Council aides share disturbing allegations of abuse at City Hall rally
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Council staffers gathered outside City Hall to condemn abuse and retaliation by Councilmembers Tuesday. Eagle photo by David Brand.
By David Brand
A day before Bronx Councilmember Andy King returned to work following his 30-day suspension for harassment and misuse of public funds, City Council staffers gathered outside City Hall to read disturbing testimonials from anonymous current and former staffers alleging abuse and retaliation by powerful city lawmakers.
One former City Council aide wrote that she was fired as a result of a harassment complaint she filed against her boss. Another said staffers who spoke out justifiably feared retaliation from councilmembers. A third recounted the harassment and retaliation she experienced in King’s office.
The rally took place as a coalition of council aides, who work for individual members as well as the body’s central staff, attempt to form a staff union. An ethics investigation detailing harassment and abuse by King prompted several past and present staffers to detail their own experiences and galvanized the unionization effort — an initiative that had been discussed and considered for years but never got off the ground until now.
Council aide Chloe Rivera, whose October op-ed in the Daily News, revealed the abuse that she and other staffers say they have experienced, calling the council’s failure to expel King and its process for punishing members, “a searing indictment of the system.”
“Women, especially women of color and LGBQTGNCNB people, don’t feel like they will be protected — because they haven’t been,” she said, adding that since she spoke out, various aides have approached her to share their own experiences.
Other aides shared the testimonies from anonymous current and former staff members who said they did not feel comfortable speaking out for fear of retaliation.
Daniella Eras, a budget director for Queens Councilmember Barry Grodenchik, read a letter from one former veteran aide who said she was terminated as a result of a complaint she filed on behalf of a woman she supervised. The aide who wrote the testimony said she herself was also the victim of sexual harassment and unwanted kissing.
“When my boss kissed me, I nervously laughed. I brushed it off and stayed quiet about it,” the aide wrote in her testimony. “A few months later, I listened as the same boss and another high-ranking individual at the council created a plan to fire a woman that made a complaint about my boss.”
“I was that woman’s supervisor and as such I felt I had to report it,” she continued. “My life at the council entirely changed after I made that report.”
The anonymous aide said that she was soon removed from several high-profile projects and told she “had changed and was a different person.”
“Less than a year after I made my complaint, I was let go from the Council and told it was a no-fault dismissal,” the aide added.
After the rally, Council spokesperson Jennifer Fermino said the Council takes all allegations of staff harassment or mistreatment seriously and “has shown that it is not afraid to take action when members are guilty of bad behavior.”
“Behaviors that were once laughed off or swept under the rug have been publicly condemned and sanctioned by this body,” Fermino said in a statement. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t continue trying to tackle sexism and abuses of power, and are actively engaged in efforts to improve the Council for everyone.”
Members of the state Sexual Harassment Working Group, which has worked to reveal and prevent harassment and abuse by state lawmakers, also called on the Council to implement the demands outlined in an open letter signed by more than 120 current and former staffers. The letter specifically called for the expulsion of King, as well as an external investigation process for claims of harassment and set consequences for member misconduct. The Council has said that the city charter establishes the disciplinary process and that the body did hire an outside party to handle the King investigation.
Tori Burhans, chief of staff for State Sen. Andrew Gounardes and a founding member of the Sexual Harassment Working Group, said the Council also needs to engage staffers to create meaningful change.
“The council needs to hold public hearings on harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Without staff input, protections will not be adequate. Without adequate protections, staff will not report harassment,” Burhans said. “Caring is not enough, it needs to lead to immediate and decisive action. We see you and we support you.”
Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, a former Council staffer, condemned the harassment and called for holding elected officials and institutions accountable.
“Not only do we see you — we believe you,” Niou told staffers. “Why? Because it happened to us.”
