Taxpayers had to pay for a Bronx lawmaker’s anti-harassment training after he gave “unwanted attention” to a female staffer.
City Councilman Andy King was forced to take the $3,500 “sensitivity” training after the Committee on Standards and Ethics determined he violated the Council’s anti-harassment and discrimination policy.
The Democrat “repeatedly asked the employee to smile more while shaking her hand and keeping an extended grip on her hand until she smiled,” according to Committee chair Steven Matteo (R-Staten Island).
He also allegedly asked for her personal phone number so he could invite her to a fundraising gala where he had hoped to see her “in a beautiful gown.” The Council refused to say when the infractions happened.
The ethics panel voted unanimously in February to sanction King.
King, who chairs the Committee on Juvenile Justice, denied the charges but agreed “voluntarily” to complete the training, Matteo said at the time.
He took ethics training administered by Council lawyers on top of the sensitivity class with Bold New Directions, a corporate training and coaching company.
Asked why the public paid for the training, City Council spokeswoman Jennifer Fermino said, “It’s the Council’s responsibility to ensure members have adequate training and to make sure the training they do receive is up to the standards we expect.”
Bold New Directions was paid $3,500 in March for a full day of one-on-one training with King, according to records.
It included reading assignments, a self-assessment and a follow-up phone call, the Council said. His trainer reported back to the Council that King was engaged and took the lessons to heart.
A different former staffer who worked for the council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, which King co-chaired, was preparing a lawsuit against the city in 2015 claiming she was fired by the Bronx Dem after rebuffing his unwanted advances.
She said King tried to amend the caucus bylaws so he had the power to fire her. The suit was never filed.
King was elected in 2012 to represent the Bronx Council district that includes Williamsbridge and Co-op City. His office didn’t comment.