Queens Councilman Accused Of Sexually Harassing Staffer

NEW YORK CITY HALL — A Queens city councilman has been kicked off the Council's budget negotiating team amid allegations that he sexually harassed a staffer, lawmakers revealed Thursday.

Councilman Barry Grodenchik, a Democrat, has been accused of paying "unwelcome attention" to the Council staffer over the course of about a year by kissing her on the cheek and talking about her weight.

Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Staten Island) disclosed the allegations at a Thursday meeting of the Standards and Ethics Committee, which he said has decided to launch formal disciplinary proceedings against Grodenchik.

Council Speaker Corey Johnson said he is removing Grodenchik from the budget negotiating team pending the outcome of his disciplinary hearing.

"No one should ever be made to feel uncomfortable in the workplace and singled out for unwanted attention," Johnson said in a statement.

In his own statement, Grodenchik apologized if his actions caused discomfort but also slammed Johnson, saying the speaker had stripped him of his post as chair of the Council's Parks and Recreation Committee.

But Council Communications Director Jennifer Fermino said Grodenchik has not been removed from his chairmanship.

"I will certainly take the lesson of what has been brought to my attention and use it to grow as a person, but I will not allow the good name my parents gave me to be dragged through the mud for this single action which, as the Speaker well knows, was never intended to make anyone uncomfortable," Grodenchik said in the statement, a copy of which was posted to Twitter.

According to Matteo's description of the allegations, Grodenchik is accused of "engaging in dialogue" about the staffer's weight in a way that made them uncomfortable and of repeatedly greeting only this person with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Additionally, he allegedly blew the staffer a kiss across the table at a work meeting and then approached the person for a hug and kiss when it was over without doing the same to anyone else who participated, Matteo said.

Grodenchik appeared to give a different account of the latter incident. He said he hugged and shook hands with several people who were at the meeting, which was held to finalize legislation, "and thanked them for their hard work and diligence."

"For me, as is true for many of my colleagues, a hug is a common greeting for people I have known for a long time, but as others do not feel that way, I will certainly be more sensitive to that in the future," he said.

Matteo did not say when Grodenchik's alleged conduct occurred or when the committee received a complaint about it. He also did not identify the staffer involved.

Grodenchik, who represents Bayside Hills, Douglaston and other neighborhoods, is not the first Council member to face harassment allegations in recent years.

Councilman Andy King, a Bronx Democrat, was forced to undergo sensitivity training last year after he was found to have harassed a staffer by repeatedly telling her to smile and telling her to wear a "beautiful gown."

The Standards and Ethics Committee will now serve Grodenchik with formal charges and hold a closed-door disciplinary hearing, Matteo said. The panel could recommend sanctions if it finds that Grodenchik indeed violated the Council's anti-discrimination and harassment rules.