handling of sexual harassment allegations against ex-Assemblyman Vito Lopez. While Mr. Silver has since apologized for quietly settling several cases against Mr. Lopez with $100,000 in public money instead of flagging them for investigation, many editorial boards and two Democratic Assembly members have called for him to step down as reports continue to swirl that Mr. Silver, who has held his post since 1994, may be facing growing backlash from his typically loyal members.
Mr. Dromm, however, reiterated to Politicker that he believes Mr. Silver’s presence is crucial in Albany.
“Shelly has held the line on a lot of progressive issues and I’m appreciative of that,” he explained. “I don’t want to see a lot of things that have been passed or proposed by the Republican Senate be put into law.”
Well, that's certainly interesting. More than half of NYers want Silver gone.
He’s already facing trial on corruption charges — and now there are new troubles for City Councilman Dan Halloran.
The latest allegations involve sexual misconduct, CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reported Monday.
What really went on inside Councilman Halloran’s office? If he turned it into match.com, and dated two of his staffers, it could turn into Ilostmyjob.com.
“Let me be clear: if these new allegations against Council member Halloran are true we will throw the book at him,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
Quinn was furious about reports that Halloran is dating a 23-year-old intern and previously dated a $30,000-a-year aide, vowing to kick him out of the council if the reports are true. She said dating a staffer could create a hostile work place.
“We have zero tolerance for sexual harassment and that type of behavior in the council. Zero tolerance,” Quinn said.
Quinn said she ordered her counsel and the Ethics Committee to investigate. In fact, the council speaker didn’t waste any time. She ordered the Ethics Committee to take up the Halloran matter this week.
He threw away his marriage for a co-ed staffer half his age, and now Dan Halloran, the city councilman already under indictment in an alleged plot to rig the mayoral race, could lose his seat after another seamy office romp.
Halloran, 41, a cocky Queens Republican and a practicing pagan, has been carrying on with 23-year-old Denise Batista since she was an intern in his council office, sources told The Post.
The brunette beauty was seen covering her face at Halloran’s Flushing home when FBI agents led him out in handcuffs during his predawn arrest April 2, when he was charged in Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith’s alleged plot to bribe his way onto the GOP mayoral ticket.
Halloran could be hit with disorderly-conduct sanctions — including dismissal — if found to have violated the council’s ethics policy with Batista or a previous deputy chief of staff with whom he had a relationship.
Batista, a student and tennis player at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, first hooked up with Halloran while she was working for him, an “absolute no-no” under city and council rules, a council source said. Batista has since quit her intern gig.
It became clear to other staffers last fall that Batista, who filed and answered phones, was dating her boss.
“There was this ‘here we go again’ ” feeling among staff, said a source close to Halloran.
This green grocer has some Corona residents seeing red.
A produce wholesaler in the neighborhood is making life a nightmare for some — from refrigerated trucks spewing toxic exhaust, to workers making sexual comments and even threatening residents with "connections with Mexican gangs," a $10 million lawsuit claims.
The papers, filed in Queens Supreme Court earlier this month, also accuses the city and the NYPD of failing to respond to a "tidal wave of complaints" from residents about Moreno Produce, at 97-03 43rd Ave., in recent years.
Chief among the allegations is that trucks from the company, also known as Nuevo Mexico Lindo Su Abarrotera Central Corp., are being allowed to idle for "hours at a time...sending toxic pollutants into neighboring residential homes." He said the trucks are also causing sleepless nights for residents, a problem that has been getting worse over the past two years. According to the suit, which also names the city and the NYPD as defendants, trucks from the company block traffic, "forcing school buses and emergency vehicles to change their routes," and occasionally damage their vehicles. Aside from the trucks, residents also have to contend with forklifts, which are used on the sidewalks and streets "in a recklessly dangerous manner," the suit says.
Moreno is also "allowing its employees to make rude, abusive and sexually suggestive comments and even...indicating that they have connections with Mexican gangs, when faced with complaints from the neighborhood," the complaint says.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver testified recently before state ethics commission investigators about his role in the Vito Lopez sexual harassment scandal, the Daily News has learned.
Silver was subpoenaed to discuss how he signed off on a $103,000 taxpayer-funded settlement with two former Lopez staffers who accused the Brooklyn Assemblyman of sexual harassment, a source close to the Speaker said.
A Silver spokesman refused to say whether the powerful Manhattan Democrat testified, saying only: “We’re cooperating fully.”
Silver is the highest ranking official to testify in the ongoing investigation, and one of at least seven people on the Assembly payroll to do so. Others include Silver’s chief counsel Jim Yates and Assembly lawyer William Collins, both of whom spearheaded the secret settlement talks.
Officials in the offices of state Controller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reviewed versions of the settlement agreement, but the two principals are not believed to have testified before the commission, though some of their staffers have, sources said.
Silver has insisted he approved the confidential payout to protect the victims’ privacy, and to save taxpayers from a potential $1.2 million lawsuit. Word of the settlement leaked after Silver announced in late August that he was stripping Lopez of his seniority and leadership positions after the Assembly Ethics Committee found to be credible allegations from two different Lopez staffers who said the lawmaker had sexually harassed them as well.
Silver now admits he should have notified the Assembly Ethics Committee of the two complaints that led to the hush-hush settlement. The Speaker also has said he expects the state ethics commission will ultimately knock his handling of the matter but not find that he committed criminal or ethical violations.
Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.
Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap
"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt
The above organizations are recognized by Queens Crap as being beneficial to the city as a whole, by fighting to preserve the history and character of our neighborhoods. They are not connected to this website and the opinions presented here do not necessarily represent the positions of these organizations.
The comments left by posters to this site do not necessarily represent the views of the blogger or webmaster.
