Bronx Councilman Told Staffer To Wear 'Beautiful Gown': Official

NEW YORK CITY HALL — A City Council staffer has accused Councilman Andy King of making unwelcome advances on her, including a request that she wear a "beautiful gown" to a fundraising event, a Council committee revealed Wednesday.

The unidentified staffer's complaint to the Committee on Standards and Ethics says King, a Bronx Democrat, "paid unwelcome attention to her" and repeatedly told her to smile more, Councilman Steven Matteo, the committee chairman, said at a committee meeting Wednesday.

King would shake the staffer's hand but not let go until she smiled, Matteo said. On one occasion, King invited her to a "winter ball fundraising gala," asking for her personal phone number and saying "he would like to see her in a beautiful gown at the event," Matteo said.

Matteo, a Staten Island Republican, did not say when the alleged advances occurred or when the complaint was filed. He also did not say whether the staffer worked for King directly or in another arm of the Council's staff.

The Committee on Standards and Ethics opened an investigation into the staffer's complaint in December, but until Wednesday had kept its contents secret. The panel reviewed a preliminary report on the allegations Wednesday and will hear more information at a future meeting, Matteo said.

The Council could reprimand King, fine him, strip him of certain privileges or even remove him from his seat if the committee finds the allegations are true.

A spokeswoman for King did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This isn't the first time King has faced allegations of wrongdoing. A staffer on the Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus threatened to sue him for sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment, though a formal lawsuit was never actually filed, The New York Times reported in December.

The Council committee's continuing probe comes as local and state governments try to address sexual harassment amid a national reckoning over powerful men's abuse of women in myriad fields.

Two Council committees are scheduled to hold a hearing next Thursday on sexual harassment policies and best practices for dealing with harassment. Councilman Mark Levine of Manhattan proposed legislation last year to require city agencies to issue reports on internal sexual harassment complaints twice a year.

More than 1,000 people have complained of sexual harassment in New York State government since 2012, according to a Politico New York investigation published Monday. The state has paid at least $6.4 million in sexual harassment settlements in that time, Politico reported.

(Lead image: Councilman Andy King appears at an event in February 2016. Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)