Bx. pol accused of forced kiss

ALBANY — A former staffer has accused Bronx state Sen. Jeffrey Klein of forcibly kissing her — a charge the powerful pol denied.

The woman, Erica Vladimer, told HuffPost that Klein, who heads a breakaway group of eight Senate Democrats, “shoved his tongue” down her throat outside an Albany bar on April 1, 2015, as lawmakers and staff celebrated completion of the state budget.

“I pulled away and I said, ‘Senator, absolutely not,’ ” she told the website.

Vladimer, who worked for Klein’s Independent Democratic Conference for two years, left for a new job about a month later. She never filed a complaint.

In a conference call with reporters shortly before the story was published, Klein (photo) denied any inappropriate behavior.

But he also acknowledged that the day after the alleged incident, he heard “a rumor” from another staffer that Vladimer said he kissed her. He denied it, but said he did nothing else because a complaint was never filed. “I want to be crystal-clear, this alleged incident never happened,” he said Wednesday. He said after being contacted by the website last week, he hired a lawyer who interviewed witnesses who were there that night — including Klein’s girlfriend, Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) — and found no one who saw Klein kiss the woman.