Making pol sex slaps personal
ALBANY — In the midst of the #MeToo movement, state Senate Democrats this week are set to propose an anti-sexual-harassment package that would make lawmakers personally financially liable for any settlements involving them, the Daily News has learned.
The Senate Democrats’ package of bills will be unveiled Tuesday, a day before Gov. Cuomo is expected to announce his own anti-sexual-harassment proposal in his State of the State address. Several Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats also have announced legislation to deal with the issue.
Pointing to the recent nationwide focus on sexual harassment and her own experiences in Albany, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — the first woman to head a state legislative conference in New York — says “it’s clear that we have reached a turning point.”
“Certainly as a woman, as the first women leader, I think it’s important we set a tone,” Stewart-Cousins said. “As a woman, I understand these types of things can absolutely impact not only your career but you personally. I think we have an opportunity right now to say ‘No. Not here.’ ”
The Yonkers Democrat recalled being a rank-and-file lawmaker and often being playfully referred to as a male senator’s “girlfriend.” While she didn’t necessarily like it, as a lawmaker in the minority party, she said she went along with it in hopes the Republican senator would like her and help get her bills passed.
“There’s no doubt it’s been an old boys’ club for a very long time,” she said of state government. “With that comes quote, ANTHONYDELMUNDO/DAILYNEWS unquote norms. As we evolve, you see what people have considered normal to be questioned, challenged and in some cases unacceptable.”
The legislative package Senate Dems will push includes one bill that would take taxpayers off the hook for sexual harassment settlements, putting the onus on the elected officials who either settle or are found guilty after an investigation.
Since 2008, at least nine state lawmakers have been sanctioned or were tied to sexual harassment scandals, including longtime Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez.
The state shelled out $545,000 in taxpayer money to settle claims against Lopez by two former staffers and another $103,000 in a confidential settlement with two aides to the powerbroker, who died in 2015. As part of the two settlements, Lopez was required to pay nearly $70,000 of his own money.
“If you’re doing this kind of thing, we should not be using taxpayer money to cover it up,” Stewart-Cousins said.
Two other bills would void most confidential agreements for settlements and would add provisions to the state public officers law specifically prohibiting acts of sexual harassment and imposing a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for those found to have engaged in such behavior.
Another bill would crack down on sexual harassment in the public sector by outlining the rights of employees and interns facing harassment, would make supervisors accountable for bad conduct they were aware of but allowed to continue, and require legislative investigations into harassment cases, which currently can stretch out for a year, to be concluded within two months.
The package would also impact the private sector, with one bill seeking to codify in law that sexual harassment is an unlawful and discriminatory practice and ensure that employees of small businesses can bring claims against their employers. The bill would also lower the standard for a sexual harassment case so that a single incident is severe enough to sue for damages.
A final bill would guarantee job security for those who report incidents of sexual harassment to the state Human Rights Division and shield them from employer retaliation.
Stewart-Cousins said many proposals from her conference, others in the Legislature and Cuomo should bode well for something getting done in the new legislative session that begins Wednesday. She said she hopes the issue is taken up early in the session
“We would be beyond tonedeaf if we couldn’t figure out things that we could improve upon,” she said. “Let’s get these things addressed and addressed in a way that is comprehensive.”
A spate of public sex harassment scandals in recent years has led to some progress, including better prevention training, but much more needs to be done, she said.
“We have an opportunity under this pretty visible circumstance to be able to take steps to get out of past behaviors and create the groundwork for people going forward,” Stewart-Cousins said.
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