Sentences with phrase «assembly ethics committee»

Suffolk County Comptroller Joseph Sawicki, who once served as the ranking Republican on the State Assembly ethics committee and whose office reviews county contracts, said: «It appears to me that he's taken pains to hide these agreements and to avoid publicly disclosing what every other county official has to - as they should.»

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver admonished and severely reprimanded Kellner after an Assembly ethics committee accused him of «unwanted and inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature» toward two female members of his staff.

Lopez, according to documents released Saturday, had been given an opportunity to testify before the Assembly ethics committee, but chose instead to send a letter from his attorney that refuted the accusations.

Mr. Silver intends to introduce a resolution Friday asking the Assembly ethics committee to «recommend appropriate sanctions,» including the expulsion of Mr. Lopez, a Brooklyn Democrat, the spokesman, Michael Whyland,...

The report accuses Mr. Silver's senior staff members of ignoring the Assembly's own internal rules by failing to investigate and refer the initial harassment allegations to an Assembly ethics committee.

Mr. Silver announced on Aug. 24 that he was censuring Mr. Lopez, 71, after a bipartisan Assembly ethics committee found credible evidence that Mr. Lopez had groped, kissed and verbally harassed two female employees.

Not exact matches

«The Assembly refers all charges of sexual harassment directly to the ethics committee.

Over the past week, things have gone downhill quickly for both Lopez, who announced he won't be seeking re-election as Brooklyn Democratic chairman, but has refused to heed calls to resign his Assembly seat; and Silver, who was revealed to have negotiated a secret settlement of $ 103,000 worth of taxpayer cash with two women whose harassment claims against Lopez pre-dated those sent to the ethics committee.

The committee found that McLaughlin had engaged in sexual harassment against an Assembly employee, had been untruthful to an ethics committee investigator, and had revealed the name of the complainant against him after being instructed not to discuss the issue.

McLaughlin's final months in the Assembly were dogged by the revelation that he had used abusive language against a female aide, and he was sanctioned by the chamber's ethics committee — after election day — for allegedly asking another lawmaker's aide for nude photos.

Assemblyman Micah Kellner did not seek re-election this year after an ethics committee report found he interacted inappropriately with members of his personal staff during his time in the Assembly.

Mr. Blake stressed that the new job passed the scrutiny of the Assembly's ethics committee, and vowed that he would not allow his work with the company to compromise his integrity in the State Legislature.

Evidence of the backroom deal began to emerge on Fri., Aug. 24, when Assemblyman Vito Lopez, of Brooklyn, was implicated in the sexual harassment of two female employees following an internal investigation by the Assembly's ethics committee.

«We urge the Elections Committee to pass Senator Squadron's legislation, and the full Senate and Assembly to pass this critical reform that would improve our campaign finance and ethics laws by reducing the influence of big contributions on the decisions made by our elected officials.»

The lawsuit follows complaints made public at the end of 2013 that caused Silver to refer the matter to the Assembly's ethics committee.

In an Aug. 28 statement, Silver said he had previously believed that, if an employee bringing a harassment claim requested confidentiality, then the Assembly should follow that route and not refer the claim to the ethics committee.

Lerner says it appears the Assembly may have violated its own policies against sexual harassment, which require that any allegations of sexual harassment against an Assembly member be sent to the ethics committee.

Calls have been mounting for Lopez to give up both his party post and his Assembly seat in the wake of last week's announcement by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver that he had censured the veteran lawmaker after a bipartisan ethics committee found he had sexually harassed two female staffers.

He even went so far as to lay out his mistakes: «The Assembly (1) should not agree to a confidential settlement, (2) should insist that the basic factual allegations of any complaint be referred to the ethics committee for a full investigation and (3) should publicly announce the existence of any settlement, while protecting the identity of the victims.»

Mr. Lopez, who as the Democratic leader in Brooklyn and chairman of the Assembly's housing committee projected great influence across New York City and the state, resigned in May 2013 after a state ethics commission released a report about his alleged behavior including groping of female staff members and other unwanted sexual advances.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is «interested in modifying» his ethics agreement struck last week with Assembly Democrats, Senate Finance Committee Chairman John DeFrancisco told reporters.

The Assembly even failed to comply fully with a subpoena issued by its own internal ethics committee, the report said.

The allegations come on the heels of an earlier round of sexual harassment allegations last year, which led to the Assembly's ethics committee to recommend that Kellner be removed from leadership positions and be barred from hiring new staff members or working with interns.

Four months after Dennis Gabryszak resigned in disgrace following allegations he had sexually harassed female staff members, the Assembly's ethics committee has formally dropped its investigation into the matter.

It was during his second stint as the Assembly's top lawyer that Silver agreed to pay $ 103,000 to two women who accused Lopez of sexual harassment and did not refer the matter to the Assembly's ethics committee for an investigation.

ALBANY — The Assembly's ethics committee is investigating a sexual harassment complaint against Angela Wozniak, a freshman legislator from suburban Buffalo who was elected in the wake of a previous sex scandal.

The Assembly's ethics committee met in Albany on Aug. 19 in an executive session.

To help restructure the chamber's sexual harassment policy, the Assembly's ethics committee enlisted CUNY Law School Professor Merrick Rossein, an attorney, law professor, and expert in discrimination litigation.

Blake serves on a committee appointed by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to examine ethics reforms.

In response to the barrage of corruption and sexual harassment scandals over the last decade, the Legislature has also dramatically revamped the way it approaches its ethics and sexual harassment training, according to Assemblymember Charles Lavine, a Democrat from Nassau County and former chair of the Assembly's ethics committee.

The ethics report does not conclude that Silver or his staff violated the public officers law, but says the circumstances surrounding the secret settlements should be referred to the Assembly Ethics Committee.

The Assembly's ethics committee — which exists solely to enforce policy on sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation — convened a meeting in executive session on October 12 and is expected to meet again on November 2.

Lerner says it appears the Assembly may have violated its own policies against sexual harassment, which require that any allegations of sexual harassment against an Assemblymember be sent to the ethics committee.

He gave up his Assembly seat and wound up jumping into a crowded field of challengers to Rangel last year, as the 81 - year - old Democrat suffered an embarrassing ethics probe, censure and loss of his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee.

The supervisor, a top Kellner aide, reported the complaint to the Assembly's highest - ranking lawyer, Bill Collins, who never referred the matter to the ethics committee for investigation, according to the Times.

Assemblyman Steven T. McLaughlin was disciplined for sexual harassment after an ethics committee determined he had asked an Assembly aide for nude photos.

«The Assembly has zero tolerance for sexual harassment, discrimination or retaliation,» Aravella Simotas, the chair of the Assembly's bipartisan committee on ethics and guidance, said in an emailed statement.

The second set of proceedings in less than a week come after Governor Andrew Cuomo, among others, called on the ethics panel to investigate a sexual harassment scandal that centered on Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who was censured by an assembly committee over alleged sexual harassment charges.