Bronx Council Member Faces 4 Charges From Ethics Committee

NEW YORK — A City Council committee formally charged a Bronx lawmaker with four ethics violations Wednesday in his second disciplinary case in as many years.

The Standards and Ethics Committee accused Council Member Andy King of retaliation, harassment, disorderly conduct and conflict-of-interest violations stemming from four years of alleged misconduct.

"Between 2015 and 2019, Council Member King either engaged in, encouraged, permitted, condoned or failed to prevent conduct that violated certain laws of the city as well as the rules and policies of the council," Council Member Steven Matteo, the committee's chair, said at a Wednesday meeting.

The committee will hold a closed-door hearing on the charges Sept. 10, said Matteo, a Staten Island Republican. King's chief of staff did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The committee issued the charges about four months after revealing that the lawmaker had been accused of sexual harassment for the second time in less than two years, along with other alleged misconduct.

King allegedly allowed his wife to perform Council business and harass a Council worker, Matteo said in April. His wife is Neva Shillingford-King, an executive vice president at the 1199 SEIU labor union.

King also let a senior staffer make violent threats and at least once actually commit an act of violence against a subordinate, Matteo has said.

The Council has hired Carrie Cohen, an ex-federal prosecutor, as special counsel to present the case against King, Matteo said. Cohen led the criminal prosecution of former state Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, who was sentenced to seven years in prison last year.

King has a right to be represented by an attorney at the hearing, Matteo said. "While the proceedings are confidential, after the committee deliberates on the charges, the findings and recommendations of the committee will be made public," Matteo said.

The formal charges against King came about 18 months after the committee ordered the lawmaker to undergo sensitivity training because of sexual harassment. The committee found he made unwanted advances on a council staffer.

King, a Democrat, was first elected in November 2012 to represent the 12th Council District, which includes the Bronx neighborhoods of Co-Op City and Eastchester. He was re-elected in 2013 and 2017, winning in landslides both years.