Brooklyn DA plays parole politics: AG

according to union officials. They also overwhelmingly don’t receive health benefits, proper safety training or adequate protection from these kinds of sexual violence, Rosenblum said.

“We had a sense that something really ugly was happening,” Rosenblum said, “but there’s a limit to our tools as a union in terms of being able to get people to come forward and get information. The AG’s office did a phenomenal job; they had a crack investigator who really got people to come forward and talk.”

James’ probe found Trade Off failed to take adequate action in response to complaints, and repeatedly protected harassers from punishment over the course of at least three years. At least 16 women were regularly harassed, and 12 workers were fired after they complained about treatment on the job. In all, 18 women will receive settlements ranging from $10,000 to $110,000.

In addition to the monetary compensation, Trade Off agreed to employ an outside monitor for three years, and will create a more complete sexual harassment policy subject to review by James’ office.

Trade Off alleged “many” of the complaints were “driven by a long-lasting dispute with a union that had trouble competing with Trade Off for labor services. Trade Off considers any level of harassment to be unacceptable, and deeply regrets that our processes for training and oversight failed some of the women who worked for us.”

The state attorney general’s office is accusing Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez of abusing his power in seeking the release of a convicted murderer, claiming the DA only did so to push his political agenda.

In a scathing opposition filed in Dutchess County Supreme Court, lawyers for Attorney General Letitia James questioned Gonzalez’s motivations in writing a Parole Board letter of recommendation for Kenneth Hailey, 54, who has served 31 years of a life sentence for murdering a cab driver in 1989.

“[Gonzalez’s] favorable parole recommendations are a part of his political policy to decrease what he calls mass incarceration,” the letter filed July 7 states. “His Parole Board recommendations are clearly tainted by political policy.”

With his advocacy for Hailey, Gonzalez (inset) undermined the Parole Board, the letter charges.

“We have a close working relationship with the attorney general and that’s why it’s evident that the assistant AG in this case does not represent the values of her boss. We stand by our letter to the parole board,” a spokesman for the DA said Monday.

A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said there was nothing unusual about the submission.